Miami_JBT
Member
Gun ownership has taken a very interesting course within the 20th Century.
For the first half of the century, guns were mostly owned as tools. America was still rural for the most part and in part with a rural agrarian lifestyle. Supplementing dinner with wild game was common in many parts of the country. Most families were poor and whatever firearm they owned, they owned it for multiple reasons. They didn't have a dedicated home defense gun and a duck gun along with a deer rifle and a plinker. No, they usually had one or two guns total. Usually an affordable single or double barreled break open shotgun and a rimfire rifle. These guns were usually kept leaning against a kitchen door and used for scourging up game and keeping the hearth and home safe from intruders.
The common myth constantly paraded online and in the media is that the gun that won the west was a lever action and the single action six shooter. That isn't the case truthfully. The real deal was that most homesteaders were dirt poor and only could afford a single shot shotgun that originally was a front stuffer like a surplused Enfield 1853 or Springfield 1861. That was the gun that won the west and as the 20th Century rolled by. The same honest truths were much the same.
Gun ownership was a necessity due to rural living. It wasn't a sport or hobby for most.
With the Great Depression, that was especially more so. Folks grew up shooting, but they grew up shooting because they were expected to hunt and defend the family. Highway bandits still existed as did general thievery. Hell, look at this sign during the Great Depression.
That wasn't posted as a joke. Kids grew up on the family's back 40 acres and learned to shoot for sure. But again, it wasn't for fun like today.
With the end of WWII though, things changed. Society changed. Suddenly, the US was the greatest economic and military power in the globe. Every economic competitor to the US was in rubble and ruin. Europe was absolutely devastated, Latin America was still mostly agrarian with a top down kleptocratic strongman style of government, and most of Asia was agrarian and in the midst of nationalists conflicts between Communism and Capitalism or outright independence from colonial powers.
Americans left the agrarian rural lifestyle and flocked to the modern conveniences of the suburban life. The family farm with the back 40 for hunting was disappearing. The need to sustain the family dinner table with game wasn't needed. Hunting went from a need to a sport and with that things started to change.
As more and more families urbanized, hunting continued to shrink overall since access to land continued to shrink. By the end of the 20th Century, the vast majority of Americans had no private access to land that they can claim to outright own for hunting, plus the lack of access to land meant less informal practice like plinking.
And with the urbanization of Americans and the rising economic abilities of Americans. Gun ownership shifted from a need to hunt to sports shooting or self defense. Your Suburbanite bought a gun for home defense or sport like target shooting at the local range or maybe a dove hunt on a leased field. With that... we went into the 21st Century where gun ownership really shifted into want instead of a need.
And what's interesting is with the disposal income, you have two classes of gun owners. The average and the enthusiast.
The average American gun owner today buys and owns a gun as a magic talisman with the belief that it wards away the energy of bad people and endows the holders with super magical nearly fantastical cosmic powers. They buy the cheapest thing at a gun shop or big box store with a sporting goods department, shoot maybe twenty rounds through it if it is a handgun, and throw it in a sock drawer or glove compartment for the next twenty years. If it is a long gun, they shoot maybe five rounds and throw it in a closet.
Then you have the folks that actually get a CCW. Guess what, most don't regularly carry. To them, it is a "just in case" thing. Like a "Oh, I have it just in case things are bad Downtown and I have to go there for business. I'll carry that day". It too is a magic talisman and a sense of falsehood. I see it all time.
I've been a member over at Arfcom for a LONG WHILE and it is like maybe 1% of the gun world in term of numbers. It doesn't think it is and many think that they're your average gun owners and that it is considered average to have 10 different ARs, plates, and a literal pile of mags. It actually is a very small community in the grand scheme of things and kind it like an echo chamber when it comes to how people think the average American gun owner is.
There was a thread where someone that plays SASS/CAS games mentioned they want to CCW their Colt 1873 Single Action. And while I doubt the poster is at the same level as Bob Munden (God rest his soul). He probably is a better handler of a gun, ANY GUN. Just due to experience and exposure. Yet there had a number of posters telling the OP that he'll die. They berated him since he didn't have the latest red dot equipped micro super capacity 9mm and wasn't going to carry it AIWB with two spares, and a BUG on him and along with a IFAK.
The honest reality is that most encounters where a gun is used for self defense. Discharging the weapon isn't even done. Simply presenting it is what was needed. The statistical chances of a raging gun battle where reloads are even needed by the average citizen is pretty much between nowhere and nope. The average citizen has a higher statistical chance of getting a getting Jessica Alba and Jennifer Lopez in bed at the same time in broad daylight.
