What is it about a gun?

[Roadkill]

What is it about a gun that fascinates you? Lugers of course, but guns in general. Studying a firearm in its seperate components reveals nothing unique. Still looking at 1900ish technology with sequential improvements. There has not made the same advances like in automobiles
for the same time period.
Down south the best way to get everyone's attention is the comment "there's a snake". Everything stops, reactions are varied from "its gotta be a cottonmouth kill it" to "its a good one, leave it alone". But all attention is focused on it for a while. Regardless of the perspective, there is an immediate interest. Guns are the same way. The realization that "He's got a gun" even though unsaid brings out the same reaction. There is an immediate processing of the situation and potential threat. Law enforcement have guns. Military have guns. Hunters have guns. Must be a good snake. But when ordinary folks have a gun then there is an insecurity. Do we have firearms to foster this uncertainty? Are we the snake charmers who deal with a deadly instrument and voluntarily bring the cobra into our lives and to all who have connection with us thinking we can control the danger at the same time knowing it will destroy us if we are not diligent? Why do we have this fascination? Is it the power? The threat of using this power? Another person's realizing that I as a gunowner have real power over him since he does not have a gun? That I have a more powerful gun and more ammo therefore more power over someone who has fewer of both? I wonder if the Indian snake charmer has the same feeling as he walks through a crowded market with a deadly cobra in his basket as I do when seen getting out of my truck at Hardees after going hunting. There is an immediate reaction. Maybe what bothers me and the reason I banged this out is that I like the feeling.

rk

[PACKET]

"Down south the best way to get everyone's attention is the comment "there's a snake". Everything stops, reactions are varied from "its gotta be a cottonmouth kill it" to "its a good one, leave it alone". But all attention is focused on it for a while. Regardless of the perspective, there is an immediate interest. Guns are the same way. The realization that "He's got a gun" even though unsaid brings out the same reaction. There is an immediate processing of the situation and potential threat. Law enforcement have guns. Military have guns. Hunters have guns. Must be a good snake. But when ordinary folks have a gun then there is an insecurity."

This is mainly the result of the anti-gun media. The leftist elitest's have created this fear of the common man having firearms. Lets face it folks, most people get their news from one of the big three networks, and we all know where they stand. I have had discussions with too many neighbors who thought that a 6 year old could walk into any gunshop and buy a machinegun. They were totally ignorant of the laws. When I asked where they got this information, they answered, I heard it on the evening news. So, it doesnt surprise me that so many people will be alarmed when they see a gun unless its in the hands of the police or the military.

[Heydrich]

[The realization that "He's got a gun" even though unsaid brings out the same reaction. There is an immediate processing of the situation and potential threat.]

RK, ever since Greek and Roman times, obviously armed men (swords, crossbows, guns, whatever) in public have always been viewed with great suspicion. This includes the police or the military. I’ve noticed even a cop with his 9mm will draw super suspicion from people. I read somewhere this reaction is because of Western culture, as well as human nature.

[ToggleTop]

