Many members of TTAG’s Armed Intelligentsia are adamant: they do not love guns. They view their firearms dispassionately, thinking of them as nothing more and nothing less than tools. (GLOCK much?) At the same time, I’m all-too-aware of my former girlfriend’s all-too-prophetic admonition: don’t love anything that can’t love you back. But c’mon. I love guns! As Andy Williams sang (nauseatingly), where do I begin?

Guns are awesome mechanical devices, ridiculously capable of throwing a piece of lead through the air at a target with Zeus-like force, accuracy and fun! They’re also perfect examples of my favorite kind of design: minimalism. Even the best barbecue gun can’t totally obfuscate the obvious: form follows function. And then there’s the social and political aspects.

What do you love about guns?

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65 COMMENTS

  1. “What do you love about guns?”

    That in this country, ownership is proof that the citizens are *not* slaves, but a free people.

    (While we’re discussing the concept of ‘free’, when’s TTAG gonna have another gun givaway?)

    • “That in this country, ownership is proof that the citizens are *not* slaves, but a free people.”

      Precisely, the mere ability to possess such a revered item is symbolic of an individual’s inherent attribute of independence.

  2. Mechanical works of art…. a beautiful symphony of design and function with historical influence that cannot be overstated.

      • Millions of women think they’re fun, too.
        And millions of real men don’t own any guns.

        But perhaps, for a few, they are the phallic replacement that the left wants them to be.

        • Sorry to hurt your feelings, again, Curtis.

          I’ll stand by my original comment. Old school manhood, when Men were Men and the Women were Women.

          My comment doesn’t exclude women from enjoying firearms or Beta males from not enjoying firearms.

        • I believe that your statement does exclude the idea of women enjoying firearms. Further, by tying firearms to the “last vestiges of manhood”, you are presenting it as a substitute phallus.

          Lastly, the beauty of the 2A is that it endows all members of our nation choice, just as many of the others do. There is no obligation, there is no command, that each of us own and carry a firearm. It is a choice left to the individual who best knows his temperament and willingness to use lethal force. Do you denigrate the person who chooses to speak or not speak? The defendant who chooses whether to testify? Why attack those who elect not to own a firearm?

        • god I love the blank it’s phallic argument. Guns are phallic planes are phallic cigarettes are phallic. if you can figure out a better way to send metal in to a rather at long range and high velocity without a longer barrel than it is wide or an object that can fly through the air that isn’t long and skinny we would all love to hear it

  5. Hmmm. If the thought of something being a “tool” means you can’t think highly of it and the people who designed it, then perhaps you’ve never used a well-crafted tool with precision before. Or had one bring you home safely thanks to a combination of its own quality and your own skill.

    I thought more highly of my old Iron Duke 4-cyl Chevy Celebrity (kids: this is the car that defined the 1980s “sh*t box” genre) after I was in an accident in the middle of the blizzard of 1993 with it, and it got me home safely anyway. It was a little less of a tool after that, a little more of something organic, something real. I also thought a lot more highly of my rear wheel drive BMW and Blizzak tires after that combo brought me home in the blizzard of 2010 safely, while I left AWD SUVs behind in the ditch by the side of the parkway.

    At the same time, I thought a lot more of my Tupperware Glock 17 after it executed flawlessly for a week at Gunsite 250. (M1, FWIW.) I thought a lot less of my beautiful Springfield EMP 9 when it kept having FTE problems, despite the fact that it was dead-on accurate for me.

    I just like well-made things that work the way they’re supposed to and look and feel good while they’re doing it. Things that just FIT. Like my Stetson Catera hat.

    That’s not really an answer to RF’s question…or maybe it is?

  6. Purchasing, owning, and bearing arms is the ultimate assertion of my natural and Constitutional rights as a free human and an American citizen.

    Also:

    As a man, I like knowing I have the means to protect my family and property in a worst case scenario.

  7. I love guns because …

    they spin up the coalition of the perennially indignant almost as well as they do what they’re designed for … and cheaper, too. You don’t even have to shoot the thing.

  10. Well I don’t really ‘love guns’. I love the freedom of living in a constitutional republic that enshrines the right to self defense and by extension ownership of arms.

    Not to say I don’t have tastes in firearms or certain individual guns or designs that I’m really into. Perhaps even so far to say I ‘love AKs’ and the like. But to me it’s a bit more about the liberty with guns being a part of it.

  11. As a non-violent individual that just wants to be left alone to live my life I love the fact that my guns give me the confidence that should some nasty asshat(s) decide to mess with me I can meet them on equal terms, and very likely prevail.

    For a peaceful person the ability to switch from really nice guy to your worst nightmare on an instant’s notice is priceless.

  12. This post is coming dangerously close to justifying the ammosexual title we’ve been bestowed these last few years.

      • I don’t love guns. I think they’re cool, and I love the fact that I can own them, but I would rank even my most prized gun just slightly below my car in terms of my level of affection. Granted, I love my car a lot, but I would destroy it in a second to save a random child’s life, so.. yeah.

    • I agree that the idea of ‘loving’ a gun brings the anti-gun narrative dangerously close to a reality. The only caveat I would add is that it can be perfectly natural for one to have an emotional attachment to a firearm. Behaviorally speaking, there may be a motivational operator attached to the stimulus of the firearm that increases its value, and therefore your response. If, for example, shooting an old .22 reminds you of your grandfather teaching you when you were a young child, affection for the firearm itself would be perfectly understandable. I knew a guy who ‘loved’ the banged up M249 Para that saved his life in Afghanistan. I don’t currently ‘love’ any of my firearms. I like them, but I’m not about to drop ‘the L word’.

  13. I don’t love guns in general. Just certain ones. For instance the Five-Seven I have been carrying is mostly just a tool to me. The Mongoose I just got, is something else. While maybe not art, the fit of the parts, the smoothness of the action, and the weight of the steel are much more comforting than sloppier flimsier polymer guns like my Five-Seven. My affection for the Mongoose has grown since I got it, where as my Five-Seven’s best day was the day I got it. Since I will likely never use them for their intended purpose, this pleasure from appreciating the craftsmanship is more important to me than it would be to someone who does indeed just see it as a tool. The Five-Seven does everything I wanted it to except give me that warm fuzzy feeling when handling it.

  15. I love everything that goes bang, boom, fast or is loud. If it aggravates some liberal panzy while I’m at it, so much the better.

  17. My ownership of them puts me in rare company.

    Much of the world sees them as only serving the purposes of the state or the ruling class.

    Despite my humble station in life I enjoy something that others despise me for.

  18. Words mean things. Often two things: a connotation and a denotation. People that have a problem with “I love my guns” are only seeing denotation. They see us going home, pouring them a nice glass of wine, and rubbing their actions while asking about their day.

    I don’t get those people. “I love my truck” doesn’t mean I plan on putting my pecker up its tailpipe. “I love apple pie” doesn’t mean….well, ok…

    Instead, why don’t we all agree to back off for just a second and consider the connotation, the meaning that rolls all of the other stuff in. The meaning that says I love guns because they symbolize freedom, because they are fun to shoot, because they are well designed, etc.

    • +1

      You can love a gun but not be in love with a gun. It’s the way Jesus loves you but he doesn’t want to lay you down by the fire

  19. How about I really really really really like [some] guns. I love the lines and feel of a nice S&W revolver, although I’ve been seeing a Colt Python behind her back.

  21. It’s a machine that uses chemistry to push a piston really fast, really far, over and over again. What’s not to love?
    (I like engines, also!)

  22. I love the mechanical-ness of them.

    I’m an IT guy – jaded by circuits and wires and bits. Looking a beautifully machined block of metal and skillfully crafted wood parts makes me smile.

    The loud bang and ping when hitting a target – that’s just gravy.

  23. The Sword is a work of art. Using the sword, is an art in and of itself too. To me, using a gun is much the same. It is the modern martial art.

  24. Love? No. Just call it a deep like that has outlasted most of my loves. And this is one like that can save my life. None of my loves could do that.

  25. I don’t love guns, but I love shooting. I like the relaxation, breathing control, and skill it takes to hit targets accurately. To me the firearm is the tool. Although some definitely have the cool factor or history factor for me to enjoy

  26. Shooting is the only thing that for me excellence came naturally and it’s what I am best at out of all my skill sets.

    not to toot my own horn…

  27. I don’t know that I love my guns. I love what they can do for me. The enjoyment of shooting. The calm of stripping and cleaning them. The sense of security when carrying them or knowing they are in my home at night should I need them. Awww, who the hell am I kidding? Of course I love my guns!! They piss off liberals. Nuff said.

