Whoa - pro-gun nerd community?

[Zoogster]

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.

 

[Golden Hound]

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.

 

[Janitor]

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.

 

[doc2rn]

I am transitioning with each year of college.

 

[bdickens]

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

 

[ImARugerFan]

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

 

[grilledcheese]

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



Jeffrey

 

[lanternlad1]

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

The Geek/Nerd 2A paradise.

 

[HJ857]

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.

 

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

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.

 

[learn2shoot]

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.

 

[Janitor]

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.

 

[Cannonball888]

 

[ZombieHunter]

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.

 

[lance22]

[standing up to be counted] I'm a software / web developer. 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 liberals 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.

 

[learn2shoot]

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!

 

[freakshow10mm]

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.

 

[shdwfx]

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.

 

[siglite]

+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.

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.

 

[trashpickinman]

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.

 

[jws527]

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...

 

[DEDON45]

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.

 

[bnkrazy]

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.

 

[jackmead]

I wish the NRA made those little pocket protectors.

 

[cloudedice]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned 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) - 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)
Sat April 26, 2008:
(Chicago Tribune) - 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)

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