Sick of an old Stereotype

[Action_Can_Do]

Hello everyone. I'm in the middle of reading Steven King's The Cell, and once again I came across the same tired old stereotype of a gun nut. I came to terms with the fact that after more than twenty years of writing about characters using revolvers, Mr. King still doesn't know that revolvers don't have safety switchs. But come on. Not every gun nut has a basement full of illegal guns. Not every gun nut is a hostile loner type, with an equally hostile wife. Why he didn't just go all the way and make him a Southern, racist, wife-beating, government-hating, alcoholic that keeps up pictures of Osama with cross-hairs on his face is beyond me.
I really wish we could set the record straight. My name is Dan, and I'm a gun-nut. I'm not a racist. I'm not a mean guy. I don't come from a family of southern hill folk (not that there's anything wrong with that). If one of the other people on this forum was to invite me over to their house and I was to go, being a gun-nut, I would probably want to talk about guns, look at their guns, and if it was a nice day, shoot their guns. One of my best friends is a member of this forum, and we go shooting as much as possible.
There really is only one solution to this problem. Create a new stereotype for people who don't like guns. I would like to suggest some of the following criteria.
1. They are probably wealthy.
2. They are probably white and nervous about minority folk owning guns.
3. They probably believe the police should take care of everything from finding their lost little annoying dogs to sitting outside their houses at night so they can sleep safe and sound.
4. They probably own little annoying dogs.
5. They are scared of their own shadows.
6. They think Steven King is shady because he knows so much about guns.

If you can think of anything to add, do so. Maybe an author or tv producer will see it and use it.:banghead:

 

[GreenFurniture]

Most wealthy people are the ones with the guns.

Who do you think is buying the $2500+ custom 1911s?

Steven Speilberg for example. One of the largest gun collectors in the US.

 

[Cosmoline]

As if there's a chance in hades King doesn't pack. But with these guys it's one law for me, another for thee. They're confident that whatever gun control applies to the great unwashed, it will never be applied to them. OTOH, there are a surprising number of celebs and famous people who pack and support the RKBA, but have been advised in no uncertain terms to say nothing about it to the press. Being an outspoken conservative in LA (movies) or NYC (books) is a career limiter, if not career death.

 

[the naked prophet]

You forgot to add to the anti-gun stereotype that they own guns.

 

[bratch]

This is a quote from the local paper on CCW permits in our state.

"It's mostly whites. It's mostly males. It's mostly people with above average incomes and people who live in suburban areas. They're the ones who already have the guns. They're the ones who have the money,” said Hemenway, author of "Private Guns, Public Health.”

Sounds like the same people you are sterotyping as antis. Everyone has a reason(some of them lacking logic) look at that instead of lumping them into a group.

 

[Professor K]

But I was working so hard on the basement full of illegal guns...

Really, while stereotypes are bad and all, they do usually stem from actual stuff. Really, admit it, some gun nuts are like that. It'd be more effective to just try to get rid of that stereotype than unsuccessfully try to create a new one.

 

[Logan5]

Well, the novel was mostly set in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a place which has some unique and bizzare laws. And whatever you want to say about Stephen King, he's never even approached the Louis L'amour level of getting gun details right. IIRC King's protagonist in the novel is familiar with the operation of a SAA style revolver because he's a cartoonist who draws a graphic novel about a cowboy? And then we're told that the deceased MA gun owning family was willing to risk keeping a SAA loaded with hypothetical incredibly MA illegal death ray bullets loaded in the home for self defense, while they keep a full auto AKM "hidden" in the garage wrapped in an oily rag? That's an idiotic course of action.
I'm sure this never occurred to King, or I'd say it's stereotyping gun owners as people incapable of logical thought. But if, say, a SAA with hollowpoints and an AKM are equally illegal, who's going to get both, hide the AKM in the garage, and keep the SAA for home defense? If it's all equally illegal, get the nasties illegal weapon you can find/afford, right? What it actually points out is that lots of people are incapable of logical thought.

