Why the interest in guns?

[GD]

BAE984
Your reasons for liking firearms are exactly my reasons. Freedom to own firearms are one of the things that make America such a good country. The elitism of liberals who think that ordinary citizens should not own such things is a risk to our greatness.

 

[benEzra]

BAE984,

Someone asked me the same question a while back on the Common Ground Common Sense forum, of which I am a member (formerly the John Kerry forum). Here is the answer I gave then, which you have my permission to share with your family member if you wish:






To me, it's a competence thing.

Here's some random thoughts, in no particular order.

Proficiency with firearms is a martial art just like Isshinryu Karate or Tae Kwan Do or Kenpo or Tai Chi, and can gives a sense of accomplishment and competence just like any other human discipline. The Japanese concept of bushido applies just as much to the gun culture as to other martial arts cultures. FWIW, I have some moderate experience in the Asian martial arts culture (I was a student of Isshinryu for a year), and there are a lot of similarities between the gun culture and the traditional martial arts culture, and just as with empty-hand martial arts, proficiency in self-defense is a symbiotic benefit that is a worthwhile purpose in its own right. You may find this article interesting:

Guns and Martial Arts (from www.a-human-right.com)

Just as with the other martial arts, a lot of gun enthusiasts view training and skill development as an end in itself. A Zen thing, if you will. (BTW, to shoot well you must view shooting in a very Zen-like way; breath control, minimization of muscle tremors, concentration, sharp focus on the front sight, smoothness...) A lot of the shooters I know also have a thing for archery, which is pretty much the same thing. And my wife is into SCA fencing...

Some people pride themself on how well they can smack a small white ball with a stick on a golf course. Others pride themselves on how accurately they can shoot a firearm.

Also, I am a certifiable physics geek, and there are very few inexpensive hobbies that are more physics-intensive than rifle shooting. (Aviation is more physics-intensive, but it's not inexpensive...) Many shooters are mechanically inclined, and I'll bet the percentage of photographers among shooters is higher than in the population at large. My younger sister is a shooter and she also happens to be a professional engineer (she double-majored in Engineering and Mathematics at NC State).

Gun owners also tend to lean individualist rather than collectivist, and have a high view of individual rights. If you hang around the High Road much, you'll find nearly as much disdain for free-speech restrictions and 4th-amendment violations as for the latest gun-grab attempt, and you'll find a lot of sympathy with the ACLU except for their dyslexic view of the Second Amendment (in our opinion, though I know you would probably disagree). Note that individualist does NOT mean conservative; Big Brother communitarian conservatives are as antithetical to the individualist/libertarian mindset as any Big Brother communitarian liberals...

So I suppose it's also a freedom thing. The guns in my gun safe are a tangible reminder that my wife and I are free people. We don't own those at the dispensation of some elite individual; we can own them because we are free people. That's probably a cultural thing and I wouldn't expect you to feel the same way, but the freedom issue runs very, very deeply with most gun enthusiasts.

You might also find the following book about gun enthusiasts interesting, written by anthropologist Abigail A. Kohn:

Shooters: Myths and Realities of America's Gun Cultures

 

[El Tejon]

Because they are the best way to fight.

 

[bogie]

Guns are analog.

 

[CAS700850]

Funny, I was more or less asked this question the other day. I think I can trace my interest back to the day my grandfather and father were shooting cans and such with a pair of .22's. Grandfather caled me over, helped me hold the Marlin .22, while I aimed and pulled the trigger. I hit a can on my first shot. I was six.

About the same time, according to my mother, I became enamoured of cowboy and police shows (The Lone Ranger, Adam 12, SWAT, etc.), and my toy selection usually included guns (Johnny West, G.I. Joe, Action Jackson, cap guns, etc.). As I got older, I started playing sports, but the other interests were there. Of course, this was back in the days when a child could play with a toy gun without someone sending him to a psychologist.

Got involved in Boy Scouts, and spent time at camp every summer, where I would spend large amounts of my camp funds on .22 ammo. I still remember when the camp stopped charging $ .25 for 10 shots, and started giving away ammo that was donated by someone. I earned my Rifle and Shotgun Merit Badge that year. At the same time, I met some people through Scouts who were military involved, sparking that interest. This led to me going into the Army, via West Point, where the interest in guns continued unabated.

Fast forward to law school, where I associated with other ex-military and more conservative thinkers. We discovered that we were all shooters, and started shooting together. Took an internship with the Justice Department (easy credits, no exam), and saw that prosecuting was fun, and offered more shooting opportunities. And here I am.

I guess that I am a product of my environment, and my interest grew out of that. The fact that I have been good at it made it more enjoyable, and increased the interest.

 

[Stickjockey]

This pretty much sums it up for me:

Metal and Wood

 

[Matthew748]

I like guns for several reasons. Guns are precision machines or tools that do not require computer chips, gasoline, or electricity to operate. I find this kind of refreshing nowadays. I also enjoy the outdoor aspect of it. I am more of a music, computers, and books type of guy. Shooting forces me to get out and “enjoy the day.” I also really like reloading, load development, and just working with reloading tools. This would be pointless if I did not have a means to consume the fruits of my labor. I could go on and on, but I think I have hit a few of my main points.

 

[mfree]

1. handheld 8 to >64oz devices
2. finely machined to tolerances generally less than .001"
3. capable of withstanding internal pressures in excess of 30,000PSI
4. ....repeatedly
5. while launching a 30 to 300 grain projectile well over the speed of sound
6. and capable of directing that projectile's line of flight by spin of many thousands of RPM
7. within a general angle of 1/300 (that translates out to 1MOA for the rest of you)
8. while ensuring personal freedom and safety
9. and pissing off the people who think I shouldn't be relied on for either.

 

[Brett Bellmore]

Political philosphy. "All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing." I think of myself as a good man, and mean to be able to do something.

Plus, it annoys my Senators.

 

[MrMex]

If someone's going to die, it's not going to be me (or my family).

Plus it's just fun!

 

[EghtySx]

I've gotten that EXACT question from women before. I know you think she was just being genuinely curious, but there is obvious arrogance in that question, which is actually not a question at all (because there is no answer to it and she knows it).

Exactly.

Why do you like the color red? Why do you like burritos? How come you like monopoly but hate checkers?

There is no answer. People are different. It is just personal preference as to why you like oen thing over another. Oh sure, there can be subtle reasons for some of these things but basically it just boils down to an emotion that you are trying to quantify. Like the old thing about trying to tell a blind person what the color blue is.

 

[Werewolf]

I'm the kinda guy that likes to see the results of his work NOW. Not 10 minutes from now, not a week or a year from now but NOW!

With guns the feedback is almost instant. Pull the trigger and within a few mili-seconds you know the results of your work.

Then again the world isn't the same as it was in the 50's when I was a boy. It's not the same as it was in the 60's when I was a teenager or the 70's when I was married or even the 80's when I was raising my family.

I never used to worry about locking my car or my house. I never used to worry about walking to my car in a mall parking lot or whether or not I might get blown up in a bus or shot by some madman at work.

Over the years my guns have primarily been for recreation but in the last 10 years or so have taken on the added responsibility of being necessary tools used to provide security.

 

[thereisnospoon]

The little voices in my head told me to like them and clean them and rub them and shoot them and call them "George".

 

[Werewolf]

Many are claiming that the question Why do you like guns so much? is a non-question to which there is no answer.

I call BS on that one.

One of the things that seperates adults from children is that adults understand themselves, they know why they do what they do and why they like or dislike the various things in their lives.

When a child does something and an adult asks why, a most common reply from the child is I don't know. And guess what - in many cases they really don't know - especially when they're still in the single digit age range.

There's something just - well - disturbing about an adult so out of touch with himself that he cannot articulate the reasons why he likes or dislikes something. It's even more disturbing when that something is firearms.

 

[alpineman]

Because having survived cancer taught me how valuable my life is, and my gun helps protect my life.

