Guns & Cowboys | An American Fetish?

[Hoosiernorm]

The summer of '59 I was 19 and belonged to The Hangtown Gunslingers, a "fast draw" club in Placerville, California. We'd all dress up like cowboys, strap on our six-shooters, and met,

Do Canadians even know what pistols are? . . .

You're focusing on the wrong things.

No, you are . . . . . . your turn . . . .

Marcus I hate to have to tell you this, but you just admitted to about every stereotype held about Americans and firearms. Young men defining their masculinity by cowboying up with six shooters is a form of sexual fetishism that probably only exists in America as a true form. I thought I would at least try to stop you from a further humiliation by continuing this discussion.

[Mr. Perfect]

No way, Cowboy Action Shooting is great! If you can't enjoy that you're just a buzzkill who's been duped by some lib sobsister/ killjoy guilt politics merchant.

Hoosier I would recommend reclaiming your manhood as quickly as possible by running a couple boxes of genuine 44-40 through any gun with the number 1873 stamped on it, read 3-4 Louis L'Amour novels in the next couple of months and get back to me.

[Hoosiernorm]

No way, Cowboy Action Shooting is great! If you can't enjoy that you're just a buzzkill who's been duped by some lib sobsister/ killjoy guilt politics merchant.

Hoosier I would recommend reclaiming your manhood as quickly as possible by running a couple boxes of genuine 44-40 through any gun with the number 1873 stamped on it, read 3-4 Louis L'Amour novels in the next couple of months and get back to me.

I was simply raised to never talk about what you had, someone would break into your house and try to steal something if they thought that you had guns. When we hunted we carried the shotguns to the truck wrapped in a blanket so that no one would see what we had or how many. Pistols were loaded and kept within arms reach and you didn't wear them openly. Rock salt rounds were put into the 20 gauge that was the house gun (loaded at all times) everything else was cleaned and then hidden out of sight. The only people who walked around town with fancy looking pistols were either selling drugs or were pimps. Everybody I knew growing up had firearms, we just never talked about them.

[Mr. Perfect]

It sounds like you were raised in a Democrat burg, so I can give you a pass because boy, that's not how I was raised. Apparently not Marcus either.

Any "conservative" who thinks let alone speaks in terms of "fetishism" has a corrupted OS and needs some help, so I'll stay in the "I'm concerned for you" status.

Guns can be a lot of fun. Don't ever let liberals take the fun of life away from you.

[Marcus]

Marcus I hate to have to tell you this, but you just admitted to about every stereotype held about Americans and firearms. Young men defining their masculinity by cowboying up with six shooters is a form of sexual fetishism that probably only exists in America as a true form. I thought I would at least try to stop you from a further humiliation by continuing this discussion.

Nah, you seem to be the one with the stereotypes, Hoosier, not me and certainly not us back then. We were just a bunch of young guys having fun.

Nor was that how we defined our masculinity . .

Loosen up . . .

[Hoosiernorm]

It sounds like you were raised in a Democrat burg, so I can give you a pass because boy, that's not how I was raised. Apparently not Marcus either.

Any "conservative" who thinks let alone speaks in terms of "fetishism" has a corrupted OS and needs some help, so I'll stay in the "I'm concerned for you" status.

Guns can be a lot of fun. Don't ever let liberals take the fun of life away from you.

Yeah my brother Andy had his double barrel remington mis fire while he was climbing over a fence and remove about half of his left leg. They were able to save it, he tied a tourniquet and was able to get back to the car and my grandfather drove him into town before he bled to death (Not as much fun as it sounds, I know). Grandfather on my dads side shot himself with his favorite hunting rifle one day after just being sick of living (That was a laugh a minute there). Remember when the guy across the street murdered his wife and then killed himself in front of their 4 year old son (He never fully recovered from that). So I'm not sure what moments of fun times I was suppose to be having there. Wasn't much to shoot at during the first gulf war it was already dead by the time I got there and burned and destroyed, but hey we had fun picking up half starved defectors who didn't speak any english and smelled worse than the dead burned ones. So is shooting in relative calm and safety give it a removal from reality that gives this whole gun fun thing it's pleasure factor?

[Mr. Perfect]

I'm very sorry for your losses of course but I'm wondering how you got from that to "fetishism" per se, I'm not seeing the dots.

