Whoa - pro-gun nerd community?

http://entertainment.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/15/1529235

I'm an avid Slashdot reader (basically a news site for nerds). They allow you to post comments on any of their stories/headlines. After reading this brief story, I figured there would be millions of calls to "SAVE THE CHILDREN" and "GUNS R BAD LOL". ESPECIALLY since this took place in California.

Check it out, literally 99% of the comments are actually reasonable. Nerds are the new generation of gunners? Counterstrike has saved the 2nd amendment? WHAT IS HAPPENING?!!?

Dope

I am in college currently pursing a software engineering track, but I might switch to electrical engineering in the future.

I know a couple of pro-gun nerds at my college besides myself. CS along with a dislike of people telling us what to do has made guns fairly popular in the "nerd" community. At least in the US

Nothing new here. The Reddit/Slashdot/Digg crowd is overwhelmingly pro-RKBA. There's a number of trends pushing it but it's definitely real.

Nerds like weapons.

Of course nerds are pro-RKBA. Being picked on by bullies all their lives tends to have that effect. ;)


Seriously though, nerds are logical thinkers. Logical thinkers figure out that gun control is pointless pretty easily by themselves. It's no wonder most nerds are on our side (myself included).

One thing that I have found is that "nerds" are usually educated and intelligent people. All that it takes to gain a respect and fondness of the second amendment is logical deduction. That is why nerds "get it." They aren't willing to just take the liberal hippie view of the world without atleast analysing it first.


Man General you are good at beating people to the punch aren't you.

:p This is great. I grew up with these guys!

A few weeks back, I heard Robert Heron (of DL.TV) say that he was going to spend his tax rebate on a new handgun. :)

And anytime the topic of guns comes up on Dvorak.org, the posts run about 95% positive.

Seriously though, nerds are logical thinkers. Logical thinkers figure out that gun control is pointless pretty easily by themselves. It's no wonder most nerds are on our side (myself included).

Yep. People in the field of using logic (engineering, IT, construction) tend to have no problem with firearms. They are just another tool out of many. I have yet to find an anti at my work.

I am a nerd too.:D

I am a history major and have noticed that the majority of professors (there are still going to be some over-the-top liberal types in every field on a college campus) in the history field are pro-gun.

Most people who are in fields that force you to do research and be analytical are going to use logic in approaching situations. My professors are painfully fact-driven haha.

I am an IT twit by profession, and when I was in college, the majority of my classmates were gun enthusiasts. I worked as a student worker in the IT labs, and my supervisor had her CHL as did a number of the instructors in the department. (Beware the quiet ones). I found out about this by walking in on a 9mm vs .45 debate between a group of instructors (5 women, 3 men) in one of the instructor's offices.


Funny, Robert Heinlein, a strong sci-fi author who has an almost cult following amongst some nerd clans was in a debate once regarding the 2nd amendment. One side stated that a Polite Society is one in which there are no guns. Heinlein replied that while that was a very interesting ideal that it was not at all realistic. He stated that the Polite Society is one where everyone is armed. (I don't recall all of the exact details of that exchange, but that is the quick and ugly version).

The engineers that I work with all seem to be gun folks. The subject always comes up when a bunch of us go out to dinner, and I'm not the one that brings it up. If anyone is anti-gun, they sure keep their mouth shut.

One guy that I work with (ironically, we share the same last name) has a seemingly unlimited number of gun, hunting, and explosive stories. He can go on all night. Most of them are of the "hold my beer and watch this" type :D

I am a history major and have noticed that the majority of professors (there are still going to be some over-the-top liberal types in every field on a college campus) in the history field are pro-gun.


Of course history teachers will be pro-gun! Just like libertarians are pro gun. Being a history professor or history major means you would have encountered lots and lots of really screwed up things that happened in the past, through pictures, primary sources, or testimonies of people who had been there. And then logic simply kicks in, and one would realize that only the gun is the tool which enable the average person to defend themselves and their loved ones from the dangers ever-present in the world.

I am a history major too. And I can not recall any moment or second in my life in which I had been even the least bit anti-gun.

I found out about this by walking in on a 9mm vs .45 debate between a group of instructors (5 women, 3 men) in one of the instructor's offices.


OMG! LOL!!:D:D:D First Glocktalk, then TFL, then THR, and now, in the OFFICE?? LOL!:what::neener::D

Some of the time, I think the experience of being a nerd makes one wary of popular opinion, a force that is normally between a person and a love of guns. Nerds are gadgeteers, too, so if their gadgetphilia is more mechanical than electronic, they are hard-pressed to find anything as purely mechanical as a firearm.

The DIY-ethic is strong among nerds, and that translates easily into firearms, I think--making one's own crystal radio is not terribly different from loading one's own ammunition.

But uh, *cough*, not being a nerd, I suppose I wouldn't really know....

Without having read all the posts to this point...

There is a reason "nerds" and such are not anti, even if they don't own or even like guns. It's because they smart, independently thinking, logical people. As such, they see the anti argument for what it is; illogical BS.


-T.

.... and nerd. :neener:

I'm a big nerd. Own a bunch of macs... xbox, wii, you name it :)

Haha. And most of my nerd friends are proud gun owners.

Games are how I got involved with guns too.
Bit of a nerd, I admit, but I have grown out of it for a big part.
Still, the inner nerd will always be there I think :D

Games are how I got involved with guns too.

I think remember you from Wiki, Boris. How's it goin'?

I love gun-based games, like Call of Duty, and Splinter Cell. But it always just drove me nuts when gamers thought they new everything about a gun JUST FROM PLAYING THE GAME. Then they wanted to write all about the game in the gun article. You may recall that's why I left Wiki.

There were tons for nerd-folk on Wikipedia. Rarely, if ever, did we hear from any anti contingent. I can't really recall any anti stuff at all.


-T.

Hi there :D

Everything's OK, although my wiki-activity is on a low level at the moment.

Some people do indeed think that because a particular firearm was used in a game, the games defines the entire gun. But that has calmed down a bit.

I'm still surprised on how little vandalism the wiki pages get from anti gun groups, most of it is "this gun is the s**t" or "whoa, I have one and it ROCKS". not very high road of them ;)

I started out with Counterstrike, then DoD, project IGI (was great :)) and the battlefield series. good times ^^

Check it out, literally 99% of the comments are actually reasonable. Nerds are the new generation of gunners? Counterstrike has saved the 2nd amendment? WHAT IS HAPPENING?!!?

I think you'll find a lot of "nerds" and "geeks" in the firearm community. I shoot with a number of people in the IT industry.

Reddit/Slashdot/Digg crowd is overwhelmingly pro-RKBA.
I think its more a reflection of political ideology. Digg seems to have a more democratic reader base and is somewhat friendlier to gun control. Slashdot seems to draw the more open source libertarian crowd, at least to a degree I don't see on digg. They of course are less friendly to gun control.

In general though I think you'll find many tech minded people are gun owners. I consider myself an internet wrangler who got into it because of the freedom involved with the internet. I of course appreciate firearms and find many of the people I've worked with do too.

http://www.catb.org/~esr/guns/ Some noteable geeks are gun owners too.

I'm a nerd. I love guns.

No mystery to me.

Sr. Programmer / Analyst here. Most of the other geeks at my office are pro 2a a few are neutral and one is an anti but he's East Indian so I cut him a LITTLE slack (but not much).

Reddit/Slashdot/Digg crowd is overwhelmingly pro-RKBA.

So is the World of Warcraft crowd!:D

I had a coworker who is a HUGE W.O.W. fan. And I brought up the subject of gun rights while talking to her, hoping to convince someone to be on the RKBA side, HOWEVER...........I found out that she is as just as pro-gun and pro-liberty as I am!:D

Being picked on by bullies all their lives tends to have that effect.

There's some truth to this. A defining characteristic of Asperger's cases (and I'm a mild one) is that we get bullied a lot - poor understanding of social hierarchies and a tendency to be uncoordinated as kids.

And computers attract Aspies like turds and flies...

IT nerd here, but with a lot of telecom background. Yup, we don't wanna just know that something works, we wanna know how it works and what it's good for. Guns are good because ballistics is part of Physics 101. ;)

I'd always figured that it was because geeks tend libertarian, and it requires some pretty substantial psychic gymnastics to be libertarian and anti-gun at the same time. But that aside - geeks also tend to be pro-explosions. :evil:

and it requires some pretty substantial psychic gymnastics to be libertarian and anti-gun at the same time.

Saying "anti-gun Libertarian" is like saying "non-flying aircraft".

Doesn't exist, and does not sound correct either.:D

Computer consultant and lifestyle nerd here. I find that IT workers tend to be pretty conservative, but of course there are always the exceptions.

Logical thought and knowing the history of our profession; e.g. how computers took a giant step forward, decoding the German Enigma encryption scheme, the progression of computers from analog to digital led by the needs of cold war missile guidance packages. This naturally leads you to discover what the Nazis and the Soviet communists were all about, a bunch of serious jerks. Leads you to want to own firearms.

Not surprised at all.

Plus, guns are just cool.

I got the double whammy - a history degree and a job wrangling SW Engineers schedules.

Great place, I put out my collection of bullets from penetration testing a few years back and have gotten all kinds of discussion, all positive.

I put a lot of stock in the logical/independent/mechanical/explosions reasons others have posted.

I'm a nerd and like guns, Most, not all of my other pharmacist, physician friends like guns. The urologist at our hospital actually went to gunsmithing school while he was in his residency. His special interest is Colt Peacemakers, but was delighted when I gave him a handful of uncommon cartridges like the 405 Win, 41 Swiss, which he displays on his desk.

I recently got back to guns after a long time. I've also met up with a group of people from the open carry forum.

We have monthly meet and greet dinners and when I took my wife to one her reply when we got home was, "geeks with guns".

I'm more a geek then a nerd and I guess that everyone there looked kind of nerdy. Not hard to understand that nerds would like guns. Kind of evens the playing field.

Technician, SW Engineer, CS Major, History minor.

Yep, I guess I'm a nerd. Never gave it much thought. The stereotypical nerd is the product of Hollywood fantasy, for the most part. Some of us you'd never suspect, unless you start talking Unix to us...

Some of us you'd never suspect

Yeah, I'm sort of a cowboy/logger/nerd. :)

Oh give me a home where the booleans roam,
Where the bytes and the integers play,
Where I watch o'er a herd
Of sixteen* bit words,
And the bugs have all gone away.

* I do work on a lot of stuff that is still 16 bit

I was a nerd long before geek became cool.

It wasn't the popular, party crowd who were having gunfights in the dorm halls with their Crossman Soft Air pistols.

The affinity that the nerds, geeks, and techies have for weapons is no surprise. We read comics and adventure novels, we watch action movies (even the girls), and we don't care what anyone else thinks about our interests. :D :lol:

I think its more a reflection of political ideology. Digg seems to have a more democratic reader base and is somewhat friendlier to gun control. Slashdot seems to draw the more open source libertarian crowd, at least to a degree I don't see on digg. They of course are less friendly to gun control.

I disagree with the first part of that. For over 6 months... on the front page of Digg was pretty much nothing but articles on Ron Paul.

It seems to be a lot of Obama stuff now, but I think that's only because Ron Paul is done running. But that's how I learned about Paul, was through Digg. Then I did my own research, etc....

'nother one here. Math & science geek growing up; guns just seemed to go along with that.

I like Slashdot's classification for the story:
humor, math, getoffmylawn, earth, geohashing (tagging beta)

I suppose that Dad taught me math early, and that he had been a combat artillery computer in Korea (back when "a computer" was still sometimes used to refer to a human being), reinforced the connection for me before I ever thought about it.

I'm like 3KillerBs (only older)--by the time it was cool, I was too old to be part of the in crowd.

Waaaaaah...cry me a river (river? OK, we take depth and stream velocity measurements every 2 meters across the stream, use the following equations to calculate the flow rate in cubic meters per second and) Hey! I forgot to re-sharpen my Rapala fishing knife. Where's that thread over in NFW?

{wanders off...}

;)

I was surprised that I got modded insightful after posting so deep into a long thread.

http://slashdot.org/comments (http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=584413&threshold=0&commentsort=0&mode=thread&cid=23801685)

Re:Culture --weird (Score:5, Insightful)
by protolith (619345) on Sun 15 Jun 08:17PM (#23805755)

"I dunno why people always think a fear of firearms is irrational"

Because it is irrational to fear guns. If your fear is based on ignorance then it is a rational fear, and can be corrected.
Your post attempts to rationalize your fear with the injection of a form of understanding. If you Fear an inanimate object simply based on its designed or perceived designed purpose then it is an irrational fear.

Hoplophobia along with Agoraphobia, Arachnophobia, and any of the other host of phobias are all defined as irrational fears.

If in fact your fear is based to a degree on ignorance (unfamiliarity with the workings of firearms), I suggest you spend some time taking lessons at a local shooting range.

As for the guns are designed to kill thing.... Well yes, most guns are deigned to, or are based off of guns designed to kill. But the truth about that is, some things need killing. Animals don't sacrifice themselves to be food on a table. If its made of meat it was killed to be put on your plate. If its made of red meat, then it was killed with a gun (firearm or captive bolt) to become food. As for killing people, "couple that with the general fact that people are idiots" you summed up why some people need killing, because some idiots will take your life for their personal or political gain.

It was good to see so many posts on the RKBA side.

IT / Gun / Science geek here as well. There is usually a big shoot / gun nerd gathering at Defcon (http://defcon.org) every year. Unfortunately for me Nevada doesn't have reciprocity with New Hampshire (my home home state). You have to apply in person for an NV out-of-state permit. If I go to Defcon this year I might stop by the local sheriff's office to see how much work is involved for next year.

Redneck here.

I don't have a problem with either one. Guns or nerds.

Tallpine:
* I do work on a lot of stuff that is still 16 bit

I hope they give you more than four registers to play with. ;)

'Pends on how you define nerds. I love knowledge and facts, but the all-out, stay in and play RPGs 20 hrs straight-types I've met all LOVED firearms. Maybe too much.

Considering that the phrase "Assault Poindexter" was coined specifically referring to me... (think equal parts "geeky intellectual" and "heavy-weapons superfreak". :what: :D )

Geeks With Guns, all the way! Who needs jock-style brute force of muscle when you got better living through the combo of chemistry, metallurgy, engineering and ballistics? :D lol

I'm with you, Mr. March, being a bit strange, m'self. I have had the experience at age eight of being jumped for no reason at all, while walking home from school, by guys I thought were my friends. Stephen, and Tommy, I have a looonnng memory, when it comes to holding grudges.

We'll all be 60 soon, but why should that matter?

Age is just a number, Ortho. We nerds don't forget.

Us poor, trodden-on (RKBA-wise at least..) Australians don't have as much of the exposure to guns to develop a true love for them, I think. I went through the whole rigmarole of getting my handgun licence (10 sessions of training, 6+1 month waiting period after getting your licence, $400/year club membership, 6 range attendances per year, more for each class of handgun etc, etc) a year ago. As a fellow nerd, I do share some form of pleasant attraction to the gadget-ish nature (among other thing) of guns and am particularly pleased that I'm not the only one.

Coming from studying the first part of a B. Science to B. Medicine, I was surprised to discover more people in medicine that are pro-gun than were in Science. Perhaps it's that whole, 'desire to be in control' thing that most med-student possess, or perhaps, as you say, less of a desire to accept the views of the 'cool/green/u.left etc' zeitgeist as one's own without reasonable analysis... It's refreshing to have some sense in one's everyday companions :)

Nerds are the new generation of gunners?

FYI...
A fairly large percentage of information security specialist aka hackers are pro-gun.

www.defcon.org

As others have said the community of people involved in activites and professions traditionaly associated with nerds are often into firearms. However not necessarily 'pro gun'.
People that build or design working things often like tools and gadgets, and firearms are a major tool and neat from a gadget perspective. So engineering types are often gun owners.