Because living in a "low-rent" part of town taught me that the police cannot protect you all the time. I don't have to call 911 for my gun.

Because I love living in a country of liberty won by men with guns.

Because shooting is one of the things my wife and I enjoy doing together.

Mainly, though, because I'm a man, and we men love things that go BOOM!

 

[GunGoBoom]

Interesting subject

Well, there most definitely is an answer to why. Interest in guns is a 'perfect storm' of a variety of instinctive interests which men have, and women too, though to a lesser extent.

A. Obviously, the most compelling reasons revolve around the impartation of POWER to the user/owner/weider, or put another way, as an *equailizer* of power, and could be broken down into these categories:

1. Defense against a tyrannical government or invading force - given history, it's quite a comfort to know their is a seriously-armed populace out there. To me, this is the most compelling reason for gun ownerhsip.
2. Closely related, Defense against criminals / violent aggressors / dangerous animals, for obvious reasons - especially to the weaker among us (elderly, crippled/disabled, women, etc.). To me, this is the second most important reason for gun ownership & interest.
3. Some people (criminals) wrongfully use them to intimidate/control others to get what they want (cooperation from a spouse/SO, money in a robbery, etc.)

B. The second general reason involves their use as a tool, and goodness knows how men love tools:

1. Hunting - guns represent an endless variety of tool configurations, to accomplish the task of taking game of endless varieties under various conditions.
2. The curiosity & interest many of us having in how a complex tool operates - and the satisfaction of the solid construction of a tool that is designed to last for decades and generations to come. Simply a love of tools/engineering/physics come into play here, as well as a feeling satisfaction that your money went to something that will retain its value and hold up for generations, quite unlike something like a computer, which will be worth a mere fraction of what you gave for it 6 months later, and quite unlike what most women like to blow their money on - worthless crap like jewelry, makeup, knick-knacks, beanie babies or whatever. I guess buying quality tools is a way for us to feel like we're being financially responsible in a twisted & rationalizing sort of way, and perhaps even be a little self-righteous about it vis a vis our women SOs. This is true for all tools, not just guns. Also, the idea of something lasting means something we can pass down to our kids/heirs when we die, which is probably a subconscious psychological way of adding to an attempt at immortality, which I believe is a deep psychological drive all of us have whether we realize it or not. This is why we love things that will last longer than we will - we like the idea of our kids telling their kids "your grandpa gave this to me".
3. The sheer fun of the various shooting sports as a hobby - the challenge & intrigue of being able to get teen weeny little groups at long ranges, or beat your competition - the competitive spirit - no more or less than any other sport in theory, but when you combine a gun sport WITH the other reasons for owning guns, a synergy is created greater than the sum of the parts which makes getting little groups or knocking down steel plates in a hurry more fun that it *should be* otherwise. And as someone said, the instant feedback is gratifying too, as compared with other things we do in our life or other team sports. This gratification is similar to ANY OTHER sport which is an individual sport rather than a team sport, such as boxing, tennis, wrestling, etc. - you have only you to blame if you fail, and you know that if you work to improve yourself, you WILL improve your game for sure, and thus your time invested in practice is directly rewarded, unlike team sports where no matter how good you play, the other yahoos on your team can bring you down if they haven't practiced enough and/or don't put forth enough effort.

C. The third general category revolves around their historical interest - use in wars past, etc. This is not a factor if one is not a history buff to any degree, but many many people are interested in history, and guns are an integral part of war, and wars represent the turning points in history, and the manifestation of conflict among people that recorded history may not reflect accurately up until the war actually breaks.

D. Almost forgot - men instinctively, as a macho thing, like things which are *LOUD* and can *DESTROY THINGS* - this is the kid in us, and a very primal instinct I think. Boys/men like anything BIG and LOUD, especially trucks, airplanes and such. Guns are not big, but they are loud. The part about destroying stuff is pretty inexplicable - it's just fun to blow up gallon milk jugs of water for some unkown reason, but certainly its related to a little chemical called testosterone. Obviously, there's quite a bit of overlap here, and not a clean separation into my categories, because the urge to HUNT, talking about guns as tools above, is in turn caused by the same primal instincts, carried down from our time as cavemen/hunters, when we had to do that to survive.

