Do you have a gun fetish?

By EB

Most people purchase guns as fetish items. You’re probably already reacting from a defensive perspective to that statement: “My gun is not a fetish item! It’s a tool. A proud heritage. That which keeps me and my family safe.” And all of those things may very well be true, but is that why you purchased that gun?  Or are those just the justifications? . . .

Before I go on, let’s talk a little bit about the word fetish.  It’s a loaded word. To most people, it immediately invokes sexual fetishism, which inevitably pushes a lot of people out of their comfort zone. That meaning of the word is actually fairly recent, dating only back to the turn of the last century. Originally, the word fetish referred specifically to objects used by indigenous peoples of the Guinea coast as magical amulets.

As befitting its heritage as a word used to describe magical objects, the word holds similar power today. It’s used to refer to any object that carries unusual psychological weight. Imagine the difference between a gun and — arbitrarily — a stapler. Pick the right gun and the right stapler and they are of similar size, similar weight, and they are both broadly classified as tools. But which carries more psychological weight? Which is more celebrated in prose, in cinema, in song? You see my point.

Often gun owners are asked why they feel the need to have a gun when the chances of them needing to use it are so vanishingly small. A standard response is, “I don’t expect to have a fire in my house, either, but I have a fire extinguisher.” The not-so-subtle argument here is that a gun is a useful tool — just one that is not useful that often. Which is a fair enough point, but people don’t moon over their fire extinguishers the way they moon over their guns.

You don’t read about people being “proud owners” of fire extinguishers. People don’t clean and polish their fire extinguishers regularly (most people can’t even be bothered to replace fire extinguishers on the recommended schedule). People don’t take their fire extinguishers out and gaze lovingly at them while they write articles for The Truth About Fire Extinguishers.

What’s ridiculous to me is not the fetishism — which I understand and support — it’s the desperate attempt to hide the fetishism. Perhaps people feel the need to hide the fetishism because it would make gun rights harder to support.  It’s easier for a politician to take away your guns if you say “I own this because I’m fascinated by it” than if you say “I own this because I need it to defend my life and property.” And in the political fight for gun ownership rights, it is doubtless prudent to downplay the fetishistic nature of guns.

The gun world is not devoid of people willing to confess to their motivations. You don’t have to look far on a gun forum to find someone saying “I have a gun because it’s wicked cool.” The point I’m trying to make is that is a much more common motivation than people are willing to admit.

I certainly own guns because they are fetish objects. I live in a very safe city and I suspect there’s about as much chance as me needing to engage in a DGU in my lifetime as there is of me winning the lottery (and if that happened, I would certainly have more guns). I have tried wrapping myself in the cloak of “reasons.” I have tried telling myself (and others) that I own guns for various high-minded reasons, such as self-defense or prophylactic against governmental tyranny. It has always felt false though, so now I tell people I own guns because I’m fascinated by guns.

I’m not criticizing you if your rationale for gun ownership is truly, deeply grounded in some noble reason. I’m just a proponent of self-knowledge and honesty. If you own guns because they are useful to you, know that deeply. If you own guns as fetish items, don’t be ashamed of it.

I also think the defensive rhetoric isn’t helping the “gun rights” cause.  If you want to defend a cause, honesty is your best friend. Say what you will about the irrational thinking of “antis,” but they are not dumb people (any more than you are), and they can smell insincerity. By pretending to be something you aren’t, you are playing to a stereotype: brainwashed puppets of the NRA.

I am certainly not the first person to understand that guns are fetish objects.  I particularly enjoyed Stephen Marche’s compelling article, “Guns are Beautiful.” Unfortunately, even though Marche may see the truth of gun fetishism, he connects gun fetishism to gun violence. He even starts his otherwise excellent article with the statement “to stop gun violence, we need to stop fetishising guns.” I may not agree with this assessment, but I agree with him that guns are beautiful.

Perhaps I’m wrong; I am not a sociologist with a clever experiment designed to prove my hypothesis, and I’m not sure what the value of such an experiment would be anyway. However, if I have made even one person examine their motivations, I don’t feel that my words are entirely in vain.

Perhaps some of you will even join me as self-described gun fetishists.

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101 COMMENTS

    • Sorry Paul, have to disagree with you on this one.

      Why did I just spend close to 8 hours studying the just-oh-so-right looking period scope and mount for a surplus SKS?

      Because it looks cool, that’s why.

