Are gun enthuiasts obsessed with guns?

I have always immersed myself in my hobbies because of the increased sense of enjoyment that brings. As, "HOBBIES", they don't rule my life as I would expect an "obsession" to ... rather, they enrich it.

Cosmoline said:

Plus when they finish their life's work and pass away to the great reward, their estate sales are the stuff of legend. There in the basement is a magical land where every wall is covered in firearms and the ground is full of ammo cans. And then you go to get some cash and come back and POOF it's all gone, like a gun version of Brigadoon. You look in the distance and see Wayne Anthony Ross's Hummer steaming away fully loaded.

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Oh Lawd! So TRUE!

Cosmo, you have slain me with laughter!

Being a gun enthusiast doesn't necessarily make one obsessed. As for myself, I'm no more obsessed with guns than I am about air, food, water, and shelter. Arms are just another necessity.

Just because I'm well stocked - OK, BETTER stocked with arms than anything else doesn't necessarily mean I'm obsessed. Just because I keep my arms under lock and key - the ones I don't have on me - doesn't mean I'm obsessed. Just because my arms have a lifetime supply of their consumables and I don't doesn't mean I'm obsessed with them.

Just because I take better care of my arms than I do of my vehicles - maybe even of myself some would say - doesn't mean I'm obsessed with them.

If I'm obsessed at all, I'm obsessed with freedom. I'll not limit my arms and march half prepared into the future.

Woody

Obsession is on "same side of coin" as infatuation in vast majority of cases not a psychiatric disorder. Hoarding vast quantities of items above rational need is like gambling a medical affliction.

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And worrying about what others do with their income when it doesn't effect you else is a sign of mental and emotional instability, control issues, etc. and probably should result in some therapy.

ob·ses·sion

1.
the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.

2.
the idea, image, desire, feeling, etc., itself.

3.
the state of being obsessed.

4.
the act of obsessing.

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ob·sess

verb (used with object)
1.
to dominate or preoccupy the thoughts, feelings, or desires of (a person); beset, trouble, or haunt persistently or abnormally: Suspicion obsessed him.

verb (used without object)
2.
to think about something unceasingly or persistently; dwell obsessively upon something.

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Note the lack of a simple definition that isn't filled with subjective words or adjectives. So, let's look at a medical definition:

obsession /a persistent unwanted idea or impulse that cannot be eliminated by reasoning.

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Well, unless we're desperately trying to not think about guns, you really can't call it an obsession, can you? Makes me wonder what you call the anti's who "don't believe in guns" and yet devote their lives to their destruction...

en·thu·si·ast

1.person deeply involved in something: somebody who is enthusiastic about something, especially a hobby

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Now, doesn't that sound friendlier (and much more accurate)? This is yet another example of folks attempting to rewrite the meaning of words to suit their purposes. "Let's find a negatively-connoted word that's sorta, kinda, maybe related to what we're describing, and use it interchangeably with the real one"

TCB

Everybody is obsessed with everything. It's the new thing.

A serious observation about it from an unlikely source:

"The word “obsessed,” tracked by Google Ngram’s search in books, sees a sharp rise from 1900 to 1920, then a slow and steady increase to 2008 (when Ngram data stops). The phrase “I’m obsessed,” however, is flat and low until the mid-’50s, after which it steeply ascends. The first instance of “I’m obsessed” shows up in the New York Times archive in 1967. There are four examples from that year, and then not again until 1969, in a Joan Baez profile. After that, they’re few and far between, with a five-year gap between 1980 and 1985, totaling just 19 by the end of that year. It heats up a little after that, but remains sporadic, with just 98 total entries through 2007. Then, around 2008, “I’m obsessed” takes off.

"It’s now entrenched in our everyday informal language, most often employed by young women, from InStyle’s daily “We’re Obsessed!” feature (one object of obsession: a $4,000 Fendi bag) to the ironically titled gossip site ImNotObsessed.com. A Twitter search for “I’m obsessed” at any time of the day will bring up approximately five results per minute (a recent sampling of obsessions deemed worthy for public display: cream soda, cardigans, ketchup, one girl’s own eyes)."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/fashion/obsessed-youre-not-alone.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

If gun enthusiasts aren't - in current parlance - obsessed, they aren't enthusiasts.

Obsessed with firearms? No. I may count what I own on less than 3 fingers. Purely self defense initiative.

I have seen those obsessed, however. This is still a relatively free country (may it stay that way, with our help) and who am I to say what's right, wrong, or fringe.

I consider defensive firearms a necessity as long as murderous miscreants roam our society.

I want to live. I want my family to feel safe in my presence.

If I'm guilty of obsession, I'm guilty of obsessing about life.

Some people are drawn to mechanical, precision items that have a usefulness in doing something. Guns, watches, automobiles, airplanes, knives, hand tools, etc. Some just like to target shoot accurately, or hunt or have something for protection. I am sure some seem "obsessed", but I would guess many are just enthusiastic about their hobby or avocation.

