You’d never know it from the wingnut screechers whose voices dominate the debate on gun rights and gun violence, though.  The Loony Lefties would have you believe that all gun owners are mouth-breathing conspiracy theorists whose lust for automatic weapons is matched only by their desire to kill people. The Raging Righties say that gun owners are the only thing preventing the ObamaBots from taking over the world, and that we need the right to keep and bear mortars and bazookas, as well as machine guns and cop-killer bullet to protect our freedoms.

The Blunt and Cranky Family are gun owners, and fit neither of these stereotypes: we have guns for practical reasons. For example: chez BluntandCranky is out in the country, and is thus primarily equipped for varmint control. However, we are moving into town soon, and we will be getting different guns for different purposes. We aren’t trying to overthrow a government, defend against tyranny, or any those fevered dreams of the Gun Nuts. We also aren’t much interested in making a bunch of weapons manufacturers even richer than they already are, so we’ll be getting what we need and then stopping. 

Kind of like a normal purchase that a normal family normally makes, wouldn’t you say? Like pots and pans, power tools, canned goods, or anything else people use in their daily lives. No ideology, no philosophy, just ordinary pragmatism at work. Other normal gun owners have guns to hunt, or to defend their homes, and other likewise practical purposes.

Now, there are Gun Nuts who fit the stereotypes used by wingnuts to a tee: in fact, this writer knows a fair few of them. They strike us as either collectors, or deluded fools who are being fleeced by the armament industry. Thankfully, very few gun owners fit that mold.

Gentle Reader, always remember that mass media images are not always based in fact: all too frequently, they are exaggerations used to make a political point or to create outrage. Said outrage, of course, helps to drive up ratings of the Infotainment industry, thus making more money: note that truth and accuracy are not significant business drivers for these companies.

Gun owners, like humans in general, come in all different shapes, sizes, and types. People who treat us like cartoonish media memes do NOT convince us. Instead, all they do is piss us off, and make us close our ears to their rants. Want our attention? Talk to us as individual Americans. Which is what we are.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky