Why do they call people gun nuts?

[No_Brakes23]

Don't get too wrapped around the axle about it.

Plenty of other hobbies' participants are labelled fanatic or nut.

It has nothing to do with hoplophobia, it is just a way that English speakers refer to someome who likes something. I am also a Canyon Driving Fanatic, a Lego Geek, a Gearhead, and a Music Nut. Many people say they are "nuts" or "crazy" about their chosen interest.

 

[sterling180]

There are two types of gun nuts,the fist is:

The shooter who shoots guns,as a recreational hobby and views it as their main pride and joy away from a hard days work.These people are harmless.To them shooting a M1 Carbine in the classic,or service rifle disciplines,is like racing a vintage car,in a vintage car race.

The second type,are persons who have a mobid interst in firearms,because they like the fact that they can kill people,have a powerful cartridge and stopping power,etc ,etc,as opposed to appreciating the other qualities of them.These are the ones that mainly cause gun massacres
and are often responsible for the harsh response from the government,the cops and other anti-citizens-who it seems want to punish the shooting community.By the way I am refering to Australia and the UK here and not the USA.

 

[G36-UK]

The term "Gun Nuts", IMHO, is meant to evoke an image of a maniac such as Thomas Hamilton, or your Charles Whitman. The anti gun people use it as a derogatory term, but it's been change into a "badge of honour" for gun enthusiasts (as shown here).

I think, if someone's using it as a slur against me, I would respond "If you're comapring youself to me, or any of the anti-gun groups, The proper term is 'good guy', because unlike them, we don't lie."

A few people in my town refer to me as a gun nut, more as a term of endearment, though.

 

[CB1961]

Call me one more gun nut. I am always thinking about the next gun I would like to own. Really like to talk/read about ballistics, interested in the history of different chamberings too, and yeah people look at you odd when you can go one about something like that for an hour or more, or you have stacks of documents and such on the subject. Sometimes I think I am more of a Gun-Geek....kinda like a math geek but more affirmative. Trying to find a place for all the "gun talk" is what made me search out places like the High-Road. So yeah...gun nut is kind of a badge of privilage maybe. Hey, while on the subject how many guns does a person need to own to be a gun nut? I think I was actually a gun nut from the time I got that BB gun at age 8...but the first shot out my grand-dads .410 was what really sold me over. How many remember that first blast of gun powder? ....wife says I gotta stop rambling on about guns!

 

[Timmy44221]

On a side note this conversation reminds me of a conversation some of my coworkers were having. It was about african americans being called N!@#rs. And how some use it a derogatory term and how others use it at a term of endeerment. "Gun nut" seems like it is in a similar situation. Many of use dont considerate bad, but the ignorant population does. I say we stop useing it alltogether, or embrace it, so that we can take the power away from its possible negativity.

 

[#shooter]

http://www.cafepress.com/gun_nutz.27535203

 

[Hokkmike]

I prefer the term "firearms aficionado".

 

[John-Melb]

The anti's will often use put-downs like "gun nut" when their arguements are challenged, as most of them have no other answer than childish name calling.

My response to this tactic has been to whenever possible adopt their insult almost as a badge of honour.

A senior employee of a shooting sports organisation (the man was an absolute blonk and no longer works in that position, thankfully) once refered to me as "the ill-educated and barely literate redneck" not realising I had mates present at the time. When I started signing off my emails using that title he got really upset.

An interesting snippet from history regarding "insulting" name calling

"The siege was only a couple of months old when the renegade Lord Haw Haw, broadcasting from Berlin, said they were "caught like rats in a trap" and applied it to the garrison because most of its men could find shelter only underground while the bombers were overhead. Our men accepted the title with relish. To one another, they were "the rats." To the Axis, they were rats with razor-sharp teeth.

They became "The Rats of Tobruk" "

These "rats" gave Herr Schickelgruber's army his first taste of defeat, eighteen months before Stalingrad!

 

[ball3006]

I think the term gun nut.....

came from the time when the gun sport was almost all male. Now, that there are alot of women in the gun sports, I don't know what would be a proper term...........firearm enthusiasts, I suppose......chris3

 

[sterling180]

There was also another term,that cropped up after the Waco seige, in Texas,that appeared in the UK.It was also used by the BBC as well,after the Jonesboro massacre in 1998.The term was:"Gun-worshipping Americans and America is a nation of gun-worshippers,blessed by the NRA" and other associated rubbish.

The trouble is,that in America it is a constitutional right to own a gun,because it represent an individuals right in the constitution-under the 2nd Ammendment.

A Canadian female said to me that the Americans were a nation of gun-worshippers and that their 2nd Ammendment,was bull****.

Typical liberal small-talk.

 

[buck00]

It's always easier to dismiss the unfamiliar as inferior if you come up with a derogative term for it.

Aye. When people attempt to make sense of other people, they often categorize them into simple, stereotyped groups. Making ignorant assumptions about others makes things easier for them mentally and they paint everyone in that group with the same brush. I've experienced it before.

For example, a liberal hears you were trap shooting and right away they roll their eyes and think "ok, we got ourselves a gun nut here- probably worships the NRA, thinks the UN is going to take over and has a machine gun in his car." Maybe I don't even like the NRA and only own a shotgun for trap and hunting, but it doesn't matter to such people as the term "gun nut" sums up everything they think they need to know about you.

* Values and traditions in America are changing. There was a time in the 40s and 50s when it wasn't deemed unusual for an American family to own a rifle and for them to go to church. I've gotten dirty looks and sarcastic questions about my guns. Also, when I mentioned something about going to church, I've had people say "what are you, some kind of Christian nut?" It is a similar slur blurted by similarly narrow minded liberals.

The ongoing attack on the 2nd amendment and gun rights is part of a wider decay of our traditional American values.

 

[Haymaker]

I tend to ignore Media-induced slogons

AND the brainless Twits that mouth them..... they usually lack the brains to be originally insulting to your face
I prefer to refer to myself as a "Gun ENTHUSEAST"

 

[qajaq59]

Actually in this free land of ours they can call me any kind of NUT they like. However.... it would very wise to do it quietly and politely just in case they're right.

 

[nadeem]

its the same for me. my parents think i want to join the army because i want to have a gun. sereously if i spent the time i did fiddling with my guns reading books would they really be so bothered. i think not.

 

[JesseJames]

Stereotypes dude.
The paranoid crazies do get the coverage.
Whereas your average competition shooting event won't get even the back page.
Some of the best and most helpful people I've met were at the gun range. Sure you get jerks every now and then but there are some great folks out there who go to the range.
Just be friendly and you'll make a friend. Simple as that.

 

[10 Ring Tao]

Getting people to seperate guns from criminal intent/activity is as difficult as getting women to seperate love and sex.