Potential interview question: Do you own any guns?

[dbeast]

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How would you respond to this?

I'm really bored... Hypothetical answers GO!

 

[Geneticist]

Tell the interviewer you plead the 5th. If he continues to ask, pop a cap in his ass.

OR

Answer honestly...?

 

[CardiacIntensivist]

Perhaps I am too far removed from the medical school interviewing trail but I can not possibly see how that would EVER come up. Unless you lead the conversation that way, in which case - DON'T!

If it does just answer honestly. If it is a yes, just stress your knowledge about gun safety?

 

[da8s0859q]

How would you respond to this?

I'm really bored... Hypothetical answers GO!

Answer it honestly and be able to handle it if he throws an opposition argument at you to see how you take it. And now, I'm getting the hell out of this thread before the rabid anti-gun crowd comes in here foaming at the mouth.

 

[FlowRate]

I hate the idea of using a gun against someone, yet I plan on buying a gun when I have the money to afford one.

 

[gettheleadout]

i hate the idea of using a gun against someone, yet i plan on buying a gun when i have the money to afford one.

+1

 

[Forthegood]

I own one, but am 100% in favor of more regulation in the industry, and am also a bit of a peace hippie.

 

[alwaysaangel]

Can't imagine this ever coming up in an interview. But if they did I would answer honestly.

My father taught me to shoot a handgun when I was an adult. I have occasionally gone to shooting ranges for practice/fun. I have multiple family members who hunt for sport.

I had a small handgun (kept unloaded with ammo stored separately) in my apartment when I lived in an unsafe area and felt uncomfortable being alone at night. I understood my state laws on how to own, store and transport the weapon legally.

Responsible gun ownership is not a bad thing. My father had multiple guns in the house when I was a child. They were where we couldn't get to them but it was also explained to us very early that they were dangerous and not to be touched. I will own a gun when I am done with school (would probably still have one now but am in on-campus housing and its not allowed), and when I have children I will have a similar open dialog about what guns are and why they are not for children.

 

[mitchlucker]

I wear the heat just like Alonzo and leave your whole family in Mourning

 

[loveoforganic]

This thread is much less anti than I thought it would be 👍

I don't currently own due to living in campus housing, but will once I'm out of college.

I hate the idea of using a gun against someone, yet I plan on buying a gun when I have the money to afford one.

http://www.google.com/search?q=hi+p...UQrQQwAw&biw=1366&bih=548&fp=62c8a12306f0d077

Ugly as hell and clunky as hell, but reliable and super cheap. You may get some looks taking one to a range, but who cares? If you're getting it for home defense, solid option.

Edit: Oh, and I can't imagine this ever being asked.

 

[FlowRate]

This thread is much less anti than I thought it would be 👍

I don't currently own due to living in campus housing, but will once I'm out of college.

Ugly as hell and clunky as hell, but reliable and super cheap. You may get some looks taking one to a range, but who cares? If you're getting it for home defense, solid option.

I would probably buy a Glock 23 .40. It'll last forever and .40 is considered the most efficient in terms of overall usability and stopping power.

 

[DancinSarah]

Tell the interviewer you plead the 5th. If he continues to ask, pop a cap in his ass.

OR

Answer honestly...?

I'd say yes and then plead the 2nd.

 

[loveoforganic]

I would probably buy a Glock 23 .40. It'll last forever and .40 is considered the most efficient in terms of overall usability and stopping power.

As long as you can wait 😛 Glock 17 is what I practice with. Grip fits my hand very well, but doesn't for quite a few, or so I hear - try them out first if you can.

 

[kcin]

Five. Why?

 

[Elpenor]

I had a small handgun (kept unloaded with ammo stored separately) in my apartment when I lived in an unsafe area and felt uncomfortable being alone at night.

Seems pretty pointless to me. Unless you have small children in the house, why would you keep it unloaded with ammo out of reach? Do you plan on using it as a club if somebody breaks in?

