A coupla years ago (and no, the gun debate here hasn't changed one lick since then - only the names of the rappers on the Billboard 100) I asked "in what circumstances has anyone actually had to use a gun." The same question as was just posed here.
There wasn't really any response to that, except that I remember something like Lazs waking up to noise, and chasing off some guy/s trying to steal his car.
Meanwhile, he plays up the fact that city folk live in a minority-laden cesspool, while he lives in the crime-free nirvana known as Dixon California. Yet... the guns. For... protection.
I'm not pro-gun. I'm not anti-gun. I'm who-gives-a-rats-arse-about-guns.
To me? Honestly there is a psychological component at work that can't be ignored. Fantasy-land. It's about being on the defense. Perceived threats. Daydreaming about the time (which is never going to come unless you are a statisctical abberation) when you actually have to use it.
Super-hero type fantasy chit.
I'm gonna take a stab at why that is. Or at least one aspect. And I aint talking about hunting.... that's a whole nuther thing which I understand completely.
K.
Lets take a typical hobby. Fishing, or say golf. Now when someone buys the required equipment, they get to actually use it. And spare me the "gun ranges," because that's tantamount to casting a lure into my back yard.
Guns weren't made for shattering bottles. That's just prep-work for the show that aint never going to come. Or will it? .. ah, "what I'd do, if..."... BAM! Back into fantasy land.
So what can a gun owner who will never get to use his gun do except daydream about using it? Nothing.
But what kind of hobby is that? What can a gun enthusiast get enthusiastic over?
Really, it is the possibilities... The "ifs". Fantasyland.
So what gives these fantasies real juice? It is the crime statistics; it is the defense of the 2nd Ammendment; it is in reading magazines about other people's statistically rare brush with a gun being used by somebody somewhere.
And it is in defending pretty-much insignificant objects on a BBS.
They may not get their dream gun fight ever in their lives, but they can get fights about guns. I suppose that will have to do. Not many facets to being a gun enthusiast, and so not a hell of a lot of other options. Arguing about guns is every bit as much a part of owning a gun as using one.
Show me a gun owner who doesn't care what the hell you think about him having a gun, and I'll show you the rare Ginkacto bird found only in the deepest reaches of the jungle Quanzania.
Conversely, tell me that my fishing rod kills innocent fish and you'll be lucky if I'm feeling arsed enough to reply. That is if I'm not already out fishing.
Neways... have at 'er.
