"Gun owners"

stealthyeliminator · Jul 2, 2014

I keep seeing this used. Over and everywhere. "Gun owners."

I think that the use of this phrase is often detrimental to the gun rights cause. "We" are not "gun owners." We are not a club, membership based upon or identified by ownership of a firearm. Every type of person owns firearms. "Anti-gun" politicians, criminals, etc, those people are not referred to as "gun owners" though they certainly do own firearms. The perpetuation of this sort of club mentality is artificially cumulative of gun owning individuals and separative between those who own and those who do not own firearms and falsely deteriorates the understanding that we are all individuals, one not representative of another, and certainly not because we both happen to own firearms. It also serves to obfuscate the real, underlying issues related to firearm ownership and possession, for instance with control advocates being portrayed as freedom advocates solely because they happen to own a firearm and act as though they are proud of that fact.

I'm not saying anyone here has intentionally used it in a negative manner, but I consistently do see it used in a negative manner and I think that we should be careful to not subliminally portray any of these negative ideas by the use of this phrase.

stealthyeliminator · Jul 2, 2014

Several of the dangers of this club mentality manifest themselves quite clearly within certain CC only circles. It leads to elitism quite easily, among other things.

aa1911 · Jul 2, 2014

true that, interesting observation.

I'm technically a gun owner but with nothing else in common with the next guy, hardly makes us a 'club' or unified body being that calling someone a gun owner is as arbitrary as calling folks who own knives 'knife owners'. And for the record, knives kill more people than AR15's... just don't tell mom's demand ridiculousness that.... or they'll ban knives in Target also....

solus · Jul 2, 2014

uh, er, definition of owner is: 'a person who owns'.

ok, so i am a bronco, house, computer, firearm, pellet, air rifle,BB, knife, pet...owner? could you advise me and the readership which word says i belong to a 'club' (meaning a group of persons organized for a social, literary, athletic, political, or other purpose or an organization that offers its subscribers certain benefits, as discounts, bonuses, or interest, in return for regular purchases or payments) and please, please pray tell, which word is, in your opinion, derogatory & prejudicial to my standing in the grand scheme of things?

baseball bats wins over firearms too...

Je pense, donc je suis

ipse

OC for ME · Jul 3, 2014

Driver vs. car owner
Shooter vs. gun owner

Much ado about nothing.

stealthyeliminator · Jul 3, 2014

OC for ME said:
Driver vs. car owner
Shooter vs. gun owner

Much ado about nothing.

'Don't drive drunk, it gives the rest of us "car owners" a bad name. It gives ammo to those who wish to prohibit cars, and force everyone to use public transportation.'

Whoa now, some ******* drunk driver has nothing to do with me. "We," the drunk driver and I, are not "car owners" together, we are completely independent individuals, and he and his actions are representative of me and my actions in no way.

WalkingWolf · Jul 3, 2014

OC for ME said:
Driver vs. car owner
Shooter vs. gun owner

Much ado about nothing.

+1

I am one guilty of using the term "gun owner". I use it because certain individuals are gun owners though they do not respect the RKBA. These people use the "I am a gun owner"(Joe Biden) to claim they are pro 2A when they are as far from as you can get. We even see this on this fora, not to name names, but there are a few individuals who claim to be "gun owners" and are nowhere close.

Thankfully the public is not buying the "gun owner" excuse for attempts at disarming the population.

SouthernBoy · Jul 3, 2014

I see nothing wrong about the use of the term, "gun owner". To me, that is no different than the owner of some other item such as a lawn mower, a shovel, dinner plates, or even a home owner.

Other's mileage may vary.

stealthyeliminator · Jul 3, 2014

Here is what I'm referring to... I read comments like the following on the daily.

"I will have to disagree, ------. Openly supporting people that cast a bad light on all gun owners makes us no better than them. If we want to be respected as responsible stewards of the Second we need to police our own. Just because it is legal does not make it intelligent."

This person's "collective" uses of "gun owners," "we," "us," "our own," are all completely illegitimate. It perpetuates a club mentality ("police our own" ... members of this club) and falsely relates gun owners to each other -- and causes a perceived division between those that own guns and those that don't, as if those who own guns are trying to prove something to those that do not.

sudden valley gunner · Jul 3, 2014

I hear what you are saying. I think its that persons fault more than anything else. Some people are so conditioned against individuality that everything becomes a collective.

That person probably also has a tendency to conflate society with the state, and insist that you be stolen from by the state, because you owe it to society.

Bad actions by people are on those individuals. I would counter that argument maybe with, does Ted Bundy give all white people a bad name?

OC for ME · Jul 3, 2014

If you own a gun...you are a gun owner.

stealthyeliminator · Jul 3, 2014

OC for ME said:
If you own a gun...you are a gun owner.