 

[alwaysaangel]

Seems pretty pointless to me. Unless you have small children in the house, why would you keep it unloaded with ammo out of reach? Do you plan on using it as a club if somebody breaks in?

Just for safety. Wouldn't want someone accidentally reaching into my bedside drawer and managing to shoot themselves.

I didn't realistically expect anyone to break into my apartment and if they did and I pointed a gun at them...I doubt they would stick around to see if it was loaded or not.

 

[Potatoman1800]

I'd say just two, and proceed to flex both of my biceps.

 

[Mr Hippopotamus]

I'd say just two, and proceed to flex both of my biceps.

👍
Two tickets to the gun show are the best way to impress an interviewer.

 

[JeetKuneDo]

As long as you can wait 😛 Glock 17 is what I practice with. Grip fits my hand very well, but doesn't for quite a few, or so I hear - try them out first if you can.

I plan to buy a glock some day. I've seen the magazine get kicked around in the dirt/sand and still shoot without a problem. Those things are rugged.

 

[orthomyxo]

Proceed to pull out my gun and wave it around during the interview.

 

[DrDrummer]

I'm done interviewing, but I would never answer yes to that question. Even in Texas. There's negligible benefit and possible harm to be found in answering in the affirmative... people who are anti-gun tend to have a knee-jerk reaction, especially for docs (who, at least in clinical literature, have repeatedly concluded that owning a gun is a risk factor-- not something that helps anyone or decreases the likelihood of harm, but actually increases the risk of homicide and suicide). People who are fine with guns or pro-gun aren't going to respect you anymore because you own one.

Before someone flames me for spreading disinformation or anti-gun rhetoric or something: I am not anti-gun and feel like in responsible and trained hands, they're useful tools and that target shooting is a blast (rimshot). But I feel like guns are sorta like sex toys. They're fine, morally neutral, and maybe even useful things for some people to own, but you don't talk about them with people you don't know (and usually not even with people you do know), and you don't leave them lying around in plain sight 'cause they tend to freak people out.

 

[TheGloaming]

I'm surprised no one mentioned anything about hunting yet. My dad owns at least 20 guns for hunting. Then again he has hunted all kinds of animals. It probably depends what state you live in. Maybe if you listed hunting as a hobby the question or a similar question would be brought up.

 

[LEUNIT]

I didn't realistically expect anyone to break into my apartment and if they did and I pointed a gun at them...I doubt they would stick around to see if it was loaded or not.

1+. Although this plan could backfire, and they pull one on you.. I would just put it in a high place like the top shelf of a closet, loaded of course. You never know..

I'd say just two, and proceed to flex both of my biceps.

First post on SDN that made me laugh out loud. 👍

 

[eablackwell]

I don't see how answering this honestly would be an issue. As long as you can justify it without saying something like, "I keep it in case terrorists come to my door."

 

[n3xa]

I don't see how answering this honestly would be an issue. As long as you can justify it without saying something like, "I keep it in case terrorists come to my door."

See DrDrummer's post?

As much as I'd like to think that everyone interviewing me is rational and objective, that's not always the case.

 

[eablackwell]

See DrDrummer's post?

As much as I'd like to think that everyone interviewing me is rational and objective, that's not always the case.

I did see it, I just don't agree that anti-gun ownership interviewers would automatically lose all respect for you over this. There are plenty of reasons to own a gun that have nothing to do with shooting living things. For instance, "Yes, I own a gun, it is a family heirloom passed down from my great great grandfather." "Yes, I own a gun, I am a competitive skeet shooter." etc etc. It's all in the justification. Note that I'm all for gun control laws, but I think interviewers 1) asking this question and 2) being 100% opposed to a specific answer no matter the way you phrase it are crazy longshots and probably not going to happen.

Guns actually did come up in my interview, but only because I'd been shot in the past. The discussion thereof (including gun control laws and the responsible ownership of them) was simply a nice conversation as part of the interview.

