I'm
worried that I'm addicted to
guns. Not that I
own any, mind you, it's just that
flashy cinema and
violent video games have given me a
fear-inspiring amount of respect for guns. I also have a disturbing amount of knowledge
about guns, having handled only a few.
For example,
at a glance I can identify a
Colt .45, a
Beretta, an
AK-47. But any
adolescent male might be able to recognize such
notorious cinematic
weaponry. Anyone who's seen a gangster film or lived in 1920's Chicago knows what a
tommy gun is and have a good chance at describing what it looks like. Less people would be able to correctly point out the
Steyr AUG, the
FN-P90, the
PSG-1 Sniper Rifle; still less might be familiar with historically significant weapons like the
M1 Garand or the ugly-yet-functional British
Sten. And how many of us can correctly distinguish between the
Heckler and Koch MP5,
MP5K, MP5 SD, MP5K-
PDW, and MP45
submachine gun?
It's obviously an issue;
whether it's right or wrong is just something I worry about. All I know is that if I was old enough to have
kids, I wouldn't feel comfortable with them knowing the kind of
firearms trivia that I do.