Putting Nut Back In Gun Nut
Every once in a while I have to remind people that I am a crazy-assed gun nut. It’s even more fun with friends and family because, well, they never expect it. So, I sat down figuring I’d write some elegant, well-thought out, convincing piece on freedom, sovereignty, and responsibility that detailed precisely why I am a gun nut. I couldn’t do it, I wrote this instead:
I am a gun nut and proudly so. Some folks say it like it’s a bad thing. I don’t know why, we’re mostly harmless. It’s true. As I’ve said before, people don’t walk down the street leery of gun nuts (well, except in England). They walk down the street either not leery at all or leery of criminals.
What makes me a gun nut?
Not the number of guns I own. For someone who yammers on so much about guns, I probably own considerably less than the average reader here. I own the following: Ruger 10/22, a Walther P22, Kel-Tec 380, an AR in 9mm, Glock 30, an AR in 5.56. I think that’s it. Six firearms. I have a lot on my to buy list but they always get pushed back due to other priorities or whatever. And here lately, I’ve actually sold a couple of firearms. One, because I didn’t care for it and one because I was offered too much to turn it down.
It’s not that I like how they work mechanically or tinkering. I do that with other stuff and I’m not nuts about that. I like to do woodworking but I am not a woodworking nut. And I don’t blog about woodworking.
It’s not hunting. I don’t hunt.
It’s not the zen of target shooting. I zen playing cards, golf, and other activities as well.
So, what is it? I thought about it long and hard. And it’s this simple truth:
If you fuck with me bad enough, I’ll kill your ass.
Simple. Not elegant. But that truth is what scares the shit out of others and it’s that truth that makes people look at you like you’re crazy. It won’t be a NRA slogan any time soon. But it’s what you’re asserting when you claim to be a gun nut, whether you like it or not. Now, this is the part where some ninny chimes in with well, that’s crazy or you’re not going to make converts that way. They may be right, but it’s the truth.
Now, that is not to say that I’ll kill your ass if you cut me off in traffic or generally do me wrong. I’m talking like if you really, really egregiously fuck with me. I’m mean life-altering, I’m fucked in a major bad way kind of fucking with me. If you enter my home uninvited and intent on doing me and my family harm, I’ll kill your ass. But it goes beyond just petty criminals. By your ass, I mean all manner of yous and their respective asses. That is to say, be they individual criminals trying to cause bodily harm, nefarious bureaucrats with nothing better to do, or tyrannical governments. I’ll kill their asses if they egregiously do me wrong.
If you, say, lie about a crucial piece of investigative work that lands me in jail, I’ll kill your ass. Or if you prosecute me for a crime that I’m probably innocent of based on scant evidence and for political posturing, I’ll kill your ass. If you try to take my house, I’ll kill your ass. If you arrest me and charge me with a non-crime out of revenge or to teach me a lesson, I’ll kill your ass. Sure, I’ll exhaust every legal manner with which to fight these abuses first but, at the end of the day, if I get royally fucked, I’m willing to kill their asses.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to kill anybody. I just realize that some things call for it. And that is what makes me a gun nut.
January 11th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
[…] SayUncle takes teh words right out of my mouth. […]
January 11th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
Congratulations. You understand the concept of personal sovereignty.
For some reason that concept scares the sh!t out of some people.
January 11th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Six guns? SIX GUNS?!?!?!?!
I’ve got five guns UNDER MY BED. I’ve got a rotation of seven or eight carry guns.
Heck, I’ve got six six shot .38 revolvers…
I don’t even want to think about how many guns I would own if Mrs. G approved of my hobby… 🙂
BTW, spot on with the rest. I’ll add one very simple rule: If you fuck with my family, you will die. Messily and painfully if I can manage it.
January 11th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Unc, that’s the essence of it. I don’t want to kill anybody, but if I have to, I sure as shit will. “No better friend, no worse enemy.”
Or, as Charlie Daniels sings, “If you don’t want trouble then you’d better just pass me on by.”
January 11th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Uncle, that just about nails it. “If you fuck with me bad enough, I’ll kill your ass.” I may have to appropriate that for a tattoo.
January 11th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Hell, I thought I was alone. Nice to know there are other sane people who respect themselves enough to be intolerant of people who egregiously fuck with them. I must be in good company. Though the weak sisters see us as a danger, I always point out that they get to make the call. If they think I am dangerous knowing my stance, then it is themselves they don’t trust to resist doing me greivous harm. That is their problem, but like all other difficulties in life, they want to lay it off on others.
January 11th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
This is the principle denoted by the Gadsden flag and lived by the rattlesnake.
Leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone. Hurt me and I’ll bite. You won’t like that.
January 11th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Six guns isn’t unsual for a guy with two young kids that take up all the rest of his money. Depending on what type of shooting you do, that can be quite adequate.