 

[n3xa]

I did see it, I just don't agree that anti-gun ownership interviewers would automatically lose all respect for you over this. There are plenty of reasons to own a gun that have nothing to do with shooting living things. For instance, "Yes, I own a gun, it is a family heirloom passed down from my great great grandfather." "Yes, I own a gun, I am a competitive skeet shooter." etc etc. It's all in the justification. Note that I'm all for gun control laws, but I think interviewers 1) asking this question and 2) being 100% opposed to a specific answer no matter the way you phrase it are crazy longshots and probably not going to happen.

So, would active hunters be SOL and run the risk of their interviewer losing respect for them then if they answered honestly? 😕

 

[kcin]

Hippies are very judgmental, there's no reason to give them something to hold against you.

 

[eablackwell]

So, would active hunters be SOL and run the risk of their interviewer losing respect for them then if they answered honestly? 😕

I personally don't believe so, but you spoke of Dr. Drummer's post, which basically talks of anti-gun activists and statistics of people accidentally shooting people they know/family instead of intruders with guns that are meant to save them from intruders. Gun activists often clash with hunters as well, so I picked guns for the purpose of shooting non-living targets, or no target at all. I don't see many gun activists protesting at olympic skeet events.

It's honestly a pointless topic. It's not going to come up unless you bring it up, or if you put it on your AMCAS.

For instance, if I was filling out my AMCAS and one of my favorite pasttimes was hunting, and maybe I had competed in the sport for years and won several awards, I wouldn't leave that off just in case someone at said medical school hated guns.

 

[gravitywave]

it won't come up, but i wouldn't bring it up.

I interviewed with a guy, he told me a story about when he was interviewing at a UC and the interviewer straight-up told him that he couldn't give him a positive review because he was in the military, and the interviewer was a committed pacifist. that could have been deliberately provocative interviewer BS, too though. For all i know, he was later accepted.

 

[patel2]

I wouldn't bring it up, but tell the truth if asked. Personally I carry a glock 19 EVERYWHERE I go (srs), including on interview day (not srs), because it is legal in my state and I use it as protection. U mirin?

 

[gravitywave]

I wouldn't bring it up, but tell the truth if asked. Personally I carry a glock 19 EVERYWHERE I go (srs), including on interview day (not srs), because it is legal in my state and I use it as protection. U mirin?

ok. try not to bring it into any federal buildings, mmmmm kay? they don't like it.

 

[coldweatherblue]

I've found that interviews generally go best when they revolve around sports, guns, cars, classic rock, guitars, motorcycles, travel etc rather than whatever BS you're supposed to be awkwardly chatting about anyway.

 

[JK47]

Until we find a cure for the T virus, I think gun ownership is prudent. Double taps.

 

[ElChamaco]

The best part about our gun laws and overproduction of firearms is how we help everyone all over the world kill themselves. That includes our inner-cities where the easy availability of cheap handguns allows poor kids to kill eachother with such effeciency. Every "illegal gun" was once a legal gun. While people fret over keeping gun laws unrestricted so that they can have fun at the range and "protect their house" we flood our streets and the rest of the world with firearms. Of course, the fact that the vast majority of murder victims in the US are poor blacks and hispanics contained in the ghetto makes it easy to ignore this dimension. I'm realy puzzled by the delusional siege mentality of people who insist they need to protect themselves with guns. The real warzones in America are the areas that middle-class gun owners systematically avoid. These gun-owners' insistence on the right to bear arms however has deadly repercussion for the poor inhabitants of these areas.


"Mexico blames the U.S. for arming the world's most powerful drug cartels, a complaint supported on Friday by a U.S. government report that found nearly all of Mexico's escalating drug killings involved weapons from north of the border."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/28/world/main4835694.shtml

"[W]hile it is impossible to know how many firearms are illegally smuggled into Mexico in a given year, about 87% of the firearms seized by Mexican authorities and traced in the last five years originated in the U.S., according to data from Dept. of Justice's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. According to U.S. and Mexican officials, these firearms have been increasingly more powerful and lethal in recent years."

This is of course the same thing that happens in the Caribbean and throughout the rest of Latin America. Of course the US isn't the only one doing this, though it is probably the most guilty party.

Clearly, this was intended to be a lighthearted thread, but I am truly puzzled by the pro-gun stance.

 

[Geekchick921]

Until we find a cure for the T virus, I think gun ownership is prudent. Double taps.

👍

 

[Geneticist]

The best part about our gun laws and overproduction of firearms is how we help everyone all over the world kill themselves. That includes our inner-cities where the easy availability of cheap handguns allows poor kids to kill eachother with such effeciency. Every "illegal gun" was once a legal gun. While people fret over keeping gun laws unrestricted so that they can have fun at the range and "protect their house" we flood our streets and the rest of the world with firearms. Of course, the fact that the vast majority of murder victims in the US are poor blacks and hispanics contained in the ghetto makes it easy to ignore this dimension. I'm realy puzzled by the delusional siege mentality of people who insist they need to protect themselves with guns. The real warzones in America are the areas that middle-class gun owners systematically avoid. These gun-owners' insistence on the right to bear arms however has deadly repercussion for the poor inhabitants of these areas.


"Mexico blames the U.S. for arming the world's most powerful drug cartels, a complaint supported on Friday by a U.S. government report that found nearly all of Mexico's escalating drug killings involved weapons from north of the border."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/28/world/main4835694.shtml

"[W]hile it is impossible to know how many firearms are illegally smuggled into Mexico in a given year, about 87% of the firearms seized by Mexican authorities and traced in the last five years originated in the U.S., according to data from Dept. of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. According to U.S. and Mexican officials, these firearms have been increasingly more powerful and lethal in recent years."

This is of course the same thing that happens in the Caribbean and throughout the rest of Latin America. Of course the US isn't the only one doing this, though it is probably the most guilty party.

Clearly, this was intended to be a lighthearted thread, but I am truly puzzled by the pro-gun stance.

So it begins...

 

[FlowRate]

👍

There's no reason to have a scope that big on an assault rifle (with a CQB handle wtf)...

 

[gettheleadout]

The best part about our gun laws and overproduction of firearms is how we help everyone all over the world kill themselves. That includes our inner-cities where the easy availability of cheap handguns allows poor kids to kill eachother with such effeciency. Every "illegal gun" was once a legal gun. While people fret over keeping gun laws unrestricted so that they can have fun at the range and "protect their house" we flood our streets and the rest of the world with firearms. Of course, the fact that the vast majority of murder victims in the US are poor blacks and hispanics contained in the ghetto makes it easy to ignore this dimension. I'm realy puzzled by the delusional siege mentality of people who insist they need to protect themselves with guns. The real warzones in America are the areas that middle-class gun owners systematically avoid. These gun-owners' insistence on the right to bear arms however has deadly repercussion for the poor inhabitants of these areas.

Clearly, this was intended to be a lighthearted thread, but I am truly puzzled by the pro-gun stance.

Nobody needs to own an M16 for home defense, but guns are widespread enough as it is that unless all ammunition manufacture is ceased, guns will continue to be usable in society by everyday people. Because of this, guns are sometimes a necessarily evil for being prepared to defend your home. Even well-off, suburban homes are invaded by people with guns, you know.

 

[ElChamaco]

So it begins...

Lol it looks like one of the hippies is holding a rifle...Is that really a hippie trojan horsevan?

 

[alwaysaangel]

Every "illegal gun" was once a legal gun.
While people fret over keeping gun laws unrestricted so that they can have fun at the range and "protect their house" we flood our streets and the rest of the world with firearms.

Yes...my M16 was just stolen the other day.

