michal-idan-courtesy-thetruthaboutguns-com

“To get a sense of the nation’s addiction to firearms, consider the numbers,” wired.com asks its readers. “More than 11 million firearms are manufactured in the US each year, and another five million are imported. Americans own more guns than anyone else in the world.” Let’s all say it together: something must be done! 

desantis-blue-logo-no-back-4-smallBuy more guns! More to the point, I’ve been told that the only way to tell if you’re addicted to something is to remove it and see if you suffer withdrawal. After spending a weekend in “gun free” New York City, I can report that yes, I did experience withdrawal symptoms; mostly dramatically, increased situational awareness. How about you? Are you a gun addict?

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73 COMMENTS

  1. No, I’m just addicted to self-preservation and freedom. Firearms are simply a means to that end.

    • Totally agree. Short, simple, and to the point.

      It’s sad that the anti-gunners feel we are obsessed, and even addicted. What they fail to admit is:

      – that crimes involving firearms has been dropping, except where guns are heavily restricted.
      – That the 2nd Amendment is their amendment too, and they will never, if they had their way, be able to change their views and avail themselves of this basic right.
      – That they can restrict firearms (in practically all cases ala UK, Australia, and NZ) but criminals will still have and use them against good people.
      – that not everyone lives in the city where there are large police forces, and people in rural areas face very different situations than urban dwellers.
      – that crimes involving firearms (or replicas) have increased greatly in the UK, where law enforcement officers are being trained and granted more access to firearms to counter what the bad guys have and use.
      – that property and personal crimes in Australia soared following gun bans which law enforcement attributes to a lack of fear on the part of criminals of being injured or killed.

  3. Not any more than liberal morons are addicted to the idea that laws stop criminals. Just saying.

  4. I am addicted to my rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness.

    To what extent firearms are an element of any of those rights is not relevant.

    (Note that firearm ownership falls under all of those rights.)

  6. The difference between an addict and a connoisseur comes down to the cost of the habit. I just bought a Korth…this week I’m a connoisseur.

      • Initial impressions:

        Trigger: adjustable pull weight, mine is still in the default setting. I have no desire to mess with the screws to adjust it yet. Very short pull on the heavier side in double action. No discernable over travel. Incredibly smooth, makes everything else feel like gravel. Single Action is crisp and clean…amazing as expected.

        Ergonomics: roughly equivalent to a K/L frame in the grip, and between the two for the rest of the frame. Lighter than it looks. Wood grips have an elegant right thumb rest that amazingly hasn’t been copied by Smith & Wesson yet. Thumb activated cylinder release is very intuitive. No idea why Nighthawk/Korth deleted it on the new models.

        Fit and finish: glossy black bluing polished to a smooth, reflective, obsidian. Pictures cannot do it justice. Stunning yet understated. Blows any old Colt or Smith I’ve handled out of the water. Nothing shakes or rattles on this revolver. Cylinder rotates the correct way. Everything is very tight. Have yet to measure cylinder gap with feeler gauges, however.

        Status signaling: my FFL was afraid to touch it.

        Range report: haven’t shot it yet and but I bet it will be more accurate than I am.

  7. Considering I’ve gone from inhaling powder smoke to snorting gunpowder and now I’m mainlining Hoppe’s No. 9… yeah I might have a problem.

    • You, sir – YOU are one of those “ENABLERS” who drag us unwitting innocents into the clutches of wiseasses who make me addicted to TTAG!

  8. I’m addicted to liberty. A firearm in my hand secures that liberty.

    “Let the gun be a constant companion in your walks.” – Thomas Jefferson

  10. To be “addicted” one must undergo withdrawal if removed. I guess America would wither and die with gun withdrawl so I guess it might be an addiction.

    They’re right something must be done. Why is only ~1/20th the population buying a gun each year? Is the economy bad? Are regulations too tight? “How do we arm the other 11” should be a serious question.

  13. I bought a gun this year, three years since my last gun purchase. I’ve reached the point where I have more than one gun for my various needs, now I’m buying guns that are higher quality when I feel I can afford them, so I’m buying at a slower rate. Although I do appreciate when a friend brings something new to the range.

    However, I think I am addicted to shooting. If I don’t get out to the range in a couple of weeks I get grumpy. And that’s ok, I’m not robbing people to pay for it, and I’m not hurting anybody.

  15. Wired.com sucks.

    They used to be about all things “wired.” But now they are just another liberal tech rag with bleeding emotions. No sale!

    • Technowienies that decided they want to try to get chicks. So stupid they think that selfcastration and feminism will get them laid. See also demtards “metrosexuals” of the last 50years.

      Grow a pair tinkerbells. Then get rid of the apple crap and gun up.

  17. More than 11 million firearms are manufactured in the US each year, and another five million are imported. Americans own more guns than anyone else in the world.” Let’s all say it together:

    America Rocks!!!!?

  18. I wasn’t aware liberty, self defense, personal responsibility, and adherence to US Constitution were addictions.

  19. Not even susceptible to “Wired”, fully inoculated against liberal BS.

    They got more play here than with their standard distribution.

    • Funny how all of those around me seem to be buying and shooting guns at an ever increasing rate. Yes, I too am an enabler.

