Behind the Gun Problem

My oldest brother, who fought in 3 wars, was a gun enthusiast. He owned quite a collection and took care of them lovingly, just as he did his MG convertible, his Dunhill pipes and other possesions. He liked good scotch, sported a slightly dented Zippo lighter and wouldn't have accepted an AK 47 as a gift. He wasn't a member of the NRA, the National Rifle Association, to my knowledge. Got the picture?

Many gun enthusiasts have very different views. They own guns because they're proclaiming their fear and loathing of the federal government, for whatever reasons, and their paranoid determination to protect their gun rights under the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution. When President Obama became president in 2008, they actually believed he would try to take their guns away and they bought as many guns as they could afford, just as they are now, following the Aurora, CO theater massacre. It's astounding. These gun owners are regularly enflamed by Wayne La Pierre and the National Rifle Association, which is the most powerful and aggressive lobbying organization in the country. Members of Congress are terrified of the NRA and will not dispute even it's most outrageous claims against the president or anyone in their way. They have won so much to guarantee people the unlimited ability to own as many guns as they want, the only goal left for them is to have the government give each baby born in America a nice new 45 cal. automatic.

We know that the leadership of the NRA wants to continue to lead their organizatiion as long as poissible, but what about the gun owners they represent? Aside from white militia settlements in the hills of some states, and the people who have moved on from paint balling, I think we are looking at some very angry and bewildered men seeking to deal somehow with the immense social changes they have experienced in recent decades.

 The role of men has changed and so has the very definition of what it means to be a man and they don't like any of it. Often passed over because of their educational limitations, income inadequacy  inevitably moves into their bedrooms. Their very manhood is threatened and so they carry weapons to improve their self image and seek to return to the good ole, less complicated  days of  yore.