"America roamed by angry white dudes for whom firearms are a prop for lost power"

[Robb]

Guys and guns, boys and toys

With America roamed by angry white dudes for whom firearms are a prop for lost power, what sort of message are kids getting?

America has a free-for-all gun culture, which, unsurprisingly, means that America also has a problem with children getting accidentally killed by guns. Specifically, America has a problem with boys in particular getting into accidents with guns, as reported by the New York Times. In its review of the data, the Times found that male shooters fired nearly all guns that were accidentally fired and killed a child. Boys made up 80% of the victims of accidental gun deaths of children. Reporters Michael Luo and Mike McIntire described boys as having a "magnetic attraction of firearms", and added this:

"Time and again, boys could not resist handling a gun, disregarding repeated warnings by adults and, sometimes, their own sense that they were doing something wrong."

So, what is it with boys and guns? Presumably, the same thing that defines the relationship of grown men and guns.

Gun-owning is a largely male phenomenon in the US. Forty-five percent of American men own guns while only 15% of women do. Sixty percent of adults with guns in America are white men, even though white men are just one third of the US population. Despite some attempts by gun lobbyists and marketers to try to sell more guns to women, the fact of the matter is that gun-owning isn't really about "safety" and "crime", so much as it's a very costly form of identity politics.

Gun ownership, in America, is a way for white men to assert their power in an era when they're increasingly being forced to share it with women and racial minorities.

Read More: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/01/gun-control-toys-boys

[Arugula Latte]

1. Yep. There are millions of U.S. men who try to cover their deep-seated insecurities

by buying moar moar moar guns. How absolutely pathetic.

[leveymg]

2. American men today buy guns like Weimar men bought into Nazi ideology, for largely the same reasons:

* feelings of frustration with parliamentary government;
* feelings of personal vulnerability;
* feelings of loss of social and economic privilege;
* feelings of hostility toward minorities;
* feelings of desire for revenge;
* feelings of desire to hurt others on a large scale;
* feelings of desire for war.

[hlthe2b]

3. Yup, this is exactly it... The fear and insecurity among the most ardent gunners is breath-taking...

A psychiatrist's "dream" (or nightmare)

[fitman]

6. You said it...

My wife and I see a guy on our bike trail..he is always carrying a handgun on his belt..we live in the most crime free area and the biggest crime on our local bike trail is someone not picking up their dog's poo poo.

I have met many of these guys and the paranoia is staggering. Another guy we know of has a handgun in every room of his house because he said he never knows what room he will be in if his house has a home invasion

[Robb]

7. Interestingly, I was listening to a guy on NPR this morning

...describing how the "mirror neurons" in our brains that are activated not just when we do something, but also when we watch someone else do something. I wonder whether some are simply trying to recapture the sense of victory they felt watching some movie or other.

[fitman]

8. I was not referring to all gun owners

I know plenty who are reasonable but some are just batshit crazy..

[msanthrope]

4. A black man in the White House hasn't helped their paranoia and sense of victimhood. nt

[Robb]

5. That's for sure. nt