Those that collect some type of technology or gadgets also often end up with a firearm (or many.)
One thing that I have found is that "nerds" are usually educated and intelligent people.
The two are not the same thing.
Many antis are also well educated. In fact being well educated often means more time spent in a liberal and left leaning college environment.

"Nerds" are often also some of the most vulnerable and naive to "common sense gun control". Many of them won't recognize it for what it is until they are left with little, and often buy right into the anti logic about thier target of the moment. Whether that is "assault weapons" or aircraft downing BMG's, or some other Brady Bunch created craze of the moment.

Into firearms and 'street smart' about how the antis operate are two different things.

Wouldn't call myself a nerd but I am a history major. I love guns from a historical standpoint. I collect vintage things in general - stereo equipment, clothing, I used to have a vintage Honda motorcycle - and guns are just another thing that I like. If I won the lottery, I'd probably spend more of it on vintage muscle cars and 4x4s than guns, although the very first purchase I'd make would be a SIG AMT.

Going deeper, when you study history, you can't help but notice that there are two kinds of people in history: people who stand up for themselves, and people who don't. The latter people always wind up being conquered. The obvious example would be the Jews, who didn't learn their lesson until the Holocaust. But so many other groups have been oppressed by their governments, for so many centuries, they are too numerous to list. The biggest lesson of history is that if you want freedom you had better be ready to fight for it, plain and simple.

I'm a professional nerd with a long, deep, nerdy resume, and some folks around here would say that I'm a bit of a gun nut. Just the other day, while walking around amongst the front line engineers, I found a DU bumper sticker on the wall of one guys cube.

Nerds are like anyone else - some are gunnies, some are frustratingly neutral, and some are completely misguided ill informed willing dupes of the press.

I am transitioning with each year of college.

Its because intelligent people can gather facts, think through things and discover the truth without being swayed by cheap emotional ploys.

I was quite surprised when I made a guns subreddit over on reddit 3 months ago, we've now got 923 subscribers!

http://guns.reddit.com

Hi, I'm a geek/nerd and I own firearms.:D



Jeffrey

Apparently, y'all have never been to this website: http://www.geekswithguns.com/

The Geek/Nerd 2A paradise. :)

In my opinion, if you handload, you're a nerd by definition.

I proudly spend my hours measuring fractions of a grain, or measuring in thousandths of an inch and apply ballistics tables and endless tests at the range....

So while nerds may tend towards firearms, firearm enthusiasts may tend towards nerdiness.

I'm guessing a lot of firearm owners are in denial.

Gaming for me is also how I got into guns. I think there is just a big "neato" factor with guns. Combine that with the fact that most nerds have a natural aversion to whiny liberal types, liking guns, or at least not buying into the "guns are scary, band them all" vibe, and it's safe to say most nerds are going to be pro gun.

There are a lot of pro-gun sub groups within every group. examples are -
Pink Pistols - Pro-gun gay group
BLAMS - Pro-gun Mensa group

ok... maybe most groups - I am not so sure there is a pro-gun sub group over at the Brady Center.

ok... maybe most groups - I am not so sure there is a pro-gun sub group over at the Brady Center.
Yup. Sarah's body guards.

http://www.kristarella.com/wp-includes/images/greyblob/nerd.gifhttp://www.ben-newman.de/smilie/characters/d_nerd.gifhttp://www.bogusred.net/images/smilies/mysmilies/15pxyellow_nerd.gifhttp://ayttm.sourceforge.net/smileys/default/msn_nerd.pnghttp://www.guildseofon.com/yabb2files/Smilies/nerd.gifhttp://www.lapin.org/smilies/images/nerd.gifhttp://www.retroblackrifle.com/sitebuilder/images/601a-140x34.jpg

I once dropped a history course in college because my professor tried to tell me that and I paraphrase, with great accuracy:

Wars did not and do not play an important part in history. In the grand scheme of things they were just blips.

I LOL'ed and walked out.

[standing up to be counted] I'm a software / web developer. :cool: I'll never forget two years ago when the tech lead brought his shotgun into work and kept it in the server room so that it wouldn't be 'at risk' in his car. LOL. Most of the guys I work with now are hunters / sportsmen and many former military.

But there are libtards as well ... I did a four year stint at a non-profit and the head of the Information Systems department was a huge Micheal Moore fan. He bought heavily into every pseudo-intellectual argument used by the left from logging to guns to SUV's you could be sure he'd regurgitate the ridiculous. Alot of the non-profit people are pretty far left.

Wars did not and do not play an important part in history. In the grand scheme of things they were just blips.


I am having trouble getting my head wrapped around that - what could possibly be more influential in history - nothing is more influential. Just the recent wars (WWII and Cold) brought us nuclear power, velcro and Tang.

It..... but.... Man... that really stops you in your tracks if you think about it!

There was a demographics mini research deal on GT a few years back. The bulk of GT at the time was IT industry professionals in their mid 30s. The next most popular profession was public safety (police, fire, EMS), but that lagged behind the IT guys quite a bit.

Nerds being over-represented on Internet gun forums is not a huge surprise. It's to be expected.

Gunnies being over-represented on technical forums is the interesting bit.

+1 to the infosec guys generally being pro-gun. I started life as a network guy, then programmer, then infosec weenie, and now, god help me, I'm a digital forensic analyst. The geek quotient is off the charts around here.

I know and network with a lot of other security folks. Some of them in deep dark holes. And it's amazing how often firearms come up in casual conversation. And some of the discussions on firearms have been epic.

In one forum deep in the dark bowels of the intarwebs, a group of very highly clued, very diverse folks (professionals) from all over the world hang out and discuss everything from the latest changes to the Linux kernel to politics in the Netherlands. We had a lot of antis. American antis. Canadian antis. Mexican antis. And European antis. And man have we had some debates on gun control. And the net result is that these antis have had to think logically over the past few years. And all but one of them has "converted." The last one is just being obstinate out of pride. :P

One of them, a very highly clued systems admin in a position of some importance in a European government analyzed "gun control" logically over the space of about three years. Now, he's into air guns. That's all he's allowed to have where he lives. And he's spent THOUSANDS of dollars on air. He's always showing pictures of his latest air-gun setups. Showing pictures of his groups. Doing the kinds of things we do here in the US without a second thought. And he is #%#%^ ANGRY at his own government (of which he's a part) for their asinine, pointless, and worthless gun control laws.

While I used to be annoyed with him for not thinking logically about gun control, now I feel bad for him. But it does serve as a useful reminder to not take my own freedoms for granted.

Unfortunately, the tech community I belong to is overwhelmingly anti-gun, a fair percentage is from the UK, Western Europe and Australia. As an example, on the "Do you own a gun?" poll, about 42% said "No, I'm totally against them".

During the recent story about the child accidently shooting herself with her Grandmas gun in the store; 12 pages of mostly bashing the U.S. about our "lax" gun laws and availablity. :barf:

I have a growing collection of firearms despite the fact that I rarely shoot them (once per month if lucky - though far more due to the cost of ammunition and dearth of local firing ranges than lack of interest). I simply appreciate the fusion of art and science and the resulting aesthetic that most firearms display.

Of course, there's also that libertarian ideology that I just can't shake...

Spoken like a true geek, I suppose - even if you couldn't identify me as such by appearances alone. ;)



One thing that I have found is that "nerds" are usually educated and intelligent people.
The two are not the same thing.
Many antis are also well educated. In fact being well educated often means more time spent in a liberal and left leaning college environment.
This is probably a convenient lead-in for my perspective on the matter.

Indeed, "educated" and "intelligent" are not mutually inclusive. I liken the difference to this:

To the intelligent individual, the introduction of education expands perspectives. To the less intelligent individual, education fills an existing and largely fixed perspective.

With this in mind, it is easy to see why many members of the "educated liberal elite" (and I use that term somewhat loosely) hold steadfast to irrational belief systems.

As far as academia is concerned: to anybody on the outside, it usually does appear that academia is dominated by "liberal" interests (probably better described as "neo liberal," and not to be confused with "classical liberal" i.e. "libertarian"). I, however, think this is something of a misconception, as academia is actually a very diverse community containing a variety of antithetical interests. Most of the extremely "liberal" (I'll just use the term for the sake of simplicity) viewpoints are held within the social sciences and a number of liberal arts disciplines (e.g. sociology, music, art, English/languages, theatre, "soft sciences" like political science and so forth), while libertarian or even conservative viewpoints are more common in the logic-oriented disciplines (e.g. physical science, engineering, economics, business, computer science/IT). Certain liberal arts fields are also more libertarian leaning or at least pro-RKBA (history) while others are mixed. To understand the apparent preponderance of liberal ideologies, you need only look at which groups dominate the campus political scene. Not surprisingly, the logic-oriented individuals tend to take much less of an interest in "humanistic" campus politics than their more outspoken liberal counterparts...

Most of the computer techies I deal with here are not averse to firearms at all... Of course, I am in South Carolina... :)

I'm the part owner of a tech / net security firm, and we have an unofficial blast away day at the local range where we destroy securely erased hard drives in an even more permanent, and fun manner.

I think the point about "nerds" being more logical types may hold water... I normally can have a more logical discussion about most subjects, whether it's politics, rkba issues, or anything else, for that matter.

I bought my first AK from our network engineer. :) I'm in software/web programming and I know guys all over the Richmond area and most are into guns. A good portion of the emails I get at work are photos of a new build or last weekend's range trip.

I wish the NRA made those little pocket protectors. :)

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Fark.com (http://www.fark.com) yet. All the nerds I know (myself included) visit it at least occasionally.

Here's a sampling of a couple of their gun related articles/summaries:
Mon February 25, 2008:
(Some Guy) (http://go.fark.com/cgi/fark/go.pl?i=3423645&l=http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2008/02/gun-buyback-mis.html) - Obvious - Oakland holds gun buyback program, offering $250 per weapon. Program works as well as these always do, removing guns from gun dealers and senior citizens at an assisted living facility - (320) (http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=3423645)
Sat April 26, 2008:
(Chicago Tribune) (http://go.fark.com/cgi/fark/go.pl?i=3565986&l=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-chicago-police-assault-rifles,0,2104512.story) - Scary - They pull a knife, you pull a gun. They pull a gun, you pull a BIGGER gun. That’s the Chicago way. Chicago cops being issued M4 assault rifles to even the odds against cougars, unarmed civilians - (226) (http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=3565986)

The format for the above blurbs is:
(Article Link) - Tag - Summary - (# of comments)

I was an English Major in college, and boy was I ever stranded behind enemy lines. Despite that, and myself being a serious romantic idealist, I maintained my pro gun philosophy.
Even now, in lots of journalism and outdoors (hiking/backpacking) circles, I'm surrounded constantly by people who are antis. I just try to not debate it since they seem to think that having superior numbers makes them philosophically correct.
Maybe I'll go back to school and get into network engineering so I can work in the nerdtastic gun loving field, what with newspaper and magazine journalism going down the tubes.

I wish the NRA made those little pocket protectors. http://www.stcos.prestons.syd.catholic.edu.au/ict/comconpix/geek.jpg
"Dear Oleg,
since the NRA doesn't make pocket protectors, do you think you could start making some especially with those gun ladies on them?"

Yes, the nerd factor is there. But it also reflects that pro-gunnies are not monolithic... meaning one stereotype. We are not just rural hicks who fear the UN and Dems and have too many guns. There are many types of firearms owners.

Nerds like technical things; airsoft, paintball, computers, video games, war games... so it makes sense some of them got into guns... especially the "tacticool" kind. :rolleyes:

Regardless, I welcome the nerd support for the 2nd amendment. :D

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=80031&stc=1&d=1213719183

University IT guy and gun guy here. I enjoy the engineering elegance of the firearm. The precision of its design and manufacture. Guns are a great example of a mature technology developed for a specific purpose...the projection of kinetic energy in the form of a directed projectile. What's not to like?

Besides, me like tings dat go BOOM!


:D:D

Mon February 25, 2008:
(Some Guy) - Obvious - Oakland holds gun buyback program, offering $250 per weapon. Program works as well as these always do, removing guns from gun dealers and senior citizens at an assisted living facility - (320)$250! If I hear of such a thing happening locally, I should go grab a boatload of Mosins and Hi-Points and then head down there and use the profits to add a Garand to my collection.

Even though I would be doing it to "enhance my collection," I do have to wonder if the ATF would classify that as "engaging in the business," something to be very wary of with my C&R...:evil:

I was an English Major in college, and boy was I ever stranded behind enemy lines. Despite that, and myself being a serious romantic idealist, I maintained my pro gun philosophy.
Even now, in lots of journalism and outdoors (hiking/backpacking) circles, I'm surrounded constantly by people who are antis. I just try to not debate it since they seem to think that having superior numbers makes them philosophically correct.
Maybe I'll go back to school and get into network engineering so I can work in the nerdtastic gun loving field, what with newspaper and magazine journalism going down the tubes.You and me both. My first degree was in Classics and English (the second was Physics/Geology), and the vast majority of fellow students in the upper level English courses were masters of rationalization. My peers in Classics were a much more agreeable sort.

Even though I would be doing it to "enhance my collection," I do have to wonder if the ATF would classify that as "engaging in the business," something to be very wary of with my C&R...

Since these "buyback" programs typically are of the "ask no questions" variety, my guess is that you're fine. They don't ask. You don't tell.

I guess you could call me a nerd. I've worked in computing my entire adult life. I'm a SciFi (SF) fan and computer gamer, etc...

And I've always been pro-gun, and pro-2A.

Yup. Sarah's body guards.

That's no lie.

Aren't nerds engineer types and don't engineer types like guns.

Hold on, let me check Nerd Central=>http://www.purdue.edu/

Yep, it's chock full o' gun-loving, pocket protector packin' ubernerds.:D:neener:

That's a good idea Cannball, one with pictures of the Dillion girls holding those neat pistols and machine guns on it. :) :D

Firearms are mechanical devices which can be tuned for optimum performance based on the needs and desires of the operator. It involves physics, mechanics, chemistry, meteorology, and physiology.
What is there not to like about firearms for true nerds?

I had an "arts" education.:rolleyes: What a phony "education" of there ever was one. Didn't run into too much anti sentiment around where I am from, but I could imagine how it is elsewhere. The arts tend to attract more of the dreamer/idealist crowd. I am of the pragmatic/rationalist.
Should have gone the hard science route. Engineering, etc..

Firearms are mechanical devices which can be tuned for optimum performance based on the needs and desires of the operator. It involves physics, mechanics, chemistry, meteorology, and physiology.
Meteorology? Not if you go to an indoor range ;)

Since these "buyback" programs typically are of the "ask no questions" variety, my guess is that you're fine. They don't ask. You don't tell.This is true, though I'd still have to record the purchase and disposition in my book. I'm sure some ATF agent auditing my records would want to know why I purchased 10 or 15 Mosins at $80 apiece and then dispossessed myself of them at $250 apiece within a week or two...even if I used the proceeds to purchase new rifles that I had no intentions of selling. Therein lies the conflict between "enhancing the collection" and "engaging in the business."

It's awfully risky even if I have the documentation to prove it. Government employees seldom seem to have a sense of humor or an appreciation for the enterprising spirit (if they did, why would they be government employees? :D).

I'd probably be better off going the Hi-Point route, since those aren't C&R eligible and I wouldn't be bound by the same restrictions - they'd just be a much bigger hassle and have a much lower profit margin.

I am surrounded by nerds! I work at a video game studio. We made Full Spectrum Warrior (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_Spectrum_Warrior).

I had an "arts" education. What a phony "education" of there ever was one. Didn't run into too much anti sentiment around where I am from, but I could imagine how it is elsewhere. The arts tend to attract more of the dreamer/idealist crowd. I am of the pragmatic/rationalist.

Sounds familiar ;)

@jws527:

Thanks for explaining that. Since I don't have any kind of dealers license, I have virtually no knowledge of the record keeping required on your side of things. I apologize for the misunderstanding. :)

*puts dunce cap on*

I am surrounded by nerds! I work at a video game studio. We made Full Spectrum Warrior.

Looks like a fun game. If they ever make a Wii port, I'm down for a copy.

I was going to point out the number of video games that deal with tyrannical oppression by an overpowered government. Video games unlike Hollywood have not been oppressed. Lets see any of the WW1 or WW2 re-enactment games, are real life oppression. If you like the sci-fi versions there are games like Half-life 2 and there are more...I am just drawing a blank right now. Half-life 2 has a control theme going, an out of control governing power that completely controls the people, all aspects of control, protection, food, health services and even who/when can reproduce etc...Well once your character shows up things start to change (don't want to ruin it for anyone that might not have played it yet). I just finished that game for a second time recently why its at the top of my memory.

As for History and wars not being "influential" I wonder what would have happened if certain wars were not fought, revolutionary or US civil (would minorities still be slaves, most likely how can that not be influential?) being two more recent VERY influential wars. Would we be speaking Latin instead of English, german, french and spanish because the Romans would still be in power? I mean the list goes on and on. Its one of the things that makes turning points in history along with scientific, social and medical advances. Many of those advances come out of wars to...

So yes as to being a Geek/Nerd/Dweeb or whatever tag I would have yes I have been one most of my life. I have hobbies like building mini trebuchets for fun, playing D&D and building/tweaking computer systems, in these things most of my friends see me as a leader among Geeks. Oh yeah and punching holes in paper at what ever distances I can.


Clerihew

Most of the folks on /. are pretty libertarian. The entire site is geared towards personal freedom and 'hands-off' for the .gov

I am a pro gun nerd.

Plenty of us engineering folks are fans of firearms... group buy over 10K rounds on the loading dock... roll up roll up get your ammo.. LOL

Do musicians count as nerds? I've been a trumpet player most of my life and my experience has been that a lot of players are pro-gun. Not just rock 'n' roll; a jazz sax player got me started handgunning by letting me shoot his Python. That was 30 years ago and I still lust after that Python.My college classical teacher was retired military, my kids' band director has a great collection and shoots competitively, my band booster VP (a petite housewife) carries a .357 snubbie, etc etc. Musicians are logical (different kinda logic, admittedly) so maybe that's a commonality.
My ambition is to compose a Battle Rifle Symphony, or perhaps a quartet for autoloaders. Gives a whole new meaning to tuning a 1911. My shooting range? A Bass Mossberg 500 to a Soprano Walther P22.
See? I rest my case. Musicians are nerds.

HO88 I work for an electrical engineering and consulting firm that also develops power system analysis sftw. The owner is a PE and also a certified NRA instructor. He lets me keep my carry piece in my office because he doesn't want me to leave it in my truck where it might get stolen.

Gun nerds rock!!! :D

Thread direction change warning!

I too am a musician... OK, a percussionist... OH ALL RIGHT! I'm a freakin drummer!

http://herohog.com/images/drums/Bootsie&Speedy.jpg

Here are a few links to that side of my life...

http://johnnyjam.com

http://herohog.com/music.html

I've always thought of a nerd or geek as anyone who is very interested in the technical "mechanics" of whatever hobby/profession they choose. I believe that makes engineers nerds by definition. That also allows musicians, and I suppose even art buffs, to be nerds or geeks. Hardcore fans of classical symphony might even apply. :what::D

Seeing as the original poster specifically mentioned Slashdot, I imagine his/her original intent was to focus primarily on the Information Technology/Engineering specialists on the intarwebs. However, I don't see any reason to exclude other types of nerds.

ETA: By my definition, and as someone mentioned earlier, anyone who reloads is a nerd/geek.:neener:

I've always thought of a nerd or geek as anyone who is very interested in the technical "mechanics" of whatever hobby/profession they choose.

To my mind, you defined "geek" but not "nerd". I view "nerd" as a smaller subset of "geek". For example, you can have a gun-geek, a car-geek, a wine-geek, ect. But "nerd" pertains only to academics, such as information technology, physics, or astronomy.


-T.

I was quite surprised when I made a guns subreddit over on reddit 3 months ago, we've now got 923 subscribers!

http://guns.reddit.com

Ah, I was wondering who created that one. I know there's at least one other guy from here on that group.

Do musicians count as nerds?

They're certainly spiritual kin. I was both when I was growing up, and there are a lot of similarities. Linux popularizer Eric Raymond wrote years ago about his obvervation that a lot of the good programmers he knew were musicians; others were painters, sculptors and dancers, IIRC; some individuals were several of these things.

One fictional example of a nerdly math/music geek whom a lot of you might remember is Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse in Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon.

Please put me down for a couple of copies of Battle Rifle Symphony when you cut the CD. (mp3? Blu-Ray? that tiny disc from Men in Black? ;) )

@Thernlund: I completely agree with you. I refrained from making that distinction simply because the original poster was using the word "nerd" as I would use "geek."