      There’s no rationalization beyond that. If anything, going with a more modern optic would have been the prudent choice, but I want a beautiful tableau of history when I pull that motherf-cker out of its case.

      • Period scope & mount for SKS? Where? Where? Century had something 20 yrs back with a Mannlicher style side mount with quick detachable wingnut levers.

        I like Vietnam War commie stuff. Served one tour as a chopper pilot & the grunts would hop on board with all sorts of interesting stuff found in caches. SKS’s were expensive since they were importable. The legal AK’s twenty years later allowed me to reconstruct the one I carried in the cockpit but could not bring back. Yeah, heard all the stories about dismantled AK’s in Sansui & Pioneer speaker cabinets.

        Fetishes? No, guns are simply cool. Owning them also reminds me of the precious freedoms lacking in nearly all the rest of the world. Hope I can hang around a few more years to enjoy them.

        Both the freedoms & the guns, that is.

      • I don’t completely disagree with the article but it /is/ poorly written. I couldn’t get past the first few paragraphs.

  2. Eh, I don’t have a gun fetish per se, it’s more of an overall machine/tool fetish of which guns are a small part.

    • I concur. The most fascinating aspect of firearms to me is the mechanics. Direct gas impingement, long-stroke piston, short-stroke piston, block back, delayed roller-lock, etc. All means of operation are intriguing. Who didn’t take a toy apart as a kid just to see how it worked?

    • Those are .22 LR rounds. I was told they used to make those and they were easy to find throughout the land. On the other hand, I drink and my kids say I tell silly stories.

    • I think they are unicorn horns, but they are missing their traditional protective coating: bald eagle tears.

    • I was wondering the same thing so I googled it. Apparently in the years prior to 2012 there were these things called .22 long rifle cartridges. Other than that I can’t tell you much about it.

      • I’m a history buff and I’d like to learn more about that two-two watchamacallit. Is there a museum or someplace where I can go to see one?

        • Come out to gun range I’ll show you 150 of them before I load em up and send them down range, like I do twice a month 12 months out of the year. Do it with a group of women, goes by name of A Gun & A Girl.

          I have guns because I love shooting them, to me it’s recreation

  4. Psht, I’m not afraid to admit it. I like guns, guns are cool. But why do I pine for some high dollar 1911, or why have I been shopping for an M&P CORE, or why do I want a high speed low drag super tactical Delta SEAL Team Team Force Alpha style AR, when a cheaper Ruger, used Glock, and a Mini 14 could do near as makes no difference the same job for a considerable cost less?

    Because I want the cool toys. Its the same reason why my humble little Scion is great around town, quiet and easy to drive, and gets great gas miliage, but I still want a GT500, a 1500whp Supra, or a sport bike.

    • Yep… the reason I own guns is because they are a usefull tool for self defense, hunting, and sport. The reason I own the specific guns I own is because each for different reasons is dead sexy to me.

      Its the reason why 98% of the AR/firearms accessories market exists.

  5. Industrial design. Along the lines of owning a fine wood saw, or probably more to the point (ha), people who collect beautifully made knives. This morning I took my Model 629 to the range. A beautifully designed object which functions. Great lines, shoots straight, feels good in my hand. A work of art. Next week I’ll get my claws on a Five-seven — now THAT purchase may get closer to what the author was talking about — a modern semi-auto pistol in an obscure caliber? Sign me up. Kind of thing that makes my socks roll up and down.

  6. I hate thisbarticle … This just anti-bait….

    That being said I have a fetish for pistol caliber carbines and pistols that accept matching ammo and magazines…..

    • So I take it you may (or may not) have a Keltec Sub2k paired up with it’s respective Glock then eh?

        • If I could find a keltec sub2000 at a decent price I would have one with the s&w mags. I’m an m&p pistol kind of guy ( and a lefty so I can make 5906 mags work in my pistol). A jrc with an m&p magwell is high on my list (they make those now!)

          The Beretta and a ruger 44 mag combo are also on the list, not necessarily in that order.

          Too many guns too little money!

        • Shoot! I just saw a S&W 59 compatible SUB2K on Gunbroker that sold for $300 NEW. Everyone wants the Glock models.

  8. My gun is not a fetish. Unlike a stapler or a pipe wrench, it is a symbol of my right as a free individual. A slave or a subject does not have a gun. My grandparents, before they came to this country from Eastern Europe, were not allowed to own guns. When I lived in Massachusetts, I was not allowed to own a handgun (legally) unless I sought permission from my local police chief. When I moved to America (Arizona), no such permission was required.

    • “Unlike a stapler or a pipe wrench, it is a symbol of my right as a free individual. ”

      ^^This is actually exactly what the author is arguing makes your gun a fetish item… just sayin

  9. The definition of a fetish is an inanimate object believed to have magical powers or powers over others. Let’s think about that for a second. Do guns have magical powers to make you shoot someone? Why are negligent discharges and shootings always reported in the passive voice?

    I don’t know anyone who has a gun who thinks it has magical powers to stop crime. They may think its a useful deterrent, or useful as a last-resort insurance policy (or both). On the other hand, I read blather from a lot of gun controllers who think that the “availability” of guns causes crime, as if the guns themselves have magical powers to cause people to make bad choices. Who really has a gun fetish, I wonder (ok not really)?

    I don’t think the OP really knows what a fetish is. People are always trying to one-up other people, whether its cars, watches, smart phones, vacations, or guns. Just because I proudly post pictures of my expensive European vacation that you cannot afford on Facebook, that does not make be a vacation fetishist. Mostly, it makes me snobby and annoying. If I own a coin collection, take it out and look at it from time to time does that make me a coin fetishist? Ridiculous. Just a collector.

    Sure, people collect guns the way they collect everything else. I don’t know why people have a problem with a collection of inanimate objects, unless they ascribe those things magical powers to cause the owner make a bad choice and to shoot someone.

    So, if you think a collection of inanimate objects is anything other than a collection… you might be a fetishist. And, you might be projecting your fetishism on other people.

    • noun

      1. an object regarded with awe as being the embodiment or habitation of a potent spirit or as having magical potency.

      2. any object, idea, etc., eliciting unquestioning reverence, respect, or devotion: to make a fetish of high grades.

      3. Psychology . any object or nongenital part of the body that causes a habitual erotic response or fixation

  10. Ahh, I guess I can’t get over the word Fetish. To me that just means something else and sounds creepy. But yeah, I get your point. And I admit it. I’ve been an admirer of firearms since I was knee high (literally) and have had some form of gun since I was about 4. (I’m guessing that would probably bunch up the panties of an Anti or two). The reality is, it was always the kids who’s parents made guns a bad thing/created a stigma that would act like foolish asses any time they were around one, and would point them at people, etc. Kind of the Catholic school girl phenomena. Or the way Europeans are with beer.

  11. There aren’t hordes of people people attempting to legislate away my fire extinguisher.

    • What caliber is your fire extinguisher? Will it hold more than 10 pounds of fire retardant? Do you have a permit to own it?
      Wait till 2015, you might need one then!

      • A 15 lb dry chemical fire extinguisher is fairly large and can be used as an offensive weapon. Maybe the “anti-extinguisher” zealots will show up soon.

        /sarc

    • Right. And most of that legislation is driven by emotion that is completely divorced from the reality of the gun itself. That emotional reaction to “guns” is precisely why Mr Zimmerman is saying they have psychological weight beyond their rational place as simply tools.

  13. Based on this article I have a fetish of sorts for several types of things mechanical… Go karts, motorcycles, old tools, my ’66 ford and guns as well as many others.

    I like neat stuff.

    I also however have guns and vehicles that do NOT fit in the “neat stuff” category. Those I own for the utility alone. They have a purpose and were bought as such.

    Generalizations from our own do not help the cause.

  14. I like guns, but I have no desire to cram them in my ass. If I did, that would be a gun fetish.

  15. I’m gong to go half in on this theory as I can see the authors point. First and foremost, guns are a tool, and different guns are purpose built for specific applications. Also certain calibers are purpose built(loaded) for specific applications. Having a well rounded tool box is a sign of dedication to the chosen craft.

    I suppose it become fetishism if you own multiples of the same style of weapon in the same caliber of weapon. A full size 1911 for arguments sake is the same as any other full size 1911 in doing it’s job.

    I own a Glock 19 in black and one in OD green and a PPQ Mk1 and Mk2 both in 9mm. Same gun, same application, no appreciable difference = fetish. It doesn’t make me a bad person does it?

    If it does can I get a spanking?

  16. — Pick the right gun and the right stapler and they are of similar size, similar weight, and they are both broadly classified as tools.

