I'm not sure what kind of people you surround yourself with that even remotely talk about guns like that, but that is a vocal minority.

I don't surround myself with people like that, but you can find them in many gun debates online. Gun owners will often let their guard down online and let you know how much they'd love to dust some punk. Personally, I don't want to have the weight of killing somebody on my conscience. If you want to steal my shit, I'll try to stop you if I can, but I'm not going to try to kill you. It's just not worth it. Surprisingly, a lot of gun owners don't feel this way, though. Killing somebody while protecting their property is completely justified!

I'm sure you've already made some snap judgments on my character for hunting,

I really don't have any problem with people who hunt for food, and I wonder why you would assume that.