This is a really ignorant statement. The vast majority of gun violence is from guns that are not the average rifle or .38 that a person may have in their home. The fact that you don't realize that shows you are ill-informed.

I'm realy puzzled by the delusional siege mentality of people who insist they need to protect themselves with guns. The real warzones in America are the areas that middle-class gun owners systematically avoid. These gun-owners' insistence on the right to bear arms however has deadly repercussion for the poor inhabitants of these areas.

Again, the average responsible gun owner will remain responsible. The issue lies in some of the merchants, producers, and MILITARY grade weapons being smuggled. Maybe we should take all the guns away from the Army!

My .38 is never going to make it to the streets of the ghetto.

"Mexico blames the U.S. for arming the world's most powerful drug cartels, a complaint supported on Friday by a U.S. government report that found nearly all of Mexico's escalating drug killings involved weapons from north of the border."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/28/world/main4835694.shtml

"[W]hile it is impossible to know how many firearms are illegally smuggled into Mexico in a given year, about 87% of the firearms seized by Mexican authorities and traced in the last five years originated in the U.S., according to data from Dept. of Justice's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. According to U.S. and Mexican officials, these firearms have been increasingly more powerful and lethal in recent years."

Yes, originated in the US. As in made here, and probably sold by a sketchy dealer/military source. Not bought by an American and then brought to Mexico. Notice that article is about high-powered weapons. These are not what an average person would own. These are military weapons that are being smuggled into Mexico - that has absolutely nothing to do with an Americans right to bear arms.

Clearly, this was intended to be a lighthearted thread, but I am truly puzzled by the pro-gun stance.

Yes, being as ignorant as you are about firearms, types of firearms and the differences between semi-automatic weapons often used by drug cartels and the average gun in an American home - you would be puzzled.

 

[Geekchick921]

There's no reason to have a scope that big on an assault rifle (with a CQB handle wtf)...

Beats me, dude. I've never shot anything more than a BB gun, that's just the first zombie apocalypse gun demotivator I found that wasn't blocked.

 

[Endolas]

Clearly, this was intended to be a lighthearted thread, but I am truly puzzled by the pro-gun stance thought I'd come stir the pot with my tangentially relevant agenda.

Fixed that for ya.

 

[addo]

I have a rifle, and use it very often for target practice even though i have never gone hunting, and I actually wouldnt want to. Going down to the range when youre bored, and putting some lead 400-500 yards away on a target beats playing video games....at least for me. At around the same time I was interviewing, I was also going to the range like once a week, so it came up as I was talking about my hobbies. Marksmanship is actually not as easy as it looks. I talked about it at the school that I am going to attend, so I guess its how you come across. As long as you dont come across like a menacing psycho with a gun, youre ok.

 

[patel2]

The best part about our gun laws and overproduction of firearms is how we help everyone all over the world kill themselves. That includes our inner-cities where the easy availability of cheap handguns allows poor kids to kill eachother with such effeciency. Every "illegal gun" was once a legal gun. While people fret over keeping gun laws unrestricted so that they can have fun at the range and "protect their house" we flood our streets and the rest of the world with firearms. Of course, the fact that the vast majority of murder victims in the US are poor blacks and hispanics contained in the ghetto makes it easy to ignore this dimension. I'm realy puzzled by the delusional siege mentality of people who insist they need to protect themselves with guns. The real warzones in America are the areas that middle-class gun owners systematically avoid. These gun-owners' insistence on the right to bear arms however has deadly repercussion for the poor inhabitants of these areas.


"Mexico blames the U.S. for arming the world's most powerful drug cartels, a complaint supported on Friday by a U.S. government report that found nearly all of Mexico's escalating drug killings involved weapons from north of the border."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/28/world/main4835694.shtml

"[W]hile it is impossible to know how many firearms are illegally smuggled into Mexico in a given year, about 87% of the firearms seized by Mexican authorities and traced in the last five years originated in the U.S., according to data from Dept. of Justice's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. According to U.S. and Mexican officials, these firearms have been increasingly more powerful and lethal in recent years."

