What Is A Gun Nut?

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Fella's;

This is a term that we who own firearms should examine closely. It will be a term used to denigrate us in the foreseeable future, with consequences that will not be to our advantage. If we allow the opposition to define the term, as happened with “assault rifle”, and “Saturday night special”, we almost certainly will lose another battle and perhaps, the war.

I have no knowledge of what form of attack the future will bring, but I truly believe that an attack is coming. Will a “Gun Nut” be a person who owns a certain number of firearms? Or exceeds an average number of firearms? How about if the average number of allowable firearms in the home is weighted according to population density? In other words, what’s the average number of firearms in the households of New York City, or Chicago?

I’ve been called a gun nut. In fact, I’ve worn the sobriquet proudly. But it’s time to put that term away. Why? Because I feel that the future will turn an insider’s term into a viper at my breast. No thanks given to the national media, who will work diligently to demonize the term.

Yes, I own firearms, more than several. They aren’t a vast and valuable collection, though worth maybe what a decent used car is in today’s market. But, they haven’t caused my family any hardship either. No mortgage payment got missed to buy another gun. Nobody in my home missed a meal because I needed a hunting trip. No dunning phone calls, no credit card advisories, no repossessions, no financial hardships, period. And yes, there have been the vacations, the wife has a fur coat, the kids can go to college.

Did I inherit wealth? No. Am I a high-powered exec at a multi-national corporation? No. Did I have to plan carefully, wait sometimes years, to get what I wanted? Hell yes! Therefore, in my mind at least, I’m not a nut.

So who is a “gun nut”? Let’s define the term. Would it be someone who having had facts presented to them, still spreads lies? Would Sarah, Hillary, Chuckie, and Caroline therefore qualify to be so named? Why, I do believe they, and many others, should bear the term in shame. Why not put the viper at their breast?

900F
 
I hear what you're saying, but I guess I prefer to "take back" the term as a self-description. Here's why:

For one thing, we are robbing our opponents of a rhetorical weapon. If I call myself a gun nut, what are they going to call me - a... gun nut? Conversely, if an anti calls you a gun nut and you chuckle and say, "Oh yeah, you have no idea!", where do they go from there? It at least defuses it as an insult.

Secondly, it has a self-deprecating ring to it that could conceivably put a fence-sitter at ease in a verbal discussion (making them more open to reason and education) - as opposed to pompously insisting that one is a "firearms enthusiast" or "staunch advocate of the right to keep and bear arms" - however true those descriptions may be.

Finally, it could be pointed out that the average mugger or massacre perpetrator is not a "gun nut", being not usually particularly interested in or skilled with guns, having usually illegally acquired them for the express purpose of committing crimes, and knowing little of the history, engineering, and philosophy behind them. In sharp distinction to the average THR member, who has a lot of guns, knows quite a bit about them, shoots safely and often, and is the farthest thing from a criminal or a lunatic.

Again, I see your point, but I think we'll have better results either ignoring it or wearing it as a badge of honor than trying to stick it on our opponents. Good topic though, thanks for posting it. :)
 
On the other hand, if we put gun nut in the category of
car nut, hifi nut or any other "nut" hobbyist behavior, we
could put attacks on "gun nuts" in perspective (what
good citizen needs a private library of hundreds of books
when the government furnishes a public library that has
all the books you could need (prescreened and selected
by government employees?))
 
I think that if you were successful in purging that term from the antis lexicon, it would only be a short time before another reference raised its ugly head. Also, we may want to alter their manner of reference, but if they (the antis) see it as angering us, guess what happens? Although in the deep South, to be a "gun nut" is not really a smear. All things considered, you could do worse!:D
 
To be honest, I think of it as a slur like "(british slang for cigarette)" is for gays, that the gun community uses as a compliment to spite the antis. They're just showing that their attempts to take your freedom are based on hate.

One thing I don't get: almost every anti I've ever read the words of has lied, slandered and ignored anything that refutes their lies. As I said before (you're probably getting tired of me bringing it up), one of the gun experts over here got assaulted by the most unscrupulous of the anti groups for trying to add some common sense to the debate.

Why then, should we be referred to as the "nuts"? If anything, we should start using the name on them, and see how long it takes for the meaning of the phrase to change.
 
We are enthusiasts.

If you hear, or read of someone (politician or media) using the term "Gun Nut", demand a retraction and apology. If media...well, I believe a class action lawsuit would fit the bill.

If Don Imus can be fired for quoting a rapper's lyrics, why should we put up with a derogatory term from the likes of Michael Moore, Bloomberg or anyone else?

The VA Tech murderer, Cho, was insane...a "Nut".