For the type of shooting I do, I figure I could get by with just 6 guns (in fact, for a few years I did just that): A bolt action centerfire for hunting, a shotgun for hunting/home defense, a magazine-fed semi-auto centerfire rifle for plinking/target shooting/SHTF purposes, a .22 rilfe for cheap plinking/varmit control, a centerfire pistol for concealed carry, and a .22 pistol for cheap plinking. If you work it right, you can get by with having to buy (or reload) only four calibers of ammo. Saves money and time.
And if being a “gun nut” means being willing to defend your life, family and property, you can be a gun nut with just a .22 rifle. Of course, it’s nicer to have more knock-down power.
January 11th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
For the record, I was just ribbin’ Unc. about his armory. I spent about the first 8-9 years of my time as a gunowner with three handguns: a Ruger Security 6 .357 Magnum with 6″ barrel, a Taurus .44 Special, and a Makarov in .380 ACP…
Now, not having a pump-action 12 gauge or a .357 Magnum revolver is an issue, but I’m assuming those are on his “list”… 😉
January 11th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Uh…. six guns. that’s a mighty small test for “gun nut”. I guess the proles really are scared of us if it’s down to six. Hell, it’s probably down to *one*.
As for me… well, let me put it this way. My C&R sheet is in small print, I think I’m using 12 font and printing landscape. My next purchase will break onto page three.
January 11th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
I made, pretty much, the same argument in an 11th grade government affairs/model UN class in which we discussed the (then) ongoing crime explosion New York City was experiencing.
I was immediatly hauled out of class, locked down in the principles office, had the police called and my father summened out of work and to the school for a serious conference.
When he found out what I had said he hit the roof. Of course, up to that point the neither the principle nor the chief of police knew what I had said either – only that I threatened “in a deranged and bloodthirsty way” that I threatened the teacher.
Oh well, I should have known better (it was New Jersey) and isn’t as pathetic as the time my brother was suspended for a day from 2nd grade for “passing a note with four letter swear words on it.” He got his hide tanned well and good . . . . but my parents still apologize for what happened cause they actually saw the note the next day, it said …. Mrs. Tompkins is an ASSS
January 11th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
as far as the number of guns . . . well it recently increased by one but thats all I am saying.
January 11th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Even when you’re not sure how many guns you have it’s still not enough.
January 11th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Well said! It’s not the size of the arsenal, but the fact that you are willing and able to use it effectly that counts.
To be a true gun nut you also must enjoy shooting just for the fun of it!
…….. Mr. C.
January 11th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Follow http://www.john-ross.net/guns_and_shootong.htm for a good discussion of “gun culture”.
One important aspect of being part of the gun culture and a gun nut is an unwillingness to delegate the defense of yourself and your loved ones to the state.
It seems to also frequently include a general attitude of respect for the rights of others and a degree of self-reliance that would make the poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, proud.
I generally keep to myself, mind my own business, don’t curse (too much, at least) and generally enjoy life.
However, unlike someone who delegates his or her safety to law enforcement, there is very little that I fear.
When I leave the office in a couple of hours, I will walk a good way through a dark parking lot where transients frequently pass through (due to the proximity of a cheap motel and a grocery/beer store), but I don’t worry about a thing.
I am certainly observant (code orange, at least, all the time), but I am not fearful that someone undesirable will accost me.
Nor do I worry when I hear a noise eminating from a different part of the house.
I was at a church dinner several years ago when the topic came to self-defense. I sat silent as I listened to ideas like: crawl under your car, give them what they want, carry a whistle on your car key ring, carry your cell phone with you at all times, etc.
A few minutes later, one of the ladies started maligning Charlton Heston and mocking him by raising her hand as if it had a rifle in it (you know, from my cold dead hands!!!!).
I kind of blew up and explained that carrying a gun was a smart course of action, that I wasn’t charging my safety to anyone, that I wasn’t getting under my car if assaulted, blowing a rape whistle, etc.
No, if someone wants trouble, they have come to the right place if they assault me.
Trying to explain our attitude to them, though, was truly thowing pearls to swine.
January 11th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
[…] At least he’s honest. A little paranoid, maybe. OK, maybe a lot paranoid. But honest. […]
January 11th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
It isn’t the number of guns that matter, it is what you will do if put in a corner with your life on the line. I am a Constitutionalist. Don’t tread on me, I understand what “Live free or die” means. It doesn’t mean I will die.
January 11th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
1+ No. 9.
