Wandered into this letter to the editor in the Salt Lake Tribune. I offer it not as flamebait (much), but as more evidence that those lobbying for gun control tend to view gun owners as morally bankrupt and psychologically defective. The use of the word “addiction” indicates the same sort of shift in societal interpretation of private firearm ownership as experienced by alcoholics: from sin to sickness. By some. But not most, methinks. Anyway, it’s not just Republicans who are living beyond their means. