[ExactlyMyPoint]

A (female) friend of mine is telling me that all of a sudden her husband is taking an incredible interest in shooting. In his past, he was an occasional hunter but she tells me that now he has bought a semi-auto rifle (maybe full auto, she may not know the difference) more handguns and a suppressor. Not sure if the suppressor is for a handgun or the rifle. No young children (teenagers), so the guns are left around the house...hopefully unloaded. Oh, ya, and he has joined the NRA.

This seems like a little on the "unusual" side based on his previous behavior. I don't have many more details, but I told her to be careful and watchful. Any thoughts?

 

[dnowell]

He'll confide in her if she sympathizes with him and expresses interest. Same with you. Take the guy out shooting, talk guns, etc etc etc. If he's lost it he'll eventually confide in another gun nut. Most likely he finally discovered that it's great fun.

Another possibility is the stress of the world. When I'm nervous about things I become more of a gun guy. My girlfriend can tell when I'm low on money because I clean my guns all the time. Some primal instinct to protect myself, even though it doesn't make logical sense.

 

[goldshellback]

intresting........

+1on dnowell's post

 

[xSerenityx]

I think you were right to tell her to be watchful. Not that joining the NRA and having an interest in guns itself is something to be concerned about, but he's her husband. I don't know, I'm not married but if I suddenly developed a very keen interest in something I would probably be talking about it a lot with my spouse. The fact that she's confused over it seems bizarre to me. Why isn't he confiding in her?

 

[maximumrob]

I totally disagree with the other posters. My interest in guns, gun rights, and shooting came on all of a sudden in the same way. I've been like that my whole life with hobbies and recreation. It's a phase, it'll pass, and I'll be on to something new that's hopefully less expensive and something I can do more often.

 

[JD]

A (female) friend of mine is telling me that all of a sudden her husband is taking an incredible interest in shooting. In his past, he was an occasional hunter but she tells me that now he has bought a semi-auto rifle (maybe full auto, she may not know the difference) more handguns and a suppressor. Not sure if the suppressor is for a handgun or the rifle. No young children (teenagers), so the guns are left around the house...hopefully unloaded. Oh, ya, and he has joined the NRA.

This seems like a little on the "unusual" side based on his previous behavior. I don't have many more details, but I told her to be careful and watchful. Any thoughts?

Do you know how much a full auto anything costs? Not to mention how long the paperwork for a FA or suppressor can take?
Unless the wife reports $10K +/- from the bank, it's not FA.

I seriously doubt someone "new" to shooting would dump 5 digits on a gun, IF he did buy a suppressor, it was not a "spur of the moment thing"

Odds are he just jumped in with both feet and had the funding to do it right.

EMP, take a look at your own purchases of late, other than the time line, what's the issue?

 

[Ram Rod]

I'll defer my thoughts without knowing, what I had originally wanted to ask. I respect you too much to do so here. If she's brought this up to you, obviously it's raised some sort of alert with her and she confides in you. Personally, I wouldn't get involved in things barring a few of my best friends, and being in their best interest. I would never think about getting involved with others affairs especially in a marriage even with a personal (life long) friend. You'll need to assist in any way you feel necessary and be tactful about it to keep the peace. I honestly don't know what to tell you since I've never been put in the position. I do wish you the best on it, for you and for her.

 

[EdC]

Ditto for my interest in guns. I do that with number of hobbies or "enthusiasms." Guns, photography, microscopy, astronomy, fishing, etc. I get interested and then sort of wring out the hobby for all its worth. I don't think she has cause to watch him. Joining the NRA, getting interested in a wholesome hobby like shooting, doesn't seem like ominous signals of anything to me.

She should be watching the bank accounts instead, because shooting is probably the most expensive hobby I've got.:smile:

 

[archer51]

I don't consider it strange behavior. Look at the upturn of the number of weapons sold since November 08. That with the economic woes of the nation many people are taking an interest in their 2A rights.

Now if the purchasing of weapons are coupled with signs of depression, then there could very well be something to worry about. Make sure his wife is aware of the signs.

 

[log man]

I'd suggest that it isn't really strange behavior, but just the recognition that his shooting interests have or are materializing. How does one show an interest in anything , but to jump in. Surely all who read this had other interests and had been acquainted with guns and at some point the interest in guns became more focused perhaps then in previous interests. He joined the NRA, oh my. :blink: Maybe he realized it wasn't so much killing animals that he liked, that would worry me, but found he enjoyed the shooting side of hunting where you don't get to shoot that much.

LOG

 

[Guardian]

As Ram Rod elated to. I think I would stay out of this one and let her ask her husband. To all of a sudden start taking a interest might be innocent enough, let her ask and keep your distance is my personal advice to you.

 

[Eagleks]

When stress was 'high' at work, some of us would go across the road and shoot lots of clay after work. It's a great stress release.

He may just feel like it's time to start a new hobby, and did. Or, he may have become more aware of the need for protection in today's world.

I don't see a need for concern in what you said.

 

[kpw]

I think the strange part is that she confided in you and didn't just ask her husband. He probably figured she wasn't interested in knowing. Tell her to just ask him.

 

[Stevew]

I didn't know you were friends with my wife. All kidding aside, unless he is doing something hinky I don't see anything strange. Now if he has recently started ranting about some group or something it might be different. If the only change in his habits is buying a couple of guns I wouldn't be alarmed.

 

[RETSUPT99]

So the guy has discovered his instant love of guns...so have 35,000 others on this forum at some time or other, and 80,000,000 others in the U.S. I don't see a problem. I wouldn't feed your female friend one way or the other.:nono:

 

[stanislaskasava]

Yeah, I feel something is weird here, but it's not the husband.

 

[raevan]

Like many others he probably woke up to the fact that his 2nd amendment right were in danger of being lost and he is buying guns while he still can. If he is leaving them laying all around the house he is just trying to enjoy them. I don't see a problem, she need to talk to him. Perhaps she should ask him to go shopping with her to buy her a gun.

 

[TheShadow]

Doesn't sound strange at all.

Wish I had some extra cash for some new toys!
Could the "suppressor" be a simple muzzle brake for a rifle?

 

[PointnClick]

Yeah, "suppressor" is an odd choice of words... unless she knows a little something about guns, she would have used the movie term "silencer"... it might be "weird" for someone to "assemble an arsenal" out of the blue... but then again, someone with ill intent probably doesn't join the NRA before a rampage...

What are their financial means...? JD is correct in that dropping a bunch of coin on full auto stuff in this economy is not the behavior of someone with a passing fancy in firearms...

Or, maybe he sees a coming apocalypse... back in '52, he woulda been the guy that dumped 10 grand in a concrete bomb shelter, filled it with canned food and shotguns, and was ready to hunker down when the Ruskies come...

Takes all kinds...

 

[BugDude]

+1 for staying out of someone else's marrital stuff, even close friends. She should be asking him, not anyone else.

I've had some guns for a long time (pre-marriage), mostly 22s, and used to shoot a lot. I bought a 357 mag about 3 years after married and didn't shoot it for 13 years. We moved to another state and I didn't hang out with my old shooting buddies anymore. In the last year or so, I've gotten back into guns and shooting (and buying guns) when me and a bunch of my buddies at work got our CC permits. We all now go out shooting, talk guns, joined the NRA, go to gun shows, etc. My wife asked my the same kinds of stuff, "why the sudden 'obcession' with guns...yada yada." For me, it was the re-birth of a former hobby due to now having lots of friends who are into the same thing. It's like golf...I played for 20 years, but now that I don't have people to play golf with anymore, I kind of lost interest playing alone all of the time (I used that analogy with my wife regarding something else too...it didn't help).