This is of course the same thing that happens in the Caribbean and throughout the rest of Latin America. Of course the US isn't the only one doing this, though it is probably the most guilty party.

Clearly, this was intended to be a lighthearted thread, but I am truly puzzled by the pro-gun stance.

notsureifsrs

Gun control would work as well as drug control and prohibition, which did absolutely nothing to contain drug usage and alcohol consumption. Do you think manufacturing guns in mass quantities is difficult? All you would be doing is creating a massive new black market that is great for gangs and criminals but horrible for every citizen. We shouldn't encourage criminals to be armed, while law-abiding citizens get murdered by them because they don't know how to work the black-market as well.

 

[ElChamaco]

Nobody needs to own an M16 for home defense, but guns are widespread enough as it is that unless all ammunition manufacture is ceased, guns will continue to be usable in society by everyday people. Because of this, guns are sometimes a necessarily evil for being prepared to defend your home. Even well-off, suburban homes are invaded by people with guns, you know.

Gun laws should be tightened an there should be massive campaigns to destroy street firearms to reduce the supply of available guns in the US. Just because we irresponsibly got ourselves in this mess doesn't mean we shouldn't take drastic steps to fixing it.

The fear is delusional as statistics show. Saving one suburban plasma TV per 10,000 households is not worth the life of hundreds of poor inner city kids. Having your suburban home robbed WHILE you are home is a statistical rarity. Actually having a violent outcome as a result of this is even rarer. Isolated incidents become fodder for fear mongering. It's really very simple. Guns in the US are used to kill people in the ghetto way more than they are used by suburbanites to successfully defend their homes. It's the (il)logic and political power of the latter that makes the former possible however.

 

[gettheleadout]

Yes, originated in the US. As in made here, and probably sold by a sketchy dealer. Not bought by an American and then brought to the US. Notice that article is about high-powered weapons. These are not what an average person would own. These are military weapons that are being smuggled into Mexico - that has absolutely nothing to do with an Americans right to bear arms.

To expand on this, the 2nd Amendment was written in reference to muskets...not exactly the weapons of mass slaughter that full auto SMG's are today.

 

[alwaysaangel]

. Guns in the US are used to kill people in the ghetto way more than they are used by suburbanites to successfully defend their homes. It's the (il)logic and political power of the latter that makes the former possible however.

Actually the most common use of guns in the US is hunting. Something that is extremely necessary in certain areas where excess breeding of deer, turkey, etc would screw with the ecosystem and leave too many of a given species to starve.

But based on the things you're saying you probably don't understand the importance of hunting either - and probably have no desire to understand any of it.

 

[ElChamaco]

...

The most common murder weapon on the streets of the US is a handgun, much like the .38 in your home. And while your particular .38 may not be stolen, the fact that so many are produced in the US to satisfy consumers like yourself means there are that many more to be diverted.

 

[patel2]

Gun laws should be tightened an there should be massive campaigns to destroy street firearms to reduce the supply of available guns in the US. Just because we irresponsibly got ourselves in this mess doesn't mean we shouldn't take drastic steps to fixing it.

The fear is delusional as statistics show. Saving one suburban plasma TV per 10,000 households is not worth the life of hundreds of poor inner city kids. Having your suburban home robbed WHILE you are home is a statistical rarity. Actually having a violent outcome as a result of this is even rarer. Isolated incidents become fodder for fear mongering. It's really very simple. Guns in the US are used to kill people in the ghetto way more than they are used by suburbanites to successfully defend their homes. It's the (il)logic and political power of the latter that makes the former possible however.

Legalize drugs and inner city crime ends overnight. "Regulate" guns and you just create an awesome new black market and enterprise for criminals, while leaving the law-abiding citizens in the dust.