So is shooting in relative calm and safety give it a removal from reality that gives this whole gun fun thing it's pleasure factor?

Calm and safety is reality for many of us though, and of course that calm and safety was purchased by cracking a lot of skulls and ending lives in a variety of ways, guns being but one. And frankly I find in the skull cracking in pursuit of freedom based calm and safety something to celebrate in the end.

I've heard that there are people that do bad things or have accidents with guns but if I don't do anything bad with a gun or have an accident with one I'm wondering how the universe is served for being unhappy over something I derive happiness from. Eg, people die from skiing and motorcycling and yet many people are able to continue enjoying those pursuits.

[Hoosiernorm]

Marcus I hate to have to tell you this, but you just admitted to about every stereotype held about Americans and firearms. Young men defining their masculinity by cowboying up with six shooters is a form of sexual fetishism that probably only exists in America as a true form. I thought I would at least try to stop you from a further humiliation by continuing this discussion.

Nah, you seem to be the one with the stereotypes, Hoosier, not me and certainly not us back then. We were just a bunch of young guys having fun.

Nor was that how we defined our masculinity . .

Loosen up . . .

Did you ever bring women with you while doing the quick draw dress up thing?

[Hoosiernorm]

I'm very sorry for your losses of course but I'm wondering how you got from that to "fetishism" per se, I'm not seeing the dots.

So is shooting in relative calm and safety give it a removal from reality that gives this whole gun fun thing it's pleasure factor?

Calm and safety is reality for many of us though, and of course that calm and safety was purchased by cracking a lot of skulls and ending lives in a variety of ways, guns being but one. And frankly I find in the skull cracking in pursuit of freedom based calm and safety something to celebrate in the end.

I've heard that there are people that do bad things or have accidents with guns but if I don't do anything bad with a gun or have an accident with one I'm wondering how the universe is served for being unhappy over something I derive happiness from. Eg, people die from skiing and motorcycling and yet many people are able to continue enjoying those pursuits.

A firearm is simply an object nothing more. To give it meaning or purpose is fascinating. The entire culture that has grown up in America is also an oddity, largely because it is so incredibly wide spread. I'm not telling you to stop doing something you enjoy, I can't figure out why there is enjoyment from an object that was manufactured for hunting and personal defense. It's simply a curiosity Mr. P

Also, if there weren't guns where I lived they would have found another method or object to genuflect themselves with.

[Marcus]

. . Young men defining their masculinity by cowboying up with six shooters is a form of sexual fetishism . .

. . Nor was that how we defined our masculinity . .

Did you ever bring women with you while doing the quick draw dress up thing?

Yes. The married guys often brought their wives.

So where are you trying to go with this? Is this the old "pistol-as-pecker" bulllshit?

Pathetic . .

[Simple Minded]

LOL, there was plenty of opportunity for such things when I was a kid. Old people, particularly boomers seem to have a deepseated desire to imagine that our childhoods sucked. It is a strange obsession.

Actually, if I think back to age 10-15, while working with the 40-50+ year olds and listening to their stories of the freedom they knew as younguns, that I never experienced, I thought they were full of BS. Your sense of "normal" is established by your experiences from say age 10-25, and as young men everywhere, and in all eras know, anyone who disagrees with you is obviously wrong!

Then if I compare those memories to the perpetual whining inherent to 15-25 year olds that "Life is unfair!", "I am oppressed by the old lexicon: "da man", current lexicon: "1%!", perhaps there actually is a lot of common ground there.

Good to know that human nature doesn't change mush, must, much!

Misery still loves company, even inter-generational company!

[Simple Minded]

I think that this thread should be about the specific discussion of "Firearms and other Weapons" from a mainly technical + use perspective.

I also think that the philosophical + social + cultural aspects of gun ownership or not belongs in another separate thread.

Would like to hear the views of the contributors on splitting off such posts to a separate philosophy thread.

go for it! You are da man! Just don't oppress me and my homies......

[Simple Minded]

Thanks Gents. Just making sure my bias wasn't leading me astray.

But seriously, why do over-unders cost in the thousands? And that's just the guns I see at the shop (Remington, Benelli, Beretta). Online, there are evidently competition over-unders that begin around $5K. My guess is this is where the rich folks live, trap shooting with these fancy weapons.

Not a bad assumption. Over/unders are more a trap/skeet/status gun than a field gun.