So, what say you all? Do we expunge this term from usage...completely?
 
No matter what you decide to call yourself if someone is critical of what you do then they will find or create something derogatory against it.
 
Ah yes, the oft used term "Gun Nut". I have been called such in the past complete with sneering derision evident in the users voice and facial expression.

A knowing smile, a reply of, "You say Gun Nut like it's a bad thing? No more so than Jefferson, Washington, Madison, Patrick Henry and the like. Sticks and stones you know. I prefer the term, Commonplace, Everyday, Freedom Loving American, thankyouverymuch. I hunt, I shoot, I defend myself and those I love. And You? May I then call you Gun Nutless?" (maybe it should be correctly gunless nut but I prefer the other pejorative term) All the while smiling.

But what with the VT maniacal shooter Cho and his ilk, I fear that the classification of "Gun Nut" is in danger of becoming a negative connotation for firearm aficionados.

So I say better to be a gun nut than gun nutless. And I mean that.
 
Perhaps this particular terminology could be used to advantage. If someone should refer to you as a "Gun Nut" you could politely correct them by telling them that the proper term is "Constitutional Rights and Personal Freedoms Nut" ...
 
I'm a Gun Nut

Just like some people are car nuts


I refuse to give up my language due to fear.

You allow that and they win!
 
I had a gun nut on the barrel of my WASR-10, but it unscrewed.

To seriously address the question, and the idea of "framing" the discussion to eliminate the phrase "gun nut," I just don't really care. If somebody calls me a gun nut, I'll either smile, or say "I prefer enthusiast," or something like that. But I don't get too excercised about it. IMHO, of all the things we gun owners need to worry about, that one isn't halfway up the list, yet.
 
Gun nut?

I don't ever recall being called that to my face, but who knows what I've been called behind my back.

In all, I think I have 10 firearms, each with a specific purpose. If anyone thinks you only need one, let them try to play a round of golf with only one club. I might be able to break a clay at the traps range with a .22 handgun, but I doubt it. I might be able to shoot a quail with a 12-gauge trap gun, but I doubt there'd be anything left to eat.

Another analogy: If you have a bolt that needs tightening, you don't reach for a chainsaw. Different firearms are tools for different purposes. There's no such thing as "one size fits all."

I detest when someone refers to a S&W Model 60 snubby as a "Saturday Night Special." At ~$500, it's as well made as anything around.

If someone wants to labe me a gun nut, be my guest. I've lived long enough to have developed some pretty thick hide.
 
Fella's;

As Default said, on a one-to-one basis we can win often enough to preserve the term with it's and our integrity intact. BUT. When the national media starts using it as a demonizing term, we'd better come with the lawsuit that Glockman referred to, and do it immediately.

The problem is just as stated above. We can win the one-to-one arguments. When the national media is involved, that's not good enough by several orders of magnitude. They do influence hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people per broadcast. Our winning the one-to-ones is laughably naive in comparison. They don't and won't care if we do, why should they? We win an individual skirmish, they influence masses. Masses that congresscritters will sell their souls to have vote for them. Net result, we lose.

True, terms do morph over time. An obvious example in America is the designation of people who happen to have a lot of melanin in their skin. True, we would simply have to fight against whatever new hyper-critical term the anti's would come up with. So what? Let the black community be our example. They don't shrink from fighting preducial terminology and neither does the Jewish community. Neither should we.

Gun Nut, at present, is not a hyper-critical term. But mark my words, I think it will become so in the near future.

900F
 
Gun Nut and proud of it

I'm a gun nut and I will wear the term as a badge of honor. What is a gun-nut to me? Its someone who is a dedicated firearms enthusiast, one who enjoys shooting, one who builds a practical collection of firearms that suit several different purposes, one who appreciates the history and mechanical engineering of firearms, and lastly, as far as I'm concerned, I LOVE RELOADING.:D Bottom line, I am an enthusiast, if that makes me a gun-nut, then fine by me.:D

Gun owners as a social group are a great group of people. One of the aspects I enjoy most about guns shows, is interacting with other gun enthusiast's, I very much enjoy the social aspect of it. Most of them are the nicest people you will ever meet.:D

As far as the criminal aspect is concerned, here's the fundamental difference. I cherish my right to own guns, the last thing I want to do is anything that will forfeit that right. Criminals on the other hand, don't give a damn, they just see guns as an instrument to commit heinous acts against other people. Unlike morally corrupt criminals, I cherish my rights, Second Ammendment included.
 
lately I have heard people say "gun loon" instead on "gun nut" I think it's because us gun nuts own the term now. It's meant to be insulting but if you describe yourself as a gun nut it isn't.
 
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