January 11th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Speaking of shooting people, the day I resort to quoting Charlie Fucking Daniels to sum up my opinions, somebody please shoot me. 🙂
January 11th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
Todays photoshoot cancelled so I got up early and drove 118 miles to wander around in overgrown creekbottom flats so trackless that I had to carry a compass. I carried a Swiss K31 with a walnut stock. Trying to figure the pigs. This evening I saw in a tower and watched 23 deer circulate around as the light fell. I had the K31 again, but a Garand in the car.
I found a pig skull, a beaver skull, followed pig trails, found an antler shed. Had an absolutely fabulous time wandering around with a rifle.
Gun nut.
January 12th, 2007 at 2:46 am
[…] […]
January 12th, 2007 at 11:08 am
I only have about 6 guns that I’ve bought myself. Have a lot more that my dad left me. Guess my son will have even more once I move on.
Also, I fail to see any evidence of paranoia in this post, just some scenarios that might lead to deciding some folks just need killin’.
Then again, anyone who don’t like Charlie Daniels should just move back up north. =P
January 12th, 2007 at 11:53 am
Riddle me this BADMAN, have you,or any of you drugstore cowboys EVER fired a gun in anger.I mean have you ever HAD to shoot that thing.
Ever felt the RUSH of bullets being fired back at you,cause you better believe that may very well happen if you go shooting at folks,bad or otherwise.Ever looked down the business end of a gun pointed at you,knowing you just might get your ass shot off any minute now.What if you miss.It could happen.Are you prepared to die.
Ever killed a man,Rambo. Not Daffy or Bambi,but a real live man.A human being.Another person.Have you seen that blank suprised stare.A stare that stays with you forever.
Didn’t think so.I hope you never do.
It’s OK to defend yourself,own a gun or ten. It’s OK if you ever have to really use it.
But don’t go br5agging about how you would kill someone if they “FUCK” with you.Cause you have NO CONCEPT what that means,or what it would take.Don’t diminish it to barroom bravado.
Cause when that time comes, you just might shit your pants!
Most people do!
January 12th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Cool, pissed off my first retard, who obviously missed the point. I must be doing something right.
January 12th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Heh. Indeed.
January 12th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
His link is bogus, too.
January 12th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
For 18 years I owned exactly 3 guns: 1911, M1A, 870 shotgun. For the exact reason you stated; guess that made me a gun nut even then.
Now that I have increased the variety of guns I own (in 30.06 alone I have 7 rifles) I’m sure there are many people who would call me a gun nut and worry about me that would not have given me a second thought before. Those people have a pretty poor idea of where to place their concern.
“Cool, pissed off my first retard, who obviously missed the point.”
He not only missed the point, he isn’t even on the correct range.
January 12th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
It’s not about owning guns,ladies.It’s about you making STUPID statements like “fuck with me bad enough and I’ll kill your ass”.
If you really mean it,you don’t have to say it.If you say it,you’re talking shit!
I don’t care if you own a hundred guns.
I just hate hearing some John Wayne wannabe flapping his lips.
Yeah,if somebody “fucks” with you ENOUGH,go ahead.Get a woody and shoot ’em.Just don’t go braggin’ bout it,cowboy.
Like I said,none of you ever did,none of you ever will.
But you will talk it.
Won’t ya!
Don’t take a “retard” to see that!
And Bob,tell me about that “range”,won’t ya!I love a good SEA STORY!!!
January 12th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
I’m not talking shit. I’m not bragging one bit. Read the whole post and try again.
Otherwise, go be retarded and practice bad text formatting some where else.
January 12th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
I can answer yes to six of bringdown,s question and yes to two bullet wounds when the other guy could shoot., although he didn’t ask.
Nobody but an idiot would like it, seek it, or brag about it. But I have found when you put people on notice, you usually don’t have to do it. Sometimes you run into someone who doesn’t know how you are. Somebody gets hurt. But if he is fucking with you, you were going to get hurt anyway, so you got nothing to lose.
January 12th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
and no, I am not telling which six.
January 12th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
Preach it brother.
A little old lady in Atlanta, a grandmother, is dead because a police officer lied about an informant. Two police officers were shot by her.
They may get me. I bet I will take some down on the way. Who needs a machinegun when you have a 12 gauge shotgun with number 1 shot. Each pull of the trigger gives you 25 each .30 caliber projectiles. A double barrel is roughly equivalent to 5 each 10 round magazines.
After that, I finish off the stragglers that are inside with my pistol, and start pushing back their overwatch with my rifles.
I have never been charged with so much as a misdemeanor. Nothing, and not even a speeding ticket recently. I am the crooked cop’s worst nightmare. If they don’t get me, I will be the prosecutor’s major reason for suicide.
Preach it brother!
January 13th, 2007 at 10:34 am
“Preach it brother.
A little old lady in Atlanta, a grandmother, is dead because a police officer lied about an informant. Two police officers were shot by her.
They may get me. I bet I will take some down on the way. Who needs a machinegun when you have a 12 gauge shotgun with number 1 shot. Each pull of the trigger gives you 25 each .30 caliber projectiles. A double barrel is roughly equivalent to 5 each 10 round magazines.
After that, I finish off the stragglers that are inside with my pistol, and start pushing back their overwatch with my rifles.
I have never been charged with so much as a misdemeanor. Nothing, and not even a speeding ticket recently. I am the crooked cop’s worst nightmare. If they don’t get me, I will be the prosecutor’s major reason for suicide.
Preach it brother! ”
Naw,that ain’t no shit,is it Uncle.Shuck time I reckin’!
January 13th, 2007 at 11:21 am
So, capt, now you’re ascribing someone else’s words to me? You really need to work on comprehension. And, you know, the location of the space bar.
January 13th, 2007 at 11:52 am
I’m reminded of this:
I would have used it as my quote of that day but I already did that several months ago.
January 14th, 2007 at 11:34 am
I was about to post a link to Dr. Helen’s post on this when I noticed you were the first commenter.
heh
But, more seriously, I don’t consider your attitude that of a ‘nut’. It is that of someone who is being practical, or realistic, in terms of what they are mentally prepared to do in certain situations.
Take the car-jacking article Helen links to. Where I live and drive in Detroit, I’ve seen people get car-jacked. I haven’t – most likely because I don’t put myself in situations where it can happen. I’ve had to get gas at night, but not at an intersection on the corner of the freeway. Not where 5 guys with hoodies are standing by the phone 10′ from the pump. And I always leave half a car-length or more between me and the next car. Paranoid? no. Practical. These little things I pay attention to have probably saved my life.
I’m an aggressive driver. And I’m a ‘cock-blocker’ driver. (That is, if I see some moron weaving in and out of traffic, I will position myself to block him. Or some moron tries to pass using the right-hand parking lane, he’s gonna get blocked by me. And I’m such a dick that when I see him slow down ’cause he can’t make it, I slow down to.) I’ve had people pull over and get out of their car to threaten me. And I’ve attempted to run them over for doing it. I’ve *never* had any qualms about killing another person. I think it is something that some people just always have. And like you, if the situation required it, I would do it.
(And I own fewer guns than you.)
My father says that; “Sometimes adults have to do things they don’t want to, but need to be done.” He *has* killed people. He was a sniper for the US Army from 58-61. He and his team went on missions in Eastern Europe after WWII. He didn’t kill during war, he didn’t kill in anger, he didn’t kill in self defense. He killed because he decided it was necessary. My dad’s a great guy. He’s given people a car when they needed it. He’s given our Christmas ham to another family and we ate left-overs. He’d give someone the shirt off of his back. But if felt it necessary, he would kill anyone. I don’t think that makes him – or anyone else – a “gun nut”.
I think it makes him a responsible adult. And a good citizen.
I think one of the primary problems with the US today is that we have vast quantities of people who are more interested in watching sports on TV than knowing who their representatives are – or what they are doing.
Two quotes come to mind:
– “For evil to succeed, it only requires that good men do nothing.”
– – I would add – “or watch TV.”
– “People get the government they deserve.”
– – Well, we are doing the former and getting the latter.
As I wrote this, I was mulling around what to write. One of the ideas that occurred to me was that I think a major problem in America is that many people think that just because we have freedom of speech and free elections, then we don’t have to worry about bad people getting into office. But the reality is that there are evil, greedy people elected. And they are using subtle methods to take our future freedoms away. And I’m not talking about things like The Patriot Act or wiretapping. Those are overt acts we are beat over the head with. I’m talking about the stuff we don’t notice like the brainwashing of our kids at the institutions called schools, the cameras in public places, the black boxes in cars, and the multitude of “you need a permit to do that” laws.
—
Uncle – while I think your phrasing is a bit clumsy, I understand and identify with your sentiment. I am worried that many people who share your ideas would not speak them because they don’t want to “labeled” or “put on a list”. Clearly you don’t have those concerns. My suggestion then is to keep doing what you are doing. You are in the position where you can do things others want to do, but they cannot. So they read your words, nod in agreement, and feel more confident in their abilities because they know they are not alone.
So keep speaking your mind. Keep beating down the nay-sayers. Don’t wear down and don’t ever shut up.
Thanks.
January 15th, 2007 at 9:43 am
[…] Looks like other officers have come forward and said that the officers involved in the raid lied to obtain the warrant that resulted in the death of 92 year-old Kathryn Johnston. Last week, I wrote why I was a gun nut. Well, this is one of those situations where if these two guys aren’t put in jail, someone should shoot their asses. […]
November 14th, 2007 at 9:57 am
[…] In which I remind casual readers that, yes, I really am a gun nut. […]