You know RK I have never given your question a whole lot of thought but let me see. I grew up following WWII and my youth was associated with many WWII veterans. Guns were a popular topic in my youthful environment. I respected our veterans, the war was won with guns and the loss of many lives! Where do we think all these lugers came from? Our veterans were our heroes not sports players. In my youth sports was a game not a big money game. We were taught to respect our law enforcement people. We called them policemen, not cops. I still hate to see them called cops. I know there are dirty policemen but there are dirty everything else. I was in high school in the late 50"s, I was in ROTC. I was proud to be in ROTC, I respected my instructors greatly. Then the Vietnam War. We must remember to defend our nation what is the first thing we place in the hands of our soldiers. We teach people to kill people. I believe the Vietnam War years was a sad period of our military history. May we thank every veteran that served in that war. It was a disgrace for this nation the way our veterans were treated. It was such a routine war for a lot of the people back home. I can remember coming home from work during the Vietnam War and the news would report the dead count. It was such a routine thing and people at home just carried on like nothing was happening. I think sometime in the sixties ROTC was removed from the schools due to a lack of national support. Big mistake. I know this deviates from your question but it is part of my basis for liking guns. Guns in the hands of people is a power that represents our ability to protect ourselves againist intrusion and aggression. It is an individuals last line of defense. Hand fighting is a good thing but I am not a big man! The gun does tend to equalize things a bit. The gun is the most modern weapon to provide instant protection. There are other weapons like a baseball bat but you have to be close to use it effectively. A hammer or a hatchet works as well but requires more physical exertion. I respect any firearm I own, I know the power it holds and once the bullet leaves the barrel you can't bring it back. I have no desire to take a human life, life is to precious. Our decision to use a firearm to take a human life is one I hope none of us ever have to make except in time of war. So, I like guns because they are the basis of our national defense system. They represent our ability on an individual basis to have that last line of defense to protect ourselves. There are many more things I enjoy about guns like hunting, collecting and admiring the marvelous mechanical aspects of each and every one. My first rifle was given to me on Christmas when I was 12 years old. It is a J. C. Higgins single shot 22, I think it cost 6 dollars and I still have it in my gun cabinet. By the way it almost looks as new as the day it was purchased but it has been fired many times. And one other thing, I don't know of many things that hold their value like guns do over a period of time. They are not a bad investment, if you put your money into the right ones! I like guns just like I like ugly dogs! There just part of a true American. God Bless our troops in harms way! Our society consist of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Hopefully we are all the Good guys.

[G.W. Gill]

My timing got thrown off. Stay away from Redheads and old Marines...

[G.W. Gill]

What facinates me about guns?. Somthing that I wonder about. I'm 46 and have had time to wonder. Both my parents were Philly bred rowhouse, street and city generated individuals. They met and married in the Marine Corp. My Father was the most liberal (but would search everything). Mom trusted and was the conservitive. However, Dad convinced Mom I could have a .22 with M.C training...MORE THAN .22 . They did that for kids back then. I was a member of the Junior Rangers. I was 8 years old. Dad and his M.C. buddies continued and I won a lot of patches ect. in NRA Comp. We went hunting and Dad never shot a thing. He couldn't kill a wild animal,yet he had ended the lives of many people with a rifle that he taught me how to work. He would shoot pests and such after we moved to the country when I was a young teenager. And enjoyed my gunsstuff.( With my weapons). He was the Best Father. There is more to the story.... but that other Marine is making food for her Club group and I have got to help or get out of the way. My better half says RUN.... Why do we have this fondness for guns? I can't answer your question directly. It could be self preservation. Intercity thinking (like the Bowery boys), war, country living gives you a perspective that is hard to put into words. Oh NO! 5 Pounds of greeted cheese!!!!! and a 78 yr old Marine and a 35 yearold Redhead standing there. Elbow hurting I can now hit enter. HELP!!!!

[Lugerdoc]

I once had a Marine Lt. roommate aboard the CVAN Enterprise who told be that his "sister Suzie" loved sailors, but was rotten to the Corps. TH

[saxman]

Roadkill; I have given considerable thought to these questions over the last few years, and I can answer that I personally feel the power associated with holding a loaded gun, but also feel an even greater responsibility to handle it with all the care and respect for it's power that I can muster. I constantly force myself to observe every regimen of safety in the handling, use and storage of my guns. But I don't own them for the power. I have no desire to exert power over others as long as they don't threaten my family or myself. I enjoy the mechanical aspects of the gun, like I enjoy many other kinds of machines. You see, a gun is nothing more than a machine to throw a rock farther, faster and more accurately than by hand, by sling or by anything else mankind has come up with so far. Our ancestors struggled mightily through the ages to develop better rock throwers, because some group of goblins or other was constantly trying to take away from them what precious little they had, including their wives and children. The firearm is the ultimate development in a small, efficient machine that throws hard objects accurately at lethal velocities. Weapons of the not so distant future will be focused more on energy than projectiles, and the horror of them will make the firearm seem as a toy. Be that as it may, for now I get a good feeling knowing I have at least some means of defense - like during the recent power blackout from Hurricane Isabel when goblins were using open windows to enter homes at night.
What is it about the gun? Maybe it's knowing that it was made for battle, for providing meat, for security or for the greatest accuracy, and that it is the ultimate expression of form=function - a functional form that is so refined, even in mass-produced military weapons, that it has it's own kind of beauty.