A very interesting article the encompasses a lot of the points that don't always come up in conversations about Americans and guns. A good read this: http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/why-americans-love-guns/
Not gonna lie, as a bleeding heart liberal even I get a little shiver of awe and desire when looking at beautiful antique guns.
Then you'll enjoy the article as it covers the technological advances in in America during the development of guns - a factor in what made them part of the culture. For better or worse.
Being a fancier of 'artisan' guns I liked the history and pics of museum quality firearms. The article seemed to be written with a liberal tilt using many of the anti-gun crowd's talking points. It does cover many reasons for firearm possesion in American history and gives an accurate account of weapon evolution here in the States.
Not just those treasonous rebels who love firearms. Their masters (the British) love them too. Hell, we conquered half the known world with just muskets and a superiority complex (only one of which we still have today, unfortunately). This is my fave:
I didn't see any reasons for Americans to love firearms in that article. Where was that bit? I also missed the "liberal tilt using many of the anti-gun crowd's talking points" part too I didn't see any reasons why Americans should love firearms any more than slaves, tobacco, cotton, genocide, religious fundamentalism, mineral deposits or any other building block of the U.S. ...oh, other than being an equaliser for an inability to fight and a way to take out frustration, xenophobia and insecurity on others, just like the illegal massacres cited in the article. And philosoraptor, I'm surprised at you! Would you get a shiver of awe and desire if the Nazis put such carved embellishments on their gas chambers? Or if every hellfire missile you sold to Israel had hand-carved animals on them? Tut tut!
I've been wondering where all the "real" men went...they got shot dead by "real-er" men on account of bringing knives to gun fights!
I really wish someone had done that for a serpentine lock. As far as liking guns, if they were legal in the UK (I know they technically are, but you know what I mean) I know I'd be all over collecting them. Now I have to settle for airsoft variants. Which I think is one of my problems with the gun debate in America. It always comes down to the pro gun side making points about self defence or beating a tyrannical government and I think the conversation could move on and be a lot more honest if they instead said they just like guns.
I thought the article makes a rather clear case of showing how enshrined gun culture is in the history and the psyche of America. I thought that much was fairly obvious. Furthermore I suspect a good many Americans simply have no idea why guns and the rights afforded them are so enshrined in American culture. ahhh... the old Reductio ad Hitlerum chesnut. Playing the Nazi card is always a terrible idea.
Israel has a right to defend it self from Muslim extremists hell bent on lobbing rockets at them and sending people with bomb vests onto city buss's. Why should it matter if he likes the way a antique musket looks? I personally think that musket is beautiful, and loved shooting them in the scouts. Me personally i think a nice Colt SAA is beautiful.
Is being part of a country's history enough to engender love for tools of industrialised slaughter? ...maybe it is for some Americans. But why does the firearm remain more cherished than the anything else that was just as big a part of the expansion and independence of the colonies? Maybe something Freudian? That's what I was hoping for from the article, the "why" as opposed to the "how". They're not necessary for the point to stand, pretend they're not there and consider the other examples. As it is, you're using the Godwin meme as a strawman, which ain't the greatest show of debating skills Respecting firearms as a necessary evil (if you must) is one thing, but to cherish and love an instrument of death seems really sick to me.
There's a point where interest in firearms goes too far (stick a random guns search in youtube and you'll find a few) but don't see a problem with a general interest. For a couple reasons: 1. If we accept war and violence is an important part of history, firearms are an important part of that history. Similar to the reasons some collect swords, or any form of antique actually, they serve as a symbol of the time. I have a replica Winchester rifle not just because I like the mechanics of lever-action weapons, but because its a widely recognized symbol of a point of history I find interesting. I know people who own replica WW2 weapons for the same reason: They like the gun itself for whatever reason but its also a "piece of history" as it were. Or at least representative of one in the case of replicas. 2. As we're talking about Americans, I gather guns are just fun to shoot. I don't see any problem with that. Its a hobby that requires skill and can last a long time in improving. Fairly analogous to archery I imagine. 3. Humans are violent. I appreciate that guns are made to kill people and I don't pretend that's not a reason behind my interest in them. I spend a considerable amount of my time learning how to more efficiently hurt people, and a chunk of that time actively trying to do it. The fact I like things that also hurt people shouldn't be a stretch for anyone. Especially here. For whatever other reasons we all might train, we're all essentially learning ways of hurting another human being. It seems a bit hypocritical to then call people out for liking other things that hurt people.