I chose defense, but so many other things apply. Dad gave me my first little Beretta when I was 4, and that's when I started learning about things that men do. For me, a gun began as a symbol of my place in the world as a man. A gun is a tool, like a knife, or can opener, or shovel. As I grew up, I became much more tool oriented, and ended up fabricating and welding structural steel, ships, boilers, and every imaginable thing with steel in it.
The study of ballistics led to reloading, and all of that broadened my understanding of physics. I forgot to mention that phase as a boy, where we just have to know what a frog, or bird, or rabbit looks like inside. We found out. Boys have an innate drive to start a fire, and cook those dissected critters, and find out which ones really are the most yummy. You learn by doing, and you can do a lot more when you have a gun.
It took a long time to go through all of the things that my guns and knowledge of tools in general had to teach me. Later, that leads to an understanding of the politics involved.
One of the sad things I see in society now is that far too many young boys never have the chance to roam in open spaces and discover the world at the mechanical and anatomical level.
If a boy can't experience riding well and shooting straight, how will he ever learn to speak the truth? The truth is hidden from him, and thus is born a nation of Sheeple.......
