Rational debate over guns in this country is clearly impossible. Gun nuts repeatedly recycle the same debunked arguments, talking points that ceased to be serious arguments years ago. Now they are something more like prayers or mantras, rituals whose content long ago lost meaning and now are only repeated to give the gun nut a sense of identity and security.
Republicans have raised the gun to the level of a religious icon, so afraid of offending the weapon's worshippers even the smallest, most commonsensical restrictions are voted down. The gun shall not be insulted. Sooner to say something blasphemous about Jesus than the mighty firearm.
You can't understand the gun debate in modern America unless you understand the totemic, near-religious status that the gun has been elevated to by conservatives. The gun industry has grabbed the brass ring of the consumer society, making a product whose appeal goes well beyond any practical usefulness and instead is purchased mostly as a way for the owner to signal social status.
Ordinary, law-abiding citizens in the 21st century have very little practical use for guns. Most of us don't hunt and the much-vaunted self-defense value of guns turns out to be poppycock. The average gun sold in this country will either be used to do something terrible and/or illegal (shooting an innocent person, being used in a crime, suicide), or, in the best case scenario, it will have a mundane existence, used only to shoot paper targets and nothing else.
The uselessness of guns to people who have no intention of shooting up a school or knocking over a convenience store is no doubt why the number of gun owners in this country has dwindled down to 1 in 5 Americans. Why spend hundreds of dollars on a bang-bang toy with limited entertainment value, no practical use and is dangerous to boot? More and more people would rather just spend that money on a new iPhone instead.
Except, of course, for conservatives. In right-wing circles, buying a bunch of guns is more popular than ever, and it's clear that, no matter what excuses they make for it, the real reason is that owning a gun — and more importantly, being seen handling it in public — is a way to signal membership in the right-wing tribe. The gun's main function is decorative. Like a designer purse or expensive jewelry, the purpose of having a gun is to be seen and to send a message about your taste, your cultural affiliations, and, of course, your ability to afford expensive items like that.
http://www.salon.com/2015/12/08/guns_dildos_and_christmas_conservatives_cling_to_guns_as_identity_markers_not_for_practical_use/
Smith and Wesson stock now up 125% YTD. Sounds like more than 1 in 5 are buying.
I'm in. A 1929 model Thompson would be a nice toy... Chewing up paper in Central Florida!