Anyone else find inarticulated opinions frustrating? (aka "beware the old guy lurking at the LGS")

Does anyone else ever feel like there's a portion of the human population who form die hard, nearly religious opinions about guns, yet they cannot even begin to articulate why they hold to those opinions?

The below quotes are examples of various opinions I routinely see and hear expressed in magazines, on forums, at the LGS, at gunshows, etc. And they wouldn't bother me, except they're most often expressed by people who are longtime gun aficionados, who have been shooting for long enough to know better. People who are considered to be "experts" by their peers. Yet they constantly say things like:

"9mm is too underpowered."

".45 is the best cartridge ever devised by man."

"AR15s are unreliable."

"If 7 rounds of .45 ACP doesn't get the job done then you're screwed anyways."

"I hate plastic guns."

"You don't need sights on a carry pistol."

"The AK47 (or M14) is the most reliable battle rifle ever made."

And the list goes on...

What ALL of these people have in common, though, is that they spout these various nuggets of wisdom not only with supreme, God-like confidence in their own knowledge, but without any additional information, no qualifiers, no explanations-simply put, with no rationale whatsoever. And if asked why they hold these opinions, they simply look at you as if you had just asked them why the sky is blue.

I've come to realize over the years that these people have zero objective reasoning behind the opinions they form. They like 1911s just because; therefore Glocks are crap. They know nothing about ballistics and don't care to ever learn anything about it; therefore bigger is always better. They believe every myth they hear and don't care to ever do any historical research of their own; therefore AR15s are the most unreliable rifle ever made. So on and so forth, you get the idea.

So how do such people get to be firearms "experts?" And let's be honest, a good portion of people writing for the old gun mags fall into this category.

Is it simply that ignorant people are the most confident, and therefore everyone listens to them in blind faith? Is it that when they were younger there wasn't easy access to information, so they just formed their opinions without any real data? Do they possess such compelling personalities that people simply put up with their nonsense?

It's not so much that it bothers me, as much as it perplexes me. The gun world seems to be rather unique in this regard. I'm involved in quite a few other hobbies, and in general I find people pretty reasonable, in that they're at least somewhat objective and goal oriented. For example, in the computer technology world, you have a lot of debate over Windows vs. OS vs. Linux. But everyone has pretty specific reasons why they prefer one over the other, and basically everyone is willing to admit that all three have their uses. In fact, I would say that most computer nerds run all three, at least on virtual machines, and have their uses for each.

Fly fishing is another example. Now granted there's a lot of personal preference involved, but likewise there's a lot of science (or witchcraft, depending on how you look at it). Someone might be really dedicated to a certain fly rod, for example, but the reason might be that it's the only rod they can control enough to cast into tight spots without losing their $10 dry fly in the trees. And someone might be pretty dedicated to a certain fly or technique, but if they see the next guy down river catching tons of fish they NEVER say, "Hey, that's the wrong fly for this river!" They say, "Hey, Mac, what'cha got on there?" followed by, "You got any more of 'em?"

One thing I hear CONSTANTLY in the gun world is, "The only thing that matters is that you're confident in what you carry." This is something you don't find in other hobbies, as if carry (or home defense, hunting, and competition for that matter) was a hobby. No one says, "The only thing that matters is that you're confident in your computer." Or, "The only thing that matters is that you're confident in your fly." On the contrary! What matters is does your computer have enough muscle to run the program you're running, or does your fly catch fish. You can be confident in it all day long, but when the rubber meets the road they're objects and they either perform or don't.

Guns are no different. Perhaps a cycling analogy is in order. Just imagine if you're on a cross country ride and your buddy shows up with a mountain bike. "I'm confident in it," he says. Well, he can be confident all he wants, but he's going to slow everyone down, and that's a fact. Tools would be an even better analogy. Imagine watching someone trying to cut wood with a concrete saw, only to be informed his confidence in the saw is all that matters when you try to tell him he's doing it wrong.

Other hobbies, people also accept that some things are just outdated. For example, a person might collect old computers, but they're sure as heck not going to try to run a modern program on one. Or someone may collect vintage single speeds, but they're not going to try to take one on a cross country ride. And in other hobbies, I never hear people arbitrarily discount new things. If something gives them better performance they're on board.

No, guns are different. People form different emotional connections with them than they do other objects, and it mystifies me. People choose guns with a similar mindset to how they choose music, art, books, and movies. There most often is no rationale behind it. It amazes me, though, how they can take something that is so purely utilitarian and objective, something where there are right and wrong answers, and put it terms that should really only apply to subjective things like art. You can like a certain piece of art, you can love a book or movie, or likewise hate them, and no further rationale is needed.

But if you have a hard opinion about a gun, by jove you better have actual reasons for that opinion, especially if you're using the gun for something besides decorating your safe.