A look into the mind of a hoplophobe

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A look into the mind of a hoplophobe

Postby Lumpy on Sun Apr 30, 2023 10:12 pm

My brother has an account with the online magazine The Atlantic, so I came across the essay recently posted there titled "The Ineluctable Logic of Gun Ownership" by one Daniel Levitin. It's a bizarrely fascinating piece by a man who evidently is a confirmed anti-gunner, who nonetheless broke down and bought a gun (and acquired another from a relative) after being the victim of a home invasion. A search on that name reveals that he's been an anti for many years now, even though in another essay he claims
"I am comfortable with guns," he writes. "I grew up shooting targets for sport and took part in marksmanship competitions. I have also voted for Democrats in most elections, strongly support gun control and am against the death penalty. I do not think the drafters of the second amendment envisioned concealed semiautomatic weapons and hollow-point bullets in everyone's hands."


What Levitin has done is made me reconsider the nature of hoplophobia. I had presumed that it was more or less based on unfamiliarity with guns, possibly combined with a leftist pseudo-pacifism and a vague contempt for conservatives. But in Levitin's case it seems to go deeper. The guy is truly morbidly afraid of guns- even his own. He writes
The problem with having a gun is that you can be tempted to use it. Guns also make committing acts of violence seem easier and less personal; if you’re not looking someone in the eye, it may not seem as real when you pull the trigger. To control that risk requires mental and emotional preparation, as well as rigorous training. As a reluctant gun owner, I continue to be baffled by the lack of regulation on gun ownership. Shouldn’t it be at least as difficult to get a gun license as a driver’s license—or better still, as difficult as it is to get a private pilot’s license? Gun owners should have to prove their competency and their ability to exercise good judgment, just as other licenses require.

and-
When someone has a firearm, a single moment of impaired judgment can have devastating consequences. Just this week, a driver raced through a stop sign at a crosswalk in my neighborhood at 50 miles per hour, almost knocking me and my dog over. I didn’t have my gun, but for a moment I wanted to shoot at his tires.


Yet even after the multiple incidents in which he was threatened enough to call the police to his home (he lives in California), he still speaks of owning a gun as a bitter necessity, something our eevil society forced him to. Frankly, I think this guy has issues. Some people can't drink responsibly, or avoid drugs, or not gamble beyond their means; I'm now starting to wonder if some people simply are too haunted by the lethal potential of firearms to ever be comfortable with them, or to understand that most gun owners aren't as obsessed with guns as they are. I'm wondering if hoplophobia isn't just an attitude and really is more of a mental condition.
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Re: A look into the mind of a hoplophobe

Postby Erud on Mon May 01, 2023 4:57 am

That is indeed a bizarre line of thinking. I’ve heard people say things like that before; “If you have a gun on you, you’ll just want to shoot everyone who disagrees with you.” It’s always surprising to hear, because I’ve been carrying for 20 years and that thought has never crossed my mind. Some people (like the guy in the article) seem to be wired differently, and I’d prefer if those people didn’t own or carry firearms.
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Re: A look into the mind of a hoplophobe

Postby Rip Van Winkle on Mon May 01, 2023 6:56 am

The left is pretty much governed by their emotion, that's why it's so frustratingly difficult to reach through to them. They have little self control, so It's no wonder they think no one else does either.

On a side note. If you want a good laugh, check out Wikipedia's page on hoplophobia. You need to get almost to the end before they tell you what it means.
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A look into the mind of a hoplophobe

Postby gun_fan111v2 on Mon May 01, 2023 7:06 am

This guy should have tried these other methods before buying a gun :)

https://youtu.be/-DzginiUVUY
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Re: A look into the mind of a hoplophobe

Postby daleamn on Mon May 01, 2023 7:47 am

I think they (the anti-gun crowd) just throw everything they can think of at the wall hoping something sticks.

And when it doesn't (like---"The 2nd Amendment doesn't give individuals the right to bear arms") they just keep throwing it at the wall again and again---which appropriately enough is one definition of insanity.