 

[MAUSER88]

I've been fasinated with them since the age of 5. I really can't say why though. Just something I always liked.

 

[Bobo]

I like guns because;

guns are remarkable mechanical contrivances,
guns are efficient weapons.

 

[chas_martel]

I have a lack of trust in any male that does not
show some intrigue in firearms.

At the same time, I have trouble articulating EXACTLY
why I like guns.

Although I do find some agreement with virtually
everyone that has posted thus far on this thread.

Has she ever read Freud's comment about
people that are afraid of weapons?

 

[MasterPiece Arms.com]

Oh bro-ther,

Many are claiming that the question Why do you like guns so much? is a non-question to which there is no answer.

I call BS on that one.

One of the things that seperates adults from children is that adults understand themselves, they know why they do what they do and why they like or dislike the various things in their lives.

When a child does something and an adult asks why, a most common reply from the child is I don't know. And guess what - in many cases they really don't know - especially when they're still in the single digit age range.

There's something just - well - disturbing about an adult so out of touch with himself that he cannot articulate the reasons why he likes or dislikes something. It's even more disturbing when that something is firearms.

There's always one in every group discussion who wants to sound profound by playing the ultra ultra LITERAL card.

Yea, no kidding genius, of course it's possible to LITERALLY answer the question (last time I checked, by definition, EVERY question has an answer if one chooses to provide one), but that wasn't/isn't the point. Hey "Werewolf," before you imply that others are "childish" in their arguments, you might want to listen to the nearest 7 year old so as to notice how they are limited by their literal interpretation of every statement they hear.

THE POINT of saying that the question "why do you like guns so much" has no answer, is that in ADULT context, the question was loaded with passive agressiveness, and thus not an actual question. For example "werewolf," if I ask you how you missed the point by a country mile, I'm not actually asking a literal question. Yes, the question does has a LITERAL answer, but only if one is too naive to see the motive behind the "question."

No one ever claimed they didn't know or "cannot articulate the reasons why he likes or dislikes something." Most of this thread is loaded with people articulating their reasons just fine. Pay closer attention before you tell people they are "out of touch with themselves" or that they "don't know why they do things." I bet everyone here knows exactly why they like guns. Give us a break werewolf.

 

[jefnvk]

Why is irrelevant. I have the freedom to do so, it isn't hurting anyone else, so it should be of no concern to anyone else.

Why do people go window shopping? Why do people build huge jeeps and go mudding? Why do people sew their own clothes? Why do people build their own computers and play video games?

Because they can, and they like doing so.

 

[Kalashnikov]

I love guns because they are not just tools to me. They are symbols of many things, they are symbols of america and freedom, and justice to me. More so rifles then shotguns or pistols but all guns mean the same thing to me. They mean strength, they mean life, they mean freedom. When I hold my rifle, I know that I am free and no other man may take that away from me.

Also there is much history in guns. They have been in existance for over 500 years. They have changed the world more than almost any other invention. To me, guns aren't tool's....they're a way of life.

 

[Alex45ACP]

Devices that launch projectiles at high rates of speed with loud noises...

What's not cool about that?

 

[Janitor]

"... My mind isn't on the job or the bills, or the deadlines... It's fun, it's loud, anyone ... "

Bingo.

I work in disaster recovery, and as you can probably imagine, it can be a somewhat high pressure job.

Shooting is a Zen thing for me.

 

[carebear]

It isn't a non-question at all.

Why do you like anything? For each thing you like there is a reason or reasons. They may be subconscious or hard to verbalize but they're there.

It, to me, is the height of arrogance to presume to know the motivation of someone's questions or actions. You may sometimes be able to guess or deduce from context, but in this case you don't have the information to make a contextual presumption. Which makes your response seem a bit aggressively negative and confrontational.

It is a subjective question, but I happen to like to know why people do what they do and think what they think. Motivation and intent are what make people who they are.