I think it's interesting that when some think of a gun nut, they think of a redneck cracker in Alabama with an AK-47 in one hand and a selectively highlighted copy of the Second Amendment stapled to an NRA membership card in the other. Then topics are discussed regarding drive-by shootings in California, anarchist nerds in Colorado, cults in Texas, snipers in Maryland, and other subjective violent crimes, in which the perpetrators do not even come close to this stereotype.
I am a self-proclaimed gun nut and I certainly do not fit this stereotype. I am a long hair granola environmentally friendly geek. I am not a violent person. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I have never killed anything with a gun. I have only had to aim at another human being once and thank God I wasn't forced to pull the trigger. However, I like shooting my guns...a lot.
...power grows out of the barrel of a gun.
-- Mao Zedong
A primal need in my being is fulfilled when that tiny piece of lead is flung from chamber of my rifle at 800 miles per hour conveying its reaction forcefully against my shoulder. It is powerful, a power that I am wielding and the only victim, a cardboard box decorated with a boy band poster. This primal desire for power exists, there's no denying it. People have been violent since that monkey touched the monolith and started smashing things with his bone.
There are a wide variety of legal outlets for this urge that range from sports to video games. But when it is suppressed, as with other primal urges, it can come out as violence upon another, as it has in the topics aformentioned. Removing modern day constructive non-violent outlets for this aggressive nature is akin to the proverbial chastity belt.
After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it.
-- William S. Burroughs
Taking away the tool does not make anyone less violent. Guns are inanimate objects. Lots of things can be used to kill and guns are only one category. This is an old argument, but cars will kill more people this year than guns will (cars kill about 40,000 and injure more than 3 million people in the United States every year). However, we do not consider cars to be evil per say, only that when people used them irresponsibly people can die. We have lots of laws regarding responsible driving. We have lots of laws regarding responsible gun usage. People disregard those laws and people die. However, just because someone is stupid, reckless, or apathetic doesn't mean someone like myself, well educated in the proper usage of guns, should be oppressed simply because others are idiots. How would you feel if your right to assemble was revoked after a mass riot? Or your right to write was taken because too many people wrote libelous publications?
The Second Amendment ain't about fucking duck hunting.
-- Unknown
Red Dawn is a pretty cheesy movie, however the idea that the United States is safe from invasion is very naive. We are not untouchable. Students of history will tell you, underground resistance movements can have some nice teeth when they are armed. However, disarmed they are very inept. In fact, if you're interested in the drive-by, the French Resistonce invented it, not the Gs in Compton. However, the French took great care not to hit passers-by.
In the event of a totalitarian government, foreign or domestic, ascending upon this realm, those gun nuts that have buried truck trailers of guns, ammo and explosives are going to be essential in overthrowing that government. But I believe this serves a much greater purpose as a deterrent to invasion or oppression. It is thought that the reason the United States have not been invaded since 1812 is because of the extreme number of privately owned guns, it's not really a big secret.
Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.
-- Thomas Jefferson
Disarming gun nuts won't solve our crime problems. In fact, allowing people to arm themselves will. For example, compare incidences of armed robbery in New York to those in Texas. In New York, the likelihood of a gun-toting hero is going to walk into a convenience store as it's being robbed is pretty slim. Criminals feel safe pulling a gun because it is very unlikely another with a gun will challenge them. In Texas the opposite is true. In a state where one out of every seven people has a concealed weapon, criminals do not have a monopoly on the power.
If you don't like guns, that's fine. I dig pacifists and am willing to fight for your freedoms and opinions as well as mine if needs be. However, please don't disrespect me simply because I have a different view than you. It's my right and you should respect that.