My poor white trash father, who was B-class trap champion of NYS one year in the late 1960s/early 1970s has a Perazzi (sp?) over/under that cost over $6k at the time. Probably more than my parents spent on any vehicle they had while I was growing up. Go figure.

Everything seems to turn to status in the US: houses, vehicles, kids, clothes, pets, toys, education, associations,.....

[Simple Minded]

Marcus I hate to have to tell you this, but you just admitted to about every stereotype held about Americans and firearms. Young men defining their masculinity by cowboying up with six shooters is a form of sexual fetishism that probably only exists in America as a true form. I thought I would at least try to stop you from a further humiliation by continuing this discussion.

good for him! I'm glad Marcus is not a "Second-hander!"

If having a high regard for the opinions of JAFOs was truly a good thing, our celebrity culture would not be so mentally unstable.

"the desire to live an imaginary life in the minds of others...." doesn't seem to wear well on most people.

[Simple Minded]

A firearm is simply an object nothing more.

Also, if there weren't guns where I lived they would have found another method or object to genuflect themselves with.

Very true. I would say you understand both guns and people. Equally fascinating, IMO, is why people get obsessed with blaming inanimate objects, and excusing individuals of personal responsibility, blaming culture, society, group identity, etc..

[Marcus]

Marcus . . cowboying up with six shooters . . I would .. try to stop you from a further humiliation . .

Get a life, Hoosier, get a life . . .

JGpajGj07BU

[Ibrahim]

I don't know about Freud, but I just think it's kinda funny.

[Mr. Perfect]

A firearm is simply an object nothing more. To give it meaning or purpose is fascinating. The entire culture that has grown up in America is also an oddity, largely because it is so incredibly wide spread. I'm not telling you to stop doing something you enjoy, I can't figure out why there is enjoyment from an object that was manufactured for hunting and personal defense. It's simply a curiosity Mr. P.

It's no different than people who like cars, bikes, sculpture, fishing poles, boats, houses, antiques, tools, musical instruments, baseball cards, etc

[Enki]

No way, Cowboy Action Shooting is great! If you can't enjoy that you're just a buzzkill who's been duped by some lib sobsister/ killjoy guilt politics merchant.

Hoosier I would recommend reclaiming your manhood as quickly as possible by running a couple boxes of genuine 44-40 through any gun with the number 1873 stamped on it, read 3-4 Louis L'Amour novels in the next couple of months and get back to me.

Young man... I wanna be at the YMCA.

[Mr. Perfect]

I thought Reagan was the guy who let all those gay people die from AIDS.

[Enki]

Sure, but playing dressup is still a bit fae, even if you are pretending to be a cowboy.

[Mr. Perfect]

I think that is projection, but why would someone "fae" (never heard that before in my life) want a bunch of fae folk to die from a terrible disease?

[Marcus]

. . playing dressup is still a bit fae, even if you are pretending to be a cowboy.

And how, Tinker, is dressing up as a cowboy any different from dressing up as a merchant of Venice, a prince of Denmark, or a hunchback from Notre Dame?

Duh . . .

[Mr. Perfect]

Well I think it is time to get to the bottom of this one. I dress up like James Bond during the week and Indiana Jones on the weekend, for a variety of reasons. I would really like to get into CAS shooting and for that or an old West outdoor jaunt I could see dressing like a cowboy as being a lot of fun.

And for this I am gay? Hrr? A group of men congregate for a particular reason in a particular way and manage not to have sex with each other and somehow that is a homosexual event? Someone connect the dots for me on that one. To me it appears to be some projection, clearly some people dress up for sexual purposes and must see it in other people whether they are doing it for that reason or not. For me the goal of sex is to get undressed, no?

Is there something wrong with being gay? If this is homo homo shouldn't this homosexuality be celebrated like other homosexuality? You guys have some baffling positions going on here.

[Demon of Undoing]

I pretty much dress somewhere between Johnny Cash and Sonny Barger no matter what the hell I'm doing.

Unless I'm at the beach. Then I wear my lei- pattern pink yellow and tan beach jamz with black Underarmor board shirt.

Because my beach shorts make me feel pretty.

Holy lavender, Mr P. Recruitment opportunity. You know how the gays like to dress up and whatnot. Theme costume action shooting! Rome this week, Breakfast at Tiffany's the next, West Side Story after that.

This is damn brilliant!