Media's pet phrase: "Gun Culture"?

Since when should I be ashamed of being part of a gun culture? Was that moment Sandy Hook last week? I am very tired of the inference that because I own and ENJOY firearms that I am somehow complicit in the murders of those children and educators.

Bull****.

My firearms don't define me, they are part of the package of my interests and my hobbies. It's not like I sit around talking to myself and mentally masturbating while cleaning my property.

Too much caffeine?

robhof

I always get peeved with the medias statistics of "gun violence", hidden in those are the many legitimate shootings by LE and self defense by armed citizens. All the self defense shootings that you read about in the NRA mags are lumped in with the stats to add weight to the Looney left wingnuts arguement.:banghead:

The term reminds me of the old police training video "Surviving Edged Weapons." They constantly refer to the "knife culture" as something that has existed among people since the first caveman discovered he could chip a sharp knife out of a piece of rock.

I hate the media. Never trusted them, but I have genuinely hated the media since a couple of years ago when a colleague of mine did something truly awful and the media literally made up stories about it to sell more papers.

Maybe the anti's should be refered to as "victim culture". It's been pointed out that they really don't hate guns, it's gun owners. It upsets them that they know they aren't prepared to defend themselves or their families and they can't stand the fact that other people are willing to defend theirs. Of course, I don't know their families, maybe they aren't worth defending. A lot of us have decided ours are worth it. Mark

Maybe the anti's should be refered to as "victim culture".

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Who says they are victims? A lot of them are very concerned about self defense which is why they dislike guns. I've known several martial arts instructors who were anti-gun and they certain were not part of any "victim culture" and did care about the safety of themselves and their families.

Who says gun owners aren't or haven't been victims? I have seen a variety of new CHL students who happen to be the recent victims of crime. Would they not be part of a victim culture as well?

I think the phrase you are looking for is "anti-gun culture."

Well the "Gun Culture" in my area raises and collects toys for the Toys for Tots program, fund raising for local schools and JR ROTC, not to mention the vast conservation gains hunters and groups like Ducks Unlimited have managed to get done without the government and this is just for starters.

If you think "Gun Culture" is a media-concocted term, think again. Michael Bane (a firearms writer/blogger/podcaster/etc.) has been using the term for years (at least since 2008).

In fact, he has been using the term "Gun Culture 2.0" for everything post-2008.

MachIV said it well. But we (THR) are a subsidy of American culture. We don't have 80 million members on THR. What the media is trying to do is create a new American culture devoid of guns.

Guys and Gals do some math here. And use some logic. 80 million gun owners. 300,000 standing military, +\- 750,000 LE. So 80 million vs 1 million.

Now on to the logic aspect. How many members of our military and LE know (good friends with) or are related to people who legally own firearms?
Answer: Almost all of them.

And do you really think that they will go to their friends and family and say "Sorry, gotta take away your ability to defend yourself. Give us your guns". Answer: NOT A CHANCE!!

Its not because the military and LE are afraid to do it. It's because they swore an oath to SUPPORT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AGAINST ALL ENEMIES, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC!

Now some may say that the oath (military) goes on to say that they also swore to follow the orders of POTUS. That's true. But when the orders go against the constitution, they do not, and will not be followed because they are illegal orders.

And one more thing. The members of the military and LE are also members of our "Gun Culture" and I'm happy to have them as members.

I've hearing "gun culture" for at least 50 years. Wasn't a part of it until 20 years ago. Started reading gun books, gun shows, checking out the gun dealers, talking to people that were already in the culture. When I started I could identify a Luger pistol and a Thompson sub machine gun and an M16. Nothing else, cowboy pistol? Didn't know it was a Colt Single Action Army.

Had squirt guns that were shaped like a 1911, but didn't know that's what it was. Get interested in guns and you join the culture.

If you are spending your time on a firearms forum, you are most definitely part of "gun culture".

If you think "Gun Culture" is a media-concocted term, think again. Michael Bane (a firearms writer/blogger/podcaster/etc.) has been using the term for years (at least since 2008).

In fact, he has been using the term "Gun Culture 2.0" for everything post-2008.

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Not to mention John Ross' Unintended Consequences, published in 1996. I'd like to see specific examples of the OP's claim that this is a favorite term or pet phrase of media. I do not doubt that it has been used by the media, but they didn't coin it, and do not own the meaning of it. But they might well use it as a pejorative, they same way they seem to speak at other times of the values of flyover country and traditional American culture. There is a serious cultural divide in this country, but it is more related to urban vs. rural/surburan values, and cuts across a variety of issues and circumstances, of which guns are just a part. Think "blue" and "red" here. I make no more apologies for being a part of the "gun culture" than I do for living in a "red" state, and being a "flag waving" patriot. The question I have, for our detractors, is why aren't they any of these things?

I don't agree. There is a gun culture and I've been a part of it for the past 33 years. I don't think the media made it up. Now the term "gun nut" is one that I do find offensive.

Personally, I don't feel offended when they use the term gun culture. We are part of the gun culture. To me, it is not a negative term any more than a car club or biker club would be. Offensive terms would be gun nuts, gun thugs, gun hicks or gun billys. A culture isn't a derrogative term as it actually sounds civilized, like we truly are.

It's the Thug Culture in this country that worries me.

Read the novel Unitended Consequenses by John Ross. It's an enlightening book that deals with America's "gun culture" and the steady assault upon it. It's very much worth reading although I don't necessarily agree with all of it.

Read the novel Unitended Consequenses by John Ross. It's an enlightening book that deals with America's "gun culture" and the steady assault upon it. It's very much worth reading although I don't necessarily agree with all of it.

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Ditto this. The sexual assignations in the book border on puerile, and seriously detract from it overall (and I'm no prude), but the book is still full of interesting history and fascinating speculation.

Unintended Consequences

Not to mention John Ross' Unintended Consequences...

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I heartily approve of the way that Mr. Ross used the term. Each time he would say "and so and so was a member of the "gun culture", I would think "Heck Yeah" or "Me too". He described normal people doing things that were once considered normal with their guns. He went on to show how these people were later marginalized by society. He does post here sometimes, maybe he'll give us his take on the term?

I also recommend reading the book. If nothing else for the historical information. When my wife read it, she asked me several times "did that really happen" (Bonus March, Warsaw Ghetto, Battle of Athens). For some reason the government schools are not teaching this material these days. Sure, there was some sex in the back story, and maybe not exactly the types of sex that 100% of us approve or, but life is kind of like that sometimes.

There was talk of a (shorter) sequel a few years ago. Maybe Mr. Ross will chime in on that also?

taliv said:

i disagree with most views in this thread.

there certainly is a gun culture in the US. Just like there is a hip hop culture. There is a hippie culture. sport (nascar/football) cultures etc.

to the extent stereotyping is useful, it's easy to identify people in these cultures by their speech, their dress, their attitudes etc.


i consider the "gun culture" a good thing. to my way of thinking, it consists not so much of the people i see at gun shows, but to a large extent most of the shooters i see at IDPA/IPSC/3gun/and many other matches. these people identify with and participate in the gun culture. it is a small community.

i think the useful distinction is that there is very little overlap between the people in the gun culture and the "culture of violence" the media participates in. people in the gun culture rarely glorify violence. they don't revel in it like hollywood movies and video games. they view guns as tools, not symbols. and they definitely have a different mindset.

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Amen brother. Proud to be a part of it.