Yes. You are. But when people say "gun owners" they are not simply referring to people that own guns, they are referring to an imaginary brotherhood. It is not, you are a gun owner, it is, "we are Gun Owners." It is being used as a title, not a mere description.

b0neZ · Jul 3, 2014

About 3 years ago, my mom bought a .38. A week later, she put 5 rounds through it.

She hasn't even looked at it since.

Someone who owns a gun, or a "Gun Owner"?

Lthrnck · Jul 3, 2014

Gun Owners....

I understand what you are saying... and depending on the context of the overall conversation it could be taken in a good or bad way.

The one that really bothers me is "He's packing heat." the media uses it all the time also.

I have asked several people what is the first image that pops into their head when they hear that expression.

The vast majority have said some gang banger standing there point their "heat" at you, with the "heat" turned sideways.

solus · Jul 3, 2014

you are working way to hard to own the rock you are trying to push up the hill...

ipse

stealthyeliminator · Jul 3, 2014

solus said:
you are working way to hard to own the rock you are trying to push up the hill...

ipse

No.. I see what I am describing on a regular basis. Clearly some others here recognize what I am pointing out. Unlike you, when I read into things, I'm literate. I'm uninterested in your opinion, I won't be responding to you further.

solus · Jul 4, 2014

I was just awaiting to discern from you how the use of 'owners', in any context you wish to use it, in anyway is prejudicial or causes degradation to my social standing or personal standing or in any iota causes me distress.

ipse

OC for ME · Jul 7, 2014

stealthyeliminator said:
Yes. You are. But when people say "gun owners" they are not simply referring to people that own guns, they are referring to an imaginary brotherhood. It is not, you are a gun owner, it is, "we are Gun Owners." It is being used as a title, not a mere description.

What people?

"Prius owners"
"Tesla owners"
"Dog owners"
"Glock owners"

Context is everything.....if you are overly sensitive to context.

Being worried about what the anti-liberty crowd thinks of "gun owners" is a rock that is being pushed up hill.

skidmark · Jul 7, 2014

Strangely, I find myself on the same side of this issue as SE. Not to the extent of sensitivity he seems to be projecting, but that is but a matter of degree.

Words, and labels especially, carry very strong meanings. From the very second day of human speech when Og labled Ug as a "dirty [expletive deleted] to today we purposely use lables to cause those being labled to be deamonized, though of as less desirable, less deserving of the human rights.

I will admit to stretching things a bit myself on an occassion or two by substituting common everyday objects for "guns" and repeating the gun-grabbing anti-freedom folks' rantings. Yes, car drivers are responsible for killing tens of thousands of people every year. We ought to do something about car drivers like restrict them to only 5 horsepower cars, or cars that can only go 5 miles per hour. And unless you are at least 21 and can pass a background check you will have to take public transportation because you are, merely by virtue of your age, too dangerous to be trusted driving a car.

The problem with that is that it, like the "gun owners" thing, lumps everybody together as opposed to focusing on the mis-behavior of the individual.

I've always been pretty PO'd at being lumped in with the Cletum/Cleti that misuse a gun to prove they are less than fit to remain among society. Which is why I want the label applied to me to be "law-abiding gun owner":

Think about this headline: Law-abiding gun owner defends family from crazed armed home invader.

Although not more or less truthful that what we normall read, it "sounds" better because of the labels used.

stay safe.

OC for ME · Jul 7, 2014

skidmark said:
Strangely, I find myself on the same side of this issue as SE. Not to the extent of sensitivity he seems to be projecting, but that is but a matter of degree.

Words, and labels especially, carry very strong meanings. From the very second day of human speech when Og labled Ug as a "dirty [expletive deleted] to today we purposely use lables to cause those being labled to be deamonized, though of as less desirable, less deserving of the human rights.

I will admit to stretching things a bit myself on an occassion or two by substituting common everyday objects for "guns" and repeating the gun-grabbing anti-freedom folks' rantings. Yes, car drivers are responsible for killing tens of thousands of people every year. We ought to do something about car drivers like restrict them to only 5 horsepower cars, or cars that can only go 5 miles per hour. And unless you are at least 21 and can pass a background check you will have to take public transportation because you are, merely by virtue of your age, too dangerous to be trusted driving a car.

The problem with that is that it, like the "gun owners" thing, lumps everybody together as opposed to focusing on the mis-behavior of the individual.

I've always been pretty PO'd at being lumped in with the Cletum/Cleti that misuse a gun to prove they are less than fit to remain among society. Which is why I want the label applied to me to be "law-abiding gun owner":

Think about this headline: Law-abiding gun owner defends family from crazed armed home invader.

Although not more or less truthful that what we normall read, it "sounds" better because of the labels used.

stay safe.

You? Law abiding? Prove it. A lack of you being arrested is not evidence that you are law abiding.

Words do mean things, especially to the overly sensitive crowd.

If you own a car you are a car owner and potentially a lethal threat to your fellow motorists....

"Gun owners"

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