Vortexia's Secret

ok, ok. i said i would stop, but this is important. so i wrote that i made significant progress with the voting issue, but another issue came up last night. we were talking about guns, and since it's a pretty sure thing that we'll be getting married someday, we talked about what would happen when we shared the same residence. i don't like guns. i don't want guns in my house. and i sure as heck will not want a gun in my house if and when i ever have children. however, he has grown up in a big gun household. not like overtly, yehaw let's kill us anything that moves and doesn't have a gun, kind of gun crazy, but i found out that they always had multiple guns in his house. like probably always had 5 or so, even when he and his sibs were infants and toddlers. even worse, his mother shot skeet while she was pregnant with him (not all the way through, but for part of the pregnancy), and his grandfather used to leave guns lying around the house to help teach him and the other grandkids to respect guns and not touch them (well, until he taught them to shoot guns).

all of this is completely foreign to me. and realizing that i was surrounded by several guns every time i visited his parents' house... and that every time that we went in the house really late at night and woke up his mom we were lucky that she didn't bring her gun with her as protection when she investigated. that kind of freaked me out.

so now we have to figure out how to combine these 2 philosophies. what makes it harder is that he'll inherit a few "sentimental" guns, like the one he learned to shoot with and ones from ancestors who used them in wars and stuff. they have turned into family heirlooms, so he wouldn't be willing to just ebay them or something.

it's one of those weird things because a ton of people whom you would never expect to have guns in their houses have them, but it's just not talked about or flaunted. and some people keep them unarmed and locked up, etc while others keep them loaded and poorly hidden (or on display). some people feel safer with a gun in the house, and others (like me) dread the thought. people emphasize some statistics that a gun in the house is useful (i'm guessing they do at least... i've never heard them), and others emphasize the statistics that show they often cause more harm than good. i don't know what to do about it all. but luckily we have time to figure it all out before we cohabit. and he gave me permission that i could try to change his beliefs by showing him my side. but he warned that i shouldn't try to do it all at once, and since he just had to change with which political party he agreed and we won't face this issue for a little while still, i'll cool it. i don't think (and i hope it isn't) trying to change him because i love him the way he is... i guess it's more trying to open his eyes to another viewpoint that he never saw growing up and hoping that he sees the benefit in that side.

so out of curiosity, if you're willing to share, how many of you do or do not have guns in your household or are anti/pro-guns in the house. further insight into either side or thoughts on any part of this issue is welcomed. and i won't judge anyone for their viewpoint. i'm just curious. thanks!

P.S. Keep them in your prayers.