  21. According to Wiki:
    Addiction is a medical condition characterized by compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli, despite adverse consequences.[8] Despite the involvement of a number of psychosocial factors, a biological process – one which is induced by repeated exposure to an addictive stimulus – is the core pathology that drives the development and maintenance of an addiction.[1][9] The two properties that characterize all addictive stimuli are that they are reinforcing (i.e., they increase the likelihood that a person will seek repeated exposure to them) and intrinsically rewarding (i.e., perceived as being positive or desirable).[1][3][7]

    Addiction is a medical condition – So could this condition be used to terminate rights?
    despite adverse consequences – Simply because one may exhibit a certain infatuated proclivity towards the procurement and enjoyment of firearms, adversity need not apply. As long as the financial and social facets of life are not negatively affected, then the term addiction really doesn’t seem to apply.

    Can firearms actually provide an addictive stimulus as independent objects? No I say; unlike sex, or tobacco, or drugs, which physically alter the biological processes.

    The two properties that characterize all addictive stimuli are that they are reinforcing (i.e., they increase the likelihood that a person will seek repeated exposure to them) and intrinsically rewarding (i.e., perceived as being positive or desirable).[1][3][7]

    Does owning a firearm increase the likelihood that a person will seek repeated exposure?

    Are they intrinsically rewarding?

    Question? Am I Addicted to guns?

    Yep.

  23. Am I Addicted to Guns?

    No not really.
    I don’t really like firearms since they are such an antiquated technology.

    But until they come along and figure out a better way
    how to stop a bad guy with a gun unless it’s a good guy with a gun,
    I’ll keep my gun.

  26. I’m addicted to cars, guns, and computers. Right now I am drooling over late 20s to early 30s hotrods. Not the jolly ranchers, the old school builds.

  27. I have to admit, if I go more than a few weeks without ringing some steel downrange, I start to get a little shaky and twitchy.

    Winter sucks.

  29. I am addicted to freedom.

    I have been to places where basic freedoms are restricted, where most people are subjugated under the rule of those with guns, and I did not like it at all. I once lived in Western Europe where there is this thin veneer of freedom disguising a brand of “happy” tyranny, and I wasn’t fooled. I will be damned if I allow that to happen in the USA.

    No, my guns are for preserving my addiction to freedom.

  30. Anybody else weirded out by the teenage girl in the choker trying to be sexy…

    It’s very “the Professional” esk.

    • That’s Michal Idan, one of RF’s Israeli Supermodels.

      When I first saw it, I thought it was Kirsten Joy Weiess.

      Whatever happened to KJ, TTAG?

      • She’s doing her own thing on Youtube & other social media. Per her instagram postings she’s on a hunting trip in Africa & taking some great photos. I do miss her on TTAG, too!

      • She looks 12 yrs old from the shoulders up, but she’s all woman from the shoulders down…

  31. no not really, but i am a non-dipshit person addict. so being in the north doesn’t work out to well for me

  35. Not at all addicted. Maybe OCD? Hey I just joined a FB group of “DEPLORABLES”…that should be fun.

  36. I don’t judge an addiction base on withdrawals. If base on that then I am addicted to water, food and sleep.
    My definition of addiction is not based on the results from abstinence, rather the harmful effects of continuing a behavior.
    An addiction is destructive to a happy life. Does it cost you your job? Your relationships? Are you failing to provide necessities for yourself or your dependents?
    If the answer is no, then buy more guns.
    Life is good!

  37. I can stop any time. In fact, I haven’t bought a shootin’ iron in over a year.

    Now, ammo, optics, and accessories, on the other hand. . .

  39. Dear TTAG:

    I am not addicted to guns.

    Unfortunately, my guns are addicted to ammo.

    I tried to wean them off expensive American ammo a couple of years ago by substituting cheap imported ammo, but it didn’t work. They demanded the good stuff.

    Is there anyone out there who can help?

    Signed,

    A Concerned American
    (No, not that horse’s @ss)

  41. I have shot guns for over 50 years, owned them for over 40, competed on a Navy shooting team, taken about 80 hours of defensive gun training in the last three years and carry every day, every where I can. But I am not addicted or even much of a gun fancier. I don’t enjoy going to the range and there are not many training courses I would want to take if I could anymore. I keep and bear arms for defense, and to exercise an endangered constitutional right. Also, if I were addicted, I would also be broke!

  42. Do I hide my gun buying from my wife? Well. Ah. Not all of them.

    Does buying guns cause me to miss work? Well, only because I have to take time off work to hide my gun buying from my wife.

    I guess that’s a solid maybe on addiction

  44. YES I would appear to be , but also tractors and knives and tools and scopes and ammo and bows and air guns too , but NO , I can give up and live without any of these , just like I gave up drinking alcohol and smoking everything , the only addiction I can not give up is the addiction I have rejoicing in my redemption from the bondage that is tied to being addicted to anything else . This redemption is where I truly get my freedoms , the tools are just ONE way I choose to safeguard these freedoms , if I was left naked and awaiting the gas chambers , I would still have the only freedom I truly need , my redemption by the Cross and resurrection .

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