Duncan Black

It's rare that I agree with National Rifle Association officials about anything. Recently, though, they rightly sent a message to gun owners in legal open-carry areas, suggesting that what is (and, in their view, should be) legal is not always appropriate. In particular, groups of people "toting a variety of tactical long guns" to fast-food restaurants and similar establishments might be, at best, demonstrating poor manners.

It's difficult to know when something is really a trend, or whether in the age of the Internet social media just puts the spotlight on things that aren't actually any more common than they are normally, but let me remind people that guns are scary. They're scary because they're capable of killing people, and because it's not unreasonable, in certain contexts, to think that a person with a gun might be planning to use it. Why else would you have it with you? People are going to suspect you're a bad guy with a gun.

I can only think of two reasons why someone would want to openly carry a firearm, especially a very large one that reduces personal mobility by virtue of being so big and heavy. The first is in order to intimidate people around you. The second is simply to show off. But gun owners who fancy that people at McDonald's and Chipotle will be impressed by their peacocking should learn that most people are unlikely to be impressed. I thought my Doctor Who fan club button might impress people back in 1986. I was wrong. Our interests, however devoted we are to them, don't necessarily have universal acclaim. You might think your hobby is cool, but it doesn't mean the rest of us do, especially when we're worried it might kill somebody. At least my sonic screwdriver wasn't dangerous.

I understand that people hunt. I understand that people in rural areas, particularly people who work in agriculture, might have a genuine need to regularly employ the use of a gun to deal with predatory wildlife. But increasingly, "gun culture" just refers to people who amass large arsenals without any genuine practical purpose. Even if we accept personal self-defense against other people — the bad guys with guns — as a legitimate reason for firearm ownership, this is not a legitimate reason to stockpile multiple weapons. Boys do love their toys, but let's acknowledge that is what they are. For most people, they're expensive, noisy, deadly toys. Enjoy your games. Your too often tragically deadly games.

Gun aficionados regularly speak of "responsible gun owners," as if it's just something to be assumed. Some people are responsible gun owners and some aren't. The cashier at the gun store doesn't have any good way of determining which one I might be, nor any strong legal requirement to try to do so.

More than that, there is an inherent contradiction between the concept of the responsible gun owners and people who own them for the alleged purpose of self-defense. The archetypal responsible gun owner is the hunter who keeps a hunting rifle locked in a safe somewhere, so that children or other untrained individuals cannot stumble across it accidentally with potentially horrific consequences. Someone concerned with self-defense will, understandably, want to have a weapon that they have easier and quicker access to. Fears of home invasion are overblown, but if that is your concern, your safely locked up firearm isn't going to be much help.

Because of various cultural narratives in this country, some people think guns are just intrinsically cool. Much like bow ties, they really aren't. You might like them and enjoy cosplaying with your other gun wielding pals, going out in public dressed up as Heroic Guy With Gun, but that character is going to scare a lot of people, and probably that's the purpose. Don't do something with predictable consequences and then wonder why it upsets people.

Lots of people like to engage their fantasies and play dress up. It's been a long time since I've had any desire to put on a Doctor Who costume, but plenty of adults regularly do such things, and good for them. Fun is fun and I'm all for people having fun, as long as that fun doesn't have a significant negative impact on other people. The problem with dressing up as a gun nut is that, well, you're carrying a loaded gun that can quite easily kill people. And even if you're a good guy with a gun, deadly accidents happen. A lot.

Duncan Black writes the blogEschaton under the pseudonym of Atrios and is a fellow at Media Matters for America.

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