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This. I pulled a 71 Torino out of the woods when I was a kid, got it running an drove the wheels off of it. Still have it and love it, and I love working on it and other cars. I love mechanical devices and how they function. I love the particulars of it and trying to envision what was going through the designer's noggin when he/she created it. I really, honestly, think that a well designed machine is a work of art, and it's the same with firearms to me.

I knew an Airline Pilot who had a sizable metal building out back of his country home that had a half dozen 1960s Mustangs in it. ...And a Machine-Shop owner that owned a similar number of Buick GSs. Both loved to hunt the next one, restore, show-off, horse-trade, and drive their obsessions, and I bet both had over a quarter-million invested in the objects of their passion.

I know guys who own dozens of valuable collectable guitars. My wife's into photography and dolls. It brings joy to her and countless others via the internet.

Someone says this is unhealthy? I think not.

Many folks these days were raised by pop-culture, and as a result have a irrational fear of firearms. ...So much so, I say it's they themselves who may need a Psychiatrist.

When you side by side comparison between an American firearm enthusiast and person X from a country with nothing like our 2A, we do seem crazy.

I'm as obsessed with firearms as my neighbour is obsessed with golf.
As soon as the snow begins to melt you can't shut him up about golf.
At the same time I can't wait for the snow to melt so I can get to an outdoor range.

The antis have to think of gun owners as obsessed. It strengthens their impression that we must be controlled.

Are gun owners not, by definition, enthusiastic about guns? Enthusiasm does not equal obsession. It's not the same thing.

The real problem is that our nation has gotten away from some very important things, not the least of which is that my business is none or yours or that of anyone else unless I infringe upon the rights of another person. Whether I am obsessed or not doesn't matter period. MYOB, and TCOYOB, and this whole country will be far better off.

Seriously,
TCBinTN

flying feathers: "Americans are said to be gun crazy..I have owned mostly Winchesters and Colts with a few different models? On occasion I wonder if there is some validity to what others have said, especially what I see in stores..and my own preoccupation at times."

Well you asked for an opinion, so I'll assume that you want an answer (or at least the opinions of others).

I think too many American males are obsessed about contemplating their own belly buttons. This started during the 1960s and 1970s. Your fathers and grandfathers wouldnt know what the h*ll youre talking about. They were the Great Depression and WW2 generation. If a Man was smart enough and worked hard enough go buy something he wanted, that was his business and more power to him. If a Man did something that didnt interfere with how others lived their lives, more power to him.
Your grandfathers, much less the American forefathers, - would scoff at what some seem to get themselves concerned about today.
You want to buy guns, fine. You don't want to buy guns, fine. It doesnt have to be some existential crisis, but if you want that . . . knock yourself out.

I know folks who are into golf, woodworking, audio. It's no different for some firearm owners. It's a hobby.

Nah, guns are just another hobby and tool like all the rest. My wife's cute feet, that I might be a bit obsessed with.

They are just trying to paint us in the worst light possible. It makes them feel better imagining "bubba" with his armory that has his own backwoods militia or something. I am probably less obsessed with firearms than some are about football. They are something I enjoy because of the engineering and I enjoy shooting them. It is a hobby that relaxes me. Them calling us obsessed it only the beginning. We have had to and will continue to have to endure the smear campaigns. They claim they are the open minded enlightened ones but try and share our point of view and see how open minded they really are.

rookorami +1 well said

Some seem to cr*p in their own nest. Why would anyone want to provide supporting arguments to the antis. They would define the term 'obsessed' as having a semi auto of any type, and in some countries they rewrite the definitions to include any non governmental ownership of guns at all.

If someone spends too much money, time, or focus on something and it interferes with his life . . . thats his problem. They can leave me out of their neurotic collective.

The only thing I'm obsessed with is 2 months old today and just learned how to giggle.

As you should be jerkface11 Congrats!

Some more than others, just like any other interest or hobby.

As far as an obsesssion by definition.......I think it's rare.

You gotta wonder if some people have the following bumper sticker:

IF WE LOSE THE 2ND AMENDMENT . . . GUESS I'LL JUST PLAY MORE GOLF.

Are these the descendents of the American founders ?

Just another enthusiast enjoying one of my numerous and varied hobbies.

Nothing obsessive about any of the things I do in my spare time.

Guns... woodworking ... small boats (especially building small wooden sailboats) ... botany (especially fruit & nut trees, and anything good for landscaping, or coppicing for woodworking or trimming out small wooden sailboats) ... metallurgy (for guns, but also for brass work, especially boat fittings) ... earth-sheltered architecture (houses and storage bunkers... mostly houses, with lots of custom woodwork and hand-made brass fixtures, and fruit trees outside, and a hedge of phylostachus aurea... and a wood shop with room for my boat.)

Thing is, "obsession" sort of implies unhealthy fixation on one thing to the exclusion of others... I'm not certain one can have many different obsessions; just a wide range of interests, as people with active minds will have. Does thinking about GUNS consume my life? Not remotely.

I'm DEFINITELY not into fly-fishing, though. Those guys are NUTS!