    My Stapler is a “Gun”.

    —You don’t read about people being “proud owners” of fire extinguishers. People don’t clean and polish their fire extinguishers regularly (most people can’t even be bothered to replace fire extinguishers on the recommended schedule). People don’t take their fire extinguishers out and gaze lovingly at them while they write articles for The Truth About Fire Extinguishers —

    There also aren’t persons who think that owning a Fire Extinguisher is morally wrong. and attempting to outlaw privately owned fire extinguishers. Fire fighting should be left to the well trained professionals. How dare you think you can be a vigilante and fight that fire yourself? – Somebody could get HURT! Children even! What if a Child finds that fire extinguisher – pulls the pin and sticks the hose in it’s mouth!

  17. I do think my main reason for owning my few guns is so that I can at least attempt to learn to use them properly to be able to defend myself and others if need be. But surely I am fascinated by them as well.

  18. The real fetishists are the anti-gun people. They’re the ones that embue guns with magic powers and malevolent spirits.

    So what if some gun owners find the guns they own beautiful? For many, guns are for both defense of self, family, and freedom, and it’s also a relaxing hobby. Just like someone might fish for food and enjoy it at the same time, it’s possible to be serious about self-defense and the Second Amendment, while still enjoying guns as interesting objects and shooting as a recreational activity.

  19. I don’t have unlimited disposable income for “fascinating” firearms… I guess I’m just a “function before fashion” sort of guy.

  20. IMO, we need to separate the concept of “guns as hobby items” versus “guns as life and death tools”.

    Here’s the skinny on why. If you use a gun in self defense, Mr Government is confiscating it until the bad guys case is disposed of. Which may take a few years. I’d hate to be the guy who used his dad’s heirloom 1911 for that task.

    Further, the more you shoot a gun, the more wear and tear it endures, which means more time its spending on the workbench-and more time you’re spending on Midwayusa.com swearing at the shipping price for the umpteenth time.

    Carry a Glock, M&P, etc for daily use and abuse. Shoot the cool 1911,custom CZ, Sig Elite, heirloom shotgun etc on weekends at the square range.

    • “more time you’re spending on Midwayusa.com swearing at the shipping price for the umpteenth time.”

      Which is doubly funny since just yesterday, I got an email from Midway singing their own praises about how they were lowering shipping costs.

  21. WE do not make guns a fetish. The OP should be writing to Bloomberg, Watts and that crowd. They are the fetishists and they can’t stop trying to get their dirty, stinking paws on our guns.

  22. Like the author, I’ve no qualms about admitting that I like guns simply because they’re cool, enjoyable, unique, intriguing, whatever. Fetish has nothing to do with it. As was pointed out by several people, fetish only relates to sexual context, and that’s what the haters try so desperately to do when they claim we buy guns because our penises aren’t long enough, blah, blah, blah. Sorry, but I’m completely secure in my manhood, not because of the length of my penis, but because I have something between my ears called a brain. Geez.

    In short, enjoying and buying guns isn’t one bit different from men enjoying and buying cars, motorcycles, watches, fishing gear, boats, tools, shoes, clothes, etc and women buying virtually all of the same things as well, including guns. Humans just like to spend money. That’s completely normal. What’s quite abnormal is claiming someone has a fetish just because they like guns.

    Now if you’ll excuse me I must return to browsing the webz for new guns and ammo 🙂

    Tom

    • My thoughts exactly. “Fetish” in modern usage carries a definite sexual connotation or innuendo, and the use of the phrase “gun fetishist” by gun banners is their way of saying that we reverence our firearms because of our sexual inadequacies, that guns are essentially a replacement penis, a dildo. The same is said about men who drive flashy cars or big boats, etc–that it is a form of male braggadocio. In that sense, I am not a “gun fetishist”; my admiration for a beautiful firearm is no different than my admiration for any other work of art, manmade or natural.

  23. But I did have a collection of fire extinguishers! (When working a vol. Fireman. Sadly they too were lost in that horrible boating accident along with many other ‘tools’.

  24. I did not enjoy the article- I am doubtful as to whether this should have been published. Calling a love of guns a ‘fetish’, whatever the meaning of the word, is a ridiculously dumb. Why the f…fetish would you even incite the image of a sexual gun fetish? Totally worthless article.
    P.S.-I find fire extinguishers cool. You can make a wicked prank bomb out of the foam ones.
    P.P.S.-For f…fetish’s sake, I hate you! I’ll never get the image of a guy shoving his dick down a gun barrel out of my head!