Also I'm so VERY tired of these:
"I'm a gun guy that owns guns and shoots guns and can shoot the wings off a fly at 500 yards and was a Navy Seal and I support common sense gun laws that would require everyone to have a doctor's psychiatric evaluation to buy a gun and then they would have to store all their guns at a government armory and have GPS tracking devices attached to the guns and they could only shoot their guns at the government range attached to the government armory on every other Thursday between the hours of 2 to 4 in the afternoon (unless it rains or snows) and since I am a gun guy you must take my opinions for more gun laws as representative of all gun owners and anyone that disagrees with me must be a rabid foaming at the mouth homicidal NRA member who wants 6 year olds to have machine guns and unlimited ammunition available to them at all public playgrounds."

Well, that's my opinion anyway.
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Re: A look into the mind of a hoplophobe

Postby daleamn on Mon May 01, 2023 8:04 am

The 'Atlantic' also published this screed attempting to demonize the AR-15 because of the devastating effects of bullets fired from the gun.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... ns/553937/
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Re: A look into the mind of a hoplophobe

Postby Jackpine Savage on Mon May 01, 2023 9:06 am

The Left are mentally ill and project their illness on normal people.
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Re: A look into the mind of a hoplophobe

Postby jdege on Mon May 01, 2023 9:23 am

Jackpine Savage wrote:The Left are mentally ill and project their illness on normal people.


https://www.buckeyefirearms.org/raging-against-self-defense-psychiatrist-examines-anti-gun-mentality
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Re: A look into the mind of a hoplophobe

Postby Jackpine Savage on Mon May 01, 2023 10:48 am

Good article. Thanks!
"I'll just store it at my place in Arizona. :lol:" - Markemp - 2/18/24 (referring to his M1A if it should be banned in MN)
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Re: A look into the mind of a hoplophobe

Postby westhope on Mon May 01, 2023 3:40 pm

Article I found reading through the above link:

Fact check: No, children are not more likely to die by guns than by motor vehicles


https://www.buckeyefirearms.org/fact-check-no-children-not-more-likely-die-guns-than-motor-vehicles

Ages 0-14 children are not more likely to die from motor vehicles than guns. Only in the ages 15-19 are there more firearm related deaths versus motor vehicle deaths. Criminal and suicide deaths in the 15-19 age group mostly. 80 % of the firearm related deaths in the 0-19 age group are in the 15-19 age group.
Misleading use of data from the CDC on firearm related deaths.
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Re: A look into the mind of a hoplophobe

Postby Holland&Holland on Mon May 01, 2023 9:03 pm

westhope wrote:Article I found reading through the above link:

Fact check: No, children are not more likely to die by guns than by motor vehicles


https://www.buckeyefirearms.org/fact-check-no-children-not-more-likely-die-guns-than-motor-vehicles

Ages 0-14 children are not more likely to die from motor vehicles than guns. Only in the ages 15-19 are there more firearm related deaths versus motor vehicle deaths. Criminal and suicide deaths in the 15-19 age group mostly. 80 % of the firearm related deaths in the 0-19 age group are in the 15-19 age group.
Misleading use of data from the CDC on firearm related deaths.

I wonder what percentage of kids who are aborted die?
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Re: A look into the mind of a hoplophobe

Postby westhope on Mon May 01, 2023 9:32 pm

Holland&Holland wrote:
westhope wrote:Article I found reading through the above link:

Fact check: No, children are not more likely to die by guns than by motor vehicles


https://www.buckeyefirearms.org/fact-check-no-children-not-more-likely-die-guns-than-motor-vehicles

Ages 0-14 children are not more likely to die from motor vehicles than guns. Only in the ages 15-19 are there more firearm related deaths versus motor vehicle deaths. Criminal and suicide deaths in the 15-19 age group mostly. 80 % of the firearm related deaths in the 0-19 age group are in the 15-19 age group.
Misleading use of data from the CDC on firearm related deaths.

I wonder what percentage of kids who are aborted die?



What does abortion have to do with any of the above?
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Re: A look into the mind of a hoplophobe

Postby Holland&Holland on Tue May 02, 2023 10:49 pm

I thought we were banning guns to save the children? No?
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