"nerds" tend to THINK.... i.e. guns are good :)

I am a Sr. Programmer / Analyst and I refer to myself as a "computer geek." I was a band geek in Jr. High. A motorcycle geek from 9 years old on (build/ride/race). Car geek (build/drive/race). Then I found computers and got REAL geeky when I found they could be hot-rodded too! I was raised around guns and had my own .410 Stevens at a very early age.

Oh yeah... I am dripping with geeky goodness!

Any D.o.D. members from rec.motorcycles here?

Say hello to reeky!

Live to Flame
http://herohog.com/images/icons/geekyico.gif
Flame to Live!

Lord Julian Spagthorp, Away!

Regardless, I welcome the nerd support for the 2nd amendment.

It's not right for nerds to not support the 2nd Amendment.

Like so many said, we are logical thinkers, and I, myself, have not met a fellow nerd yet who doesn't like firearms. Speaking of video games and the government control/tyranny theme, almost every video game enthusiast are very dedicated history students. Everyone I know who is a video gamer LOVES history.

This isn't a debate like Windows vs. Linux or Kirk vs. Picard.
It's not like the pro-gun community has valid points to make and the anti-gun community also has valid points to make - heck, I've been looking for years now and the other side doesn't even have valid facts, let alone valid ideas.

We're talking about a group of people who 1) have a tendency to approach problems logically and, more importantly, 2) are likely to have had the ever living crap beaten out of them by a football star at some point in their past for absolutely no reason and wished there was some way to even the odds.

It's not rocket surgery.

Nothing new here. I'm a software engineer. There are lots of engineers (software and otherwise) in the shooting community. Engineers like gadgets. And engineers are perhaps a bit less swayed by emotional appeals (e.g., gun control) than the average bear.

Do musicians count as nerds?Depends. From what I understand, music theory requires a lot of math.

i am not a nerd. i read fantasy and romance novels. i like poetry and such. my dads not a nerd either. geek, yes, nerd, no, fanboy, definatly. my mom is as liberal as all get out. she's also a social worker.

but my step dad is an honest to goodness nerd. he is a electrical engineer. he does stuff like build gadgets that make trolly cars work, and smelting fernaces operate. stuff that he can't explain to me. and he THINKS like that too. all the time. even when thinking like an engineer will not translate. when me and mom try to talk about stuff like socialogical principles and music and horses, eric often doesn't get it the first couple times through. he keeps seeing equations were equations don't fit.
however, despite the fact that his only connection with firearms has been through me and that he was raised and lived in an entirely liberal family, he gets the gunstuff. in fact he gets the gun stuff better then my mother, who lived with it for years.
and i have always attributed his understanding to his use of logic, which is the product of his engineering background.

so yeah, nerds are more likely to be open to gunnies, if not gunnies themselves, just based on the logic of it.

Thanks for that illustration, bluestarlizzard. That's very cool.

http://digg.com/world_news/Supreme_Court_s_Handgun_Ruling_Spreads?OTC-ig

Got another one and most comments are favorable.

Almost everyone in the IT dept. where I work is a conservative/libertarian-leaning gun owner. Kinda surprised me, since in my experience techies are generally liberals.

techies are generally liberals

The actual correct terminology for the gun grabbing fiends are either "left wing extremists", or "left wing elitists".

If they were actually liberals, they would be supporting the 2A.

And as this thread explains, most techies are NOT anti-gun. They think logically, and they can immediately see how a sorry failure gun control has been.

Aside from guns, I'm nerdy about many things. Pencils, computers, software, books, etc. Makes sense.

"Nerd" here. x86 asm and C, electronics and computers.

I saw a meme of an HK 416 with the words "Lol, direct impingement fail".

Not only is the new generation much more RKBA friendly, they're much clearer on the technical specifics.

I've also seen it reckoned that the end of the Cold War saw a shift in techie communities away from a Left/Utopianist bent to a much more Libertarian outlook. That may have something to do with it.

Everyone I know who is a video gamer LOVES history

Add me in, Know how to run electronics, and guns. :D

It's not rocket surgery.

LOL. Nor is it Brain Science. :D

*chuckle* i actually know a rocket scientist who likes guns.

Hi there!

I posted the Heller story to Slashdot; I was glad to be the editor-in-charge at the time, because the outcome is exciting to me, even if it's hugely disappointing that it was a) a 5-4 decision and b) narrower than I wish it had been.

The various editors (and the other people who work on the site) have wildly different political / aesthetic views, on guns and on other things, but several of us certainly enjoy shooting guns :) There's a misperception that there is some sort of hive-mind favoring / disfavoring Thing X (whatever that Thing X may be), but in reality, the site is put together by people who don't agree on all that many things, and the readers who comment (who in sum contribute far more of the content on the page) aren't exactly of one mind, either ;) Hence, the constant clash of words that is the Slashdot comment system.

Apropos: There may be more, but I know of only one Tux-engraved AR-15 lower, and it's mine ;)

http://timothylord.googlepages.com/random

Cheers,

timothy

The biggest nerd friend I have was the first of us to have his CHP.
Logical thinking definitely seems to play an important role.

This is a very interesting thread for me. As an exercise in interesting relationships between geek/nerd and logical thinking, do some research on Asperger's Syndrome.

Pops

BTDT, A&S--there are several admitted Aspergers here already, myself included.:)

Oh, yeah, Diamondback, I, too, resemble that remark. No official dx, but I fit the profile, as the security folks say.

Mild case, I am.

Maybe I'm just a half-Aspie, or a semi-Autie.