Sure, there is absolutely nothing wrong with carrying a modern firearm and having the capability to defend one's self from multiple assailants. Hell, I do it. I own ARs, GLOCKs, 30rd mags, red dot optics, etc.... I've even CCW'ed my SBR'ed FN PS90. But I'm not your average gun owner and I understand that.
But the hard truth is. Most people are actually served with a New England Pardner 20ga and a Ruger Single Six in .22 Magnum. They aren't out there with MOLLE and Plates, doing rapid action drills at 3am with NVGs. Hell, they aren't even at the local indoor range doing simple static work like practicing trigger control and sight alignment.
Your average gun owner has no understanding of tactics, training, the laws, safety, etc... Your average gun owner is pretty much a safety hazard both physically and legally speaking. Arfcom and other forums in the grand scheme of things are a very small groups of people. Most are very passionate about the 2nd Amendment and guns themselves.
Your average American gun owner is about as politically active as a snail in a bowl of salt. They aren't. You're lucky if they vote. And those that do vote, guns aren't an issue for them.
They don't compete, they don't train, they don't get politically active, etc....
Gun ownership does not automatically equal 2nd Amendment Activism and Enthusiasm. Plenty of gun owners are anti-gun or indifferent. That's your average gun owner.
Right now, with the 2020 Great Panic I see it every day in the shops and ranges. Your average gun owner came in and bought anything that wasn't nailed down because they feared the rioting mob would break down their door. So they bought a Maverick 88 and a box of #8 bird shot and called it good or they snagged a GLOCK 19 for $700 and two 50rd boxes of Tula Steel Case FMJ for $30 a pop.
I even have some folks I know that finally got their CCW permit and it was because of the "Oh, BLM is protesting around the Capitol and I work down there. I'll carry when things look like they might be bad."
Yet these are the same people that support things like Red Flag laws, Mag restrictions, AWBs, and voted for gun grabbers like Biden or supported Anti-Gun Republicans like Brian Mast.
As a good friend says, "just because they have the same color skin, don't make them kin." Just because a person has a CCW permit or owns a gun, doesn't make them pro gun.
Edit to add,
The 2nd Amendment is still as ever important, this is not in any way to be construed as support for gun control.
For the first half of the century, guns were mostly owned as tools. America was still rural for the most part and in part with a rural agrarian lifestyle. Supplementing dinner with wild game was common in many parts of the country. Most families were poor and whatever firearm they owned, they owned it for multiple reasons. They didn't have a dedicated home defense gun and a duck gun along with a deer rifle and a plinker. No, they usually had one or two guns total. Usually an affordable single or double barreled break open shotgun and a rimfire rifle. These guns were usually kept leaning against a kitchen door and used for scourging up game and keeping the hearth and home safe from intruders.
The common myth constantly paraded online and in the media is that the gun that won the west was a lever action and the single action six shooter. That isn't the case truthfully. The real deal was that most homesteaders were dirt poor and only could afford a single shot shotgun that originally was a front stuffer like a surplused Enfield 1853 or Springfield 1861. That was the gun that won the west and as the 20th Century rolled by. The same honest truths were much the same.
Gun ownership was a necessity due to rural living. It wasn't a sport or hobby for most.
With the Great Depression, that was especially more so. Folks grew up shooting, but they grew up shooting because they were expected to hunt and defend the family. Highway bandits still existed as did general thievery. Hell, look at this sign during the Great Depression.
That wasn't posted as a joke. Kids grew up on the family's back 40 acres and learned to shoot for sure. But again, it wasn't for fun like today.
With the end of WWII though, things changed. Society changed. Suddenly, the US was the greatest economic and military power in the globe. Every economic competitor to the US was in rubble and ruin. Europe was absolutely devastated, Latin America was still mostly agrarian with a top down kleptocratic strongman style of government, and most of Asia was agrarian and in the midst of nationalists conflicts between Communism and Capitalism or outright independence from colonial powers.
Americans left the agrarian rural lifestyle and flocked to the modern conveniences of the suburban life. The family farm with the back 40 for hunting was disappearing. The need to sustain the family dinner table with game wasn't needed. Hunting went from a need to a sport and with that things started to change.
As more and more families urbanized, hunting continued to shrink overall since access to land continued to shrink. By the end of the 20th Century, the vast majority of Americans had no private access to land that they can claim to outright own for hunting, plus the lack of access to land meant less informal practice like plinking.