    • “You can make a wicked prank bomb out of the foam ones.”

      ROFL. From the guy lecturing about the use of the term ‘fetish’ in the article?

  25. Agreed, even if “fetish”, given its current connotation, recent or not, is not the word I’d use. I like guns. I think they’re fun. I think they’re cool. They were fascinating even as a little kid, a symbol of power (not to do evil, but to do good), a romantic image, a tragic item. Now, as a logical and rational person, if you can then say, “Plus, there is some utility in having them for safety and defense.” And, more importantly, “I understand that the danger that comes with these things I LIKE means I have to be very responsible and careful with them, and if I am, then there is no downside to being able to enjoy them beyond their utility.”

    But I think you could have made this, “We admit we simply LIKE guns beyond their base utility” would be much less loaded than the “fetish” terminology. Again, recent or not, ask people today what a fetish is, and a vast majority are going to say it has a sexual context.

  26. In terms of defending our gun rights honestly, merely saying you are fascinated by guns is as much of a cop out as saying you are only into it for self-defense. Surely we don’t have to have only one reason why we like something, so instead, why not embrace all the facets?

  27. More than a little truth here.

    As for myself…

    I own and carry a gun because I am the type of person that would. I mean that in the very best way but it’s true none the less.

  29. A day or so ago I was refreshing my memory with some research on cargo cults and stumbled upon a term I had forgotten; commodity fetishism. It’s an old Karl Marx term so it doesn’t surprise me in the least that progressives like to throw fetish around. With the exception of this TTAG article, whenever I read or hear some variation of fetish being thrown about, I tune out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_fetishism

    As far as having a gun fetish, I wouldn’t see any reason to deny if it were true. For me, it’s really a tool. I have to force myself to clean them. I don’t particularly enjoy target shooting and I haven’t hunted in years. I don’t own any safe queens and I purchase based upon reliability and price. As someone up-thread had commented similarly, firearms do represent Liberty in my mind. But, if something proven effective over many years that could be carried, as our modern firearms can be, were to come along, I would be investing considerable time researching my potential switch to the newer and better tool.

    Now, talk about motorcycles, boats, or ships? Then I’d probably have to admit to a fetish in the sense described by the article. 😉

  30. The antis use fetish for the same reason they use nut. There are more accurate and less offensive terms to embrace but I also understand it can be effective to take ownership of a derogatory term for the purpose of taking away its power. Not sure if fetish is a candidate for me yet but I have no problem admitting to anyone that I enjoy firearms in addition to the other standard (and still true) responses.

  31. I don’t think I’d call guns a fetish. But if you can’t admit that guns are just plain fun along with all the other rhetoric, then you’re just kidding yourself.

    Lighten up Francis.

  32. There is no such city as a safe city. There sections within a city that may be safe but no city is completely safe. If you don’t believe me, call you local newspaper and talk to the reporter that covers the police dept and ask about crime in your city. I have lived in cities, towns & the country – no place is completely safe. Just safer than other places. Try living without a gun. If it is only a fetish, you don’t need it. If it is necessary to have to protect you & your family it isn’t a fetish but a necessary item of your home.

  33. The term “gun fetishist” is almost always used derisively by gun rights foes, err, hoplophobes. It ties into their theory that gun owners are, by definition, mentally ill if not outright psychotic.

  34. I believe the word “fetish” is to describe a situation where a person has an unusual craving for an object. That is a craving considerably more than the average person, and one that some folks may, at times, consider not normally acceptable. This could be a food, color, or sexual preference. A common example could be when a spouse cannot totally enjoy sex, unless his, or her partner is wearing a specific article of clothing.
    I do not find the love of any particular gun to be any kind of a fetish. Just my opinion, not fact

    • But you see, don’t you, that guns are icky and disgusting, you know, like S&M or animal sex, and anyone who likes guns is sick, icky and disgusting too. This is the image they wasn’t to project to make guns and gun ownership socially unacceptable, something to be frowned upon.

      • Hmmmmmm, S & M, and animal sex. You must mean Shack’n up, and masturbation? My wafe used to say I was an “Animal” in bed, does that qualify?

  37. Big +1 rev. I found the terminology & imagery offensive. More ammo for the anti’s. “See the gun nuts with their gun fetish-magical death dealing talisman”. All I own right now is a $200 Chinese shotgun.