 

[Action_Can_Do]

Professor K,
I agree with you. All stereotypes come from somewhere. I also know that people exist just as I described them. It's just a matter of getting the ball rolling. For anyone who couldn't tell, this post was started for mostly humourous reasons. I live in an area that is supposed to be full of gun lovers (Northeast Pa). It can be hard to find them though. It isn't hard to find the antis however. It's very frustrating.:banghead:

 

[Pax Jordana]

Mr. King still doesn't know that revolvers don't have safety switchs.

"Cell" perhaps? "The Cell" was the movie with J. Lo looking gooooooood


Safeties on revolvers, and there are some truly ludicrous comments regarding some manner of full-auto rifle with a drum magazine later on in the book.

King is either feigning ignorance, truly apathetic, or has outsourced his writing to mexico.


OT, but this story felt to me like a reader's digest condensed version of "the stand".. only they condensed the good parts out.

 

[Christianninja]

King is a genius, but he has his slip-ups. I could be wrong, but I believe he once wrote a story where someone follows a trail of brass ejected from a revolver. That made me cringe.

But a lot of those types of mistakes arise more from his spontaneous, nonstructured writing style. He also wrote a scene where a man in a straight jacket wipes the sweat from his brow. (The Green Mile- he fixed it in a later edition.)

All in all though, he fairs better than most authors, espescially the liberal ones. And he's against gun control for the most part (he has said he'd like to see tighter control on hand guns- an example of ignorance easily remedied with a brief confrontation of facts.)

I enjoyed Cell. Not the best, but you could tell he was having fun with it, and I did too.

 

[Speer]

But with these guys it's one law for me, another for thee.

Definitely.

 

[Nasty Jack]

Gun grabbers --

Rosie O'Donnell has an armed guard taking her kid back and forth to school.

Diane Feinstein, and Babes Boxer both have CCW and pack heat.

I live out in the remote rural woods, on a hill, surrounded by fences (Horse pastures) . . . with a good line of fire when they come up the hill. Gun room, a whole freekin' room . . . with a safe and reloading stuff, thousands and thousands of rounds of ammo. Military rifles, Uzis, AK's, Mausers, Garands, bayonets too. High power, center fire, scoped rifles.

Crazy, Viet Nam era vet, PTSD . . . I own cammo . . . *LMAO*

Ohhhhh yeah, volunteer fireman, sit on the board for the county firearms saftey program coordinated with the Sheriff and Post Commander at the Army Base. Tutor students at the local community college. Volunteer Master Gardener . . . and I don't hunt.

-- Stereotypes . . .

 

[Alexfubar]

I am a stereotype.

I am a married white male with a job and a conservative voting record. I drive a 4wd truck , have 2 dogs , a project jeep in the driveway , belong to the NRA , a gun range , and use tools at work. I have no fear of religious people , or soldiers , or Foxnews. I listen to country music. I have two military style rifles and a license to carry concealed firearms. There are more than a thousand rounds of ammo in my closet.

And I gave up reading King when i realized he won't listen to an editor. A full 3rd of most of his work should have been deleted on the screen. I get bored with his tedious run-ons.

 

[Professor K]

I still dont get in it, how they use a slingshot to kill it. Seriously, if they're adults, and taking on a monster, they should at least have a handgun, I'd send them all in like in the movie Mosquito, that movie was hilarious.

 

[Hemicuda]

"Revolvers don't have safeties" - I call BOOLSHEET! Ever seen an FIE revolver? They have an external hammer block safety... I'm SURE there sare others too!

 

[waynedm]

Hippies. Hippies are the problem, my friends. They'll jump on any bandwagon if they think it's popular 'movement.' They'll sign any petition http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi3erdgVVTw for any thing.

 

[Hutch]

For one thing, King has a gift for describing people, just as James Lee Burke can describe a scene. I believe (can't prove) that King views ignorance about firearms as a badge of moral superiority.

And he's against gun control for the most part (he has said he'd like to see tighter control on hand guns

I disagree. I've seen an interview with him that left me shrieking at the television. He kept repeating the "Easy Access to Firearms" mantra. Wanted to puke.

Yeah, I read The Cell or Cell (whatever), and I got PO'd by the same bullpoop "illegal-evil-hollow-point-cop-killer" and "wife-beater-NRA-member" tirade. Well, he can just kiss my rear end. I'll never buy another of his books.

 

[oneshooter]

Basement Guns

I ain't even got a basement!!!!












Will the attic do instead?


Oneshooter
Livin in Texas

 

[Guntalk]

Anti-gun bigots in movies

I once had an interesting conversation with a movie director when I turned down an offer to read for a part.

When I read the script, the part I was to play was a hit man, and they started the scene by panning to all the animal heads on the wall, then they go to the character, and he is cleaning his hunting rifle, etc. You get the picture.

I called the director and told him I just couldn't do anything as bigoted as this role. THAT got his attention. I explained that the script works on the old, bigoted belief that if you own guns you are, by definition, a bad guy. He said that everyone believes that. I explained that only everyone he knows believes that, and that it is bigoted. Imagine panning through a watermelon field, etc., etc. He never did get it.

I didn't read for the part. It was an independent film being shot in my town, and they heard I had guns. I think they were interested in me because I could bring my own props!! Certainly not because I'm an actor, which I am not.

Oh well. There goes that movie career.

 

[Autolycus]

Originally posted by Action Can Do:
They are probably white and nervous about minority folk owning guns.

Why do you want to create that as a stereotype?

 

[alucard0822]

just an observation, but I think I found the gun nut

and the anti that everyone describes.

 

[Christianninja]

I disagree. I've seen an interview with him that left me shrieking at the television. He kept repeating the "Easy Access to Firearms" mantra. Wanted to puke.

Hmmm...he may have changed his opinions since then, but I got my info from an interview recorded in "Bare Bones", a collection of conversations with King. Here's the section where he addresses it:

Q: They're also very firm on the issue of gun control.
KING: I think I would like to see permits needed to get any kind of a handgun. You'd have to have your picture taken. You couldn't have any kind of a criminal record or a record of mental illness, beyond having a psychiatrist, in the last six years.
Q: Does that mean you favor gun control?
KING: No. I want people to be able to go out and get a shotgun or a rifle if they want to go hunting. I can't see mark Chapman walking up to John Lennon on the street with a .410 shoved down his pant leg and managing to pull it out, cock it, and shoot the guy. I mean, Jesus Christ! I don't think we should have a tight, nonbending gun control law in this country, but I think it's time to put some curbs on handguns. You see all those bumper stickers that say: "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns." Well, that's fine with me.

A lot of ignorance there, but ignorance can be fixed with education. The insurpassable obstacle with antis is the superstitious "GUNS ARE EVIL" point of view, which it seems King has enough sense to have avoided. I must say, though, the last thing he says perplexes me.

The ignorant, we can educate. The closed minded superstitious Rosie O'donnels of the world will never change.

 

[Speer]

"If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns." Well, that's fine with me.

Wow. Talk about pathetic. My respect for King just fell twenty stories.

 

[Leanwolf]

HUTCH - "I believe (can't prove) that King views ignorance about firearms as a badge of moral superiority."

Yep. King, a superior elitist liberal has always been anti-guns owned by the worker peasants. He knows as much about firearms as I know about being an astronaut. Hey, I've ridden in airplanes quite a bit!! That makes me kind of an astronaut. Doesn't it?????


GUNTALK, wondering what was the name of the flick for which you read??? Remember the writer's name, and the director???

Just wondering.

Thanks.

L.W.

 

[Sharps-shooter]

Are you trying to say the monopoly guy is anti-gun? that's just part of his public image, I'm sure.

As for the stereotypical gun nut, I've known some like that. I've also known plenty who were otherwise.

Brass ejected from a revolver-- well, you don't leave it in the chamber forever, you have to take it out to reload.

Safeties on revolvers-- Taurus makes revolvers with a safety on them. Or maybe safety isn't technically the right word (?), anyway, it keeps the pistol from firing.

stephen king in general-- probably never would have bought one of his books regardless. probably won't buy and "danielle steele" novels either.