By Travis Pike
The gun culture is a snake eating it’s own tail. Not every member of the gun culture mind you, but a loud minority that makes us all look bad. The fact of the matter is the millennial generation is the future of gun ownership, and gun culture 2.0 is leading the way. Unfortunately, the loud minority of gun culture is representing us all . . .
My First Sergeant used to say if you mess up off base in town, the first thing the local newspaper will say is Marine [insert rank here] [insert last name here] was arrested in bar fight Or arrested for DUI. Or arrested for any other stupid thing 19-year-olds get into.
The same goes for gun owners and gun culture. A loud minority of gun owners happen to be homophobic, Islamophobic, and some can be quite racist. This is from a right-leaning Libertarian, who has been blown up twice in Afghanistan and shot at by Muslims countless times in a short period. Someone who thinks a bakery should be able to serve whoever they like. And someone who thinks race hustlers should have rotten vegetables thrown at them (not really, but stocks in the public square aren’t a terrible idea).
The main problem with this, as we will see in the comments section, is that this minority of gun owners will blame an entire race, religion, or sexual preference for acts of a couple tool bags. The reason that sounds familiar is because it’s the same brush that anti-gunners use to paint us all with after one tool bag does something terrible.
I know some gay assholes sued a bakery. Some Muslim asshole killed four Marines and a Sailor. A gun-owning asshole shot up a movie theater. You know what they all have in common? They’re assholes.
We have Ted Nugent appearing at NRA rallies, serving in some position or another, spouting off comments like, “big, uneducated, greasy, black mongrels,” when referring to rappers on MTV. We should probably disassociate from someone like that.
When Brian Klawiter, owner of DieselTec in Michigan refuses to serves gays, but embraces gun owners, we should distance ourselves. We should let the world know we think he’s a d-bag. I don’t advocate the state taking action, but as gun owners, we should push back and let people know we don’t respect or appreciate being associated with close-minded bigots.
When some loudmouth YouTubevangelist scam artist (raises thousands of dollars through crowdfunding to ‘buy a camera,’ still films on his cell phone and buys a 7,000 dollar watch) starts spouting off at the mouth about protecting his first amendment rights against the imaginary gay conspiracy trying to take his free speech rights with an AR pistol, we should let it be known as the gun community we think this guy is a loud mouth d-bag.
When two gun stores brand themselves a Muslim free zones, as gun owners, we should respond with public scorn and let them know Muslim gun owners are still gun owners, and can still vote pro gun. A minority of Muslims are terrorists and a minority of gun owners commit crimes. Again, I don’t want the state taking action, I want gun owners taking action with their wallets.
The media will always run the anti-gun piece first, and use idiots, d-bags, and assholes as examples of why the gun culture is so terrible. People who may not be sold on the gun-violence-is-everywhere line could easily be sold on the gun owners are racist/homophobic/Islamophobic shallow end of the gene pool. We need to face the facts that this is a PR game, and the loudest minority will always make the front page, or lead story when it comes to gun rights.
That loud minority of jerks is the snake that’s eating its own tail when it comes to gun rights.