  39. I have some pistols that I conceal-carry. I have other firearms for “social” purposes, like applying #1 buckshot to home invaders. I have others for sporting / target use. I even have a bunch of historical reproductions because I’m a semi-pro living historian. I used to describe myself as an accumulator. When I picked up a Soviet Makarov that had been (erroneously or misleadingly) stamped “Bulgaria” on the slide, I knew I was a collector. The ONLY reason to own a PPS43 semi pistol is because they’re cool as $#!+. I do own one. I don’t describe myself as a fetishist, though. I’m a gun geek.

  40. Sorry. I don’t buy it.

    Gay used to mean happy…but it doesn’t any more. Current usage counts and when anti-gun, pro-gun control activists are using the term fetish, they mean it in with it’s current connotation. And that’s what most people will take it to mean when they hear it.

  41. You’ve basically defined art. If all guns are considered art maybe they’ll stop trying to take them from us. Certain ones should be declared art treasures and protected from destruction by law.

    Also, in the world of 1980’s BMW’s, factory installed fire extinguishers are exceedingly rare. People absolutely have a fetish for those things, as evidenced by the prices they bring.

    • If only. Art = freedom of expression = 1A protection

      Then again, government can weasel around shall not be infringed so it could probably twist away any limitation.

  43. Functional beauty. Every thing and every person should have a function, a purpose. I look at a firearm and can’t help but think of all of the thousands of years of inventors, laborers, and scientists that made these amazing devices possible. Yes indeed I am a bit obsessed with the form and function of a properly constructed firearm. I won’t deny fetishising something so beautifully designed and so useful for work, recreation, and duty.

  44. I have a couple of dozen fetishes. Mostly Zuni. That is, I collect the little hunting statues the tribe uses.

    As for my guns, yes I take then to a quiet place, put on soft music and slowly, ever so slowing strip them down to the basics. Then I..oh hell I can’t keep a straight face.

  45. “Pick the right gun and the right stapler…Which is more celebrated in prose, in cinema, in song?”

    Obviously, you have never seen Office Space. It glorified the stapler more than any movie did for any gun, ever.

    • Swingline had to start making red staplers after that movie became popular (they never had, before).

  46. Gun owners do a function check on their pistol regularly, because they don’t think it has any magical powers.

    Left-wing gun-grabbers think the revolver holds twenty rounds, and can penetrate 12 inches of concrete.

    Who’s got a gun fetish, eh?

  47. Mr Zimmerman, I think you hit a nerve here. Personally I agree with you and the defensive reactions here reflect why the gun debate is so charged–guns DO have psychological weight and we spend inordinate time discussing them on the internet precisely because of that psychological identification we all have with them. People who say a gun is “just” a tool are missing your point and need to be more honest with themselves as to why they are here discussing guns instead of somewhere else passionately debating pressure washer nozzles.

    And the flip side of the coin is even more salient–anti-gun sentiments are driven by a *negative* reaction to the same psychological elements that we find positive.

    • The reason guns are discussed so much is due to the fact that certain individuals in places of power wish to see them outlawed! The reason most people want a gun is protection. If a criminal should break into your home, what are you going to do to protect your family while you wait for the police or sheriff to arrive? The minimum response time for law enforcement can be as little as ten minutes. You or a loved one can be dead in just 3! Also, if guns are outlawed, only the criminal will have a gun. The criminals don’t obey laws now. Do you really think they will surrender their guns?

  48. Whew! I was starting to think there was something mentally wrong with me every time I took the Bowen custom Blackhawk out of the safe – just to LOOK at it. And when I’d take the CZ P-01 out just to HOLD it. I am much relieved to know that behavior is just a fetish.

  49. Because I don’t have the money or the room for a car and motorcycle collection, while a nice gun collection can fit in a safe or a closet.

  51. Can I say–

    As someone who has no interest in owning guns, has no particular identification with anti-gun social movements, and has always believed that strong pro-gun people are dishonestly concealing fetishes with something that provides them cover for their not-confrontable desires for power, control, and masculinity…

    That this article is incredibly refreshing, and goes a long way to humanize pro-gunners and level the field of conversation for others who thought that you were all just nuts and not admitting it.

    The logic in this article is irrefutable, and the humanity is direct, and the motivations are not particularly arguable.

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