And with the urbanization of Americans and the rising economic abilities of Americans. Gun ownership shifted from a need to hunt to sports shooting or self defense. Your Suburbanite bought a gun for home defense or sport like target shooting at the local range or maybe a dove hunt on a leased field. With that... we went into the 21st Century where gun ownership really shifted into want instead of a need.
And what's interesting is with the disposal income, you have two classes of gun owners. The average and the enthusiast.
The average American gun owner today buys and owns a gun as a magic talisman with the belief that it wards away the energy of bad people and endows the holders with super magical nearly fantastical cosmic powers. They buy the cheapest thing at a gun shop or big box store with a sporting goods department, shoot maybe twenty rounds through it if it is a handgun, and throw it in a sock drawer or glove compartment for the next twenty years. If it is a long gun, they shoot maybe five rounds and throw it in a closet.
Then you have the folks that actually get a CCW. Guess what, most don't regularly carry. To them, it is a "just in case" thing. Like a "Oh, I have it just in case things are bad Downtown and I have to go there for business. I'll carry that day". It too is a magic talisman and a sense of falsehood. I see it all time.
I've been a member over at Arfcom for a LONG WHILE and it is like maybe 1% of the gun world in term of numbers. It doesn't think it is and many think that they're your average gun owners and that it is considered average to have 10 different ARs, plates, and a literal pile of mags. It actually is a very small community in the grand scheme of things and kind it like an echo chamber when it comes to how people think the average American gun owner is.
There was a thread where someone that plays SASS/CAS games mentioned they want to CCW their Colt 1873 Single Action. And while I doubt the poster is at the same level as Bob Munden (God rest his soul). He probably is a better handler of a gun, ANY GUN. Just due to experience and exposure. Yet there had a number of posters telling the OP that he'll die. They berated him since he didn't have the latest red dot equipped micro super capacity 9mm and wasn't going to carry it AIWB with two spares, and a BUG on him and along with a IFAK.
The honest reality is that most encounters where a gun is used for self defense. Discharging the weapon isn't even done. Simply presenting it is what was needed. The statistical chances of a raging gun battle where reloads are even needed by the average citizen is pretty much between nowhere and nope. The average citizen has a higher statistical chance of getting a getting Jessica Alba and Jennifer Lopez in bed at the same time in broad daylight.
Sure, there is absolutely nothing wrong with carrying a modern firearm and having the capability to defend one's self from multiple assailants. Hell, I do it. I own ARs, GLOCKs, 30rd mags, red dot optics, etc.... I've even CCW'ed my SBR'ed FN PS90. But I'm not your average gun owner and I understand that.
But the hard truth is. Most people are actually served with a New England Pardner 20ga and a Ruger Single Six in .22 Magnum. They aren't out there with MOLLE and Plates, doing rapid action drills at 3am with NVGs. Hell, they aren't even at the local indoor range doing simple static work like practicing trigger control and sight alignment.
Your average gun owner has no understanding of tactics, training, the laws, safety, etc... Your average gun owner is pretty much a safety hazard both physically and legally speaking. Arfcom and other forums in the grand scheme of things are a very small groups of people. Most are very passionate about the 2nd Amendment and guns themselves.
Your average American gun owner is about as politically active as a snail in a bowl of salt. They aren't. You're lucky if they vote. And those that do vote, guns aren't an issue for them.
They don't compete, they don't train, they don't get politically active, etc....
Gun ownership does not automatically equal 2nd Amendment Activism and Enthusiasm. Plenty of gun owners are anti-gun or indifferent. That's your average gun owner.
Right now, with the 2020 Great Panic I see it every day in the shops and ranges. Your average gun owner came in and bought anything that wasn't nailed down because they feared the rioting mob would break down their door. So they bought a Maverick 88 and a box of #8 bird shot and called it good or they snagged a GLOCK 19 for $700 and two 50rd boxes of Tula Steel Case FMJ for $30 a pop.
I even have some folks I know that finally got their CCW permit and it was because of the "Oh, BLM is protesting around the Capitol and I work down there. I'll carry when things look like they might be bad."
Yet these are the same people that support things like Red Flag laws, Mag restrictions, AWBs, and voted for gun grabbers like Biden or supported Anti-Gun Republicans like Brian Mast.
As a good friend says, "just because they have the same color skin, don't make them kin." Just because a person has a CCW permit or owns a gun, doesn't make them pro gun.
Edit to add,
The 2nd Amendment is still as ever important, this is not in any way to be construed as support for gun control.
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I just happen to understand its limitations. 
