I've heard the -- bad -- argument that what a lot of people call "gun nuts" are just...collectors. Hobbyists. I have a lot of hobbies, none of them involving guns, so that got me thinking.
There are tools, and collector's items, and materials stored up to have options. Having too much yarn or spices or books is having lots of options. Collector's items are mostly historical in the case of guns or anything else, I think --- dueling pistols or flintlocks would be a reasonable collector's item even for guns. But modern functional assault rifles? Calling them collector's items is phoney.
Aren't guns really just tools? They have a function, and if you buy them for tools, you should want to use them for their purpose, but if you use an assault rifle for its purpose, you'll be arrested by a SWAT team. I garden a lot and thinking about this I realized I have ten shovels. I never "collected" them -- I just acquired them at need throughout the years. And I use all of them, every year, for their actual purpose: the go-to pointed shovel for regular digging, the light grain shovel for snow and straw-mixed light manure and black compost, the little Sears shovel as a sort of large trowel for big pots, and so on through the list.
We have guns and I view them as tools, and so I don't expect to use many!! There's the 22 for foxes and dogs in with the livestock and a shotgun and a pistol for home defense. I'm not expecting to stand off an army, who would need more?? Well, a hunter might need a more powerful rifle, but I don't hunt. I accept packages of venison shot on or near our land, and very pleased to have it, too.
My point is that if people have more guns than they can actually USE, there is something very, very weird and suspicious about that. One wonders about their motivation, and their anger level. And whether they are fantasizing arming the neighborhood when the riots or the revolution starts. It's not an innocent hobby, buying lots and lots of guns and high-capacity magazines and ammo: it's basically about wishing and hoping to kill people. Right? Is there any other motivation besides wishing for the chance to kill lots of people?
There are tools, and collector's items, and materials stored up to have options. Having too much yarn or spices or books is having lots of options. Collector's items are mostly historical in the case of guns or anything else, I think --- dueling pistols or flintlocks would be a reasonable collector's item even for guns. But modern functional assault rifles? Calling them collector's items is phoney.
Aren't guns really just tools? They have a function, and if you buy them for tools, you should want to use them for their purpose, but if you use an assault rifle for its purpose, you'll be arrested by a SWAT team. I garden a lot and thinking about this I realized I have ten shovels. I never "collected" them -- I just acquired them at need throughout the years. And I use all of them, every year, for their actual purpose: the go-to pointed shovel for regular digging, the light grain shovel for snow and straw-mixed light manure and black compost, the little Sears shovel as a sort of large trowel for big pots, and so on through the list.
We have guns and I view them as tools, and so I don't expect to use many!! There's the 22 for foxes and dogs in with the livestock and a shotgun and a pistol for home defense. I'm not expecting to stand off an army, who would need more?? Well, a hunter might need a more powerful rifle, but I don't hunt. I accept packages of venison shot on or near our land, and very pleased to have it, too.
My point is that if people have more guns than they can actually USE, there is something very, very weird and suspicious about that. One wonders about their motivation, and their anger level. And whether they are fantasizing arming the neighborhood when the riots or the revolution starts. It's not an innocent hobby, buying lots and lots of guns and high-capacity magazines and ammo: it's basically about wishing and hoping to kill people. Right? Is there any other motivation besides wishing for the chance to kill lots of people?