  28. 1. They empower me to be able to fulfill the only Duty mentioned in the Declaration of Independence.
    2. They are one of the few items of human manufacture to be functional more than 100 years after they were made.
    3. They combine form and function into works of art.
    4. They put an old fat white guy (and any disabled, old, weak or snmaller person) on an equal footing with a young, large thug.

  31. As a engineer I love the designs.

    As a man I love the soothing sounds they make.

    And as a inner child I love the smell of hoppie’s #9.

  32. I own a piece of history… And it speaks!

    I own a half-dozen WW2 relics. Nothing fancy, but they all function. I like my modern guns, but I really love my old war-rifles.

  33. A high school custodian can possess a firearm and know that he is just as free from being trifled with as a diminutive, Napoleon-complexed, bodyguard-surrounded NYC mayor. In a land that promises certain equalities, the 2A delivers on one.

  34. What do you love about guns?

    Safe space triggered social liberal extremists hate them. That is why I love them. The more they hate them, the more I love them.

  35. I love this Country that allows me to possess these works of engineering perfection. I have a special place in my heart for the 1 pistol that was devinely inspired – the 1911 – 45 ACP. As long as there is good and evil among men, the gun will remain the great equalizer for the good guy to deal with the bad among us.

    May I have an AMEN?!!

  36. I don’t love guns. I love liberty, and they’re a tool for maintaining liberty.

    I wish to God we didn’t need them, but until humans are as reliable as angels for treating others well, we do.

    That said, some are fun. I most enjoy my various .22s, especially my dad’s old Remington “bunny gun” and my delightful Ruger Bearcat.

  37. Know why guns are better than women?
    Because your .44 doesn’t care if you trade it in for two .22’s!
    And I do love my Steyr Aug
    And my M 14
    And my NHM 91 AK
    Heck, I love them all!

  38. I love guns & shooting them. I also love good tools, machinery, engines & vehicles. Love good looking women, even more so if they can handle a weapon.

  39. Lhstr, Hmmm, What I like is what Colt said! Makes all me egual! Being 76yrs, old I guess I’m equal to any threats a bully may make against me. I am equal. Amen to that. P.s. I haven’t been pulled from my car and thugs beat me up. I go bang. Be safe out there and always watch your six.

  40. Human beings tend to anthromorphize things. Like cars, guitars and guns. I have a bit of experience with those three items. lol

    I never really knew what love was until I had children, and I assure you that I do not love cars, guitars and guns in the same way that I love my kids, but I do love good equipment! Good equipment is stuff that works the way it should. It’s durable, robust, and of high quality even if it doesn’t have the frills. I strongly prefer well designed, good quality, no nonsense equipment. But if I ever see an affordable Sig P210 Super Target all bets are off. 🙂

    My daddy always said that he didn’t have enough money to buy cheap tools, and the older I get the more I appreciate that sentiment.

    Charlie

  42. It’s not if, but rather when the federal government becomes tyrannical (enough) that we need them and I love them. History will repeat and my kin will be armed.

    And the precision of the art, that’s why I love loading my own ammo also.

  43. What I always loved about them was when I first got into surplus military rifles. I always saw them as pieces of history that you could hold and experience for yourself. I recently got an Eddystone made M1917 Enfield, made May of 1918, and I can only imagine the things its seen after 100 years.

  44. 1) i love that as a 5’9″ 160lb crippled old man i don’t have to fear someone because they are bigger than me. Don’t care how big they are because they aren’t bulletproof.
    2) i love the Zen of shooting. practicing one thing over and over. when i am at the range all i am thinking about is making one perfect shot. that fraction of a second when all that matters in the universe is pulling the trigger through the break. bills, work, bulsheet, none of that matters. singular focus.

  45. Because I can’t legally afford a space rocket, I love guns. It is the closest thing I can get to launching things into orbit. But instead of orbit, just through the air and into a target.

  46. > former girlfriend’s all-too-prophetic admonition: don’t love anything that can’t love you back.

    A gun won’t tell you it it just wants to be friends as it leaves you.

    You can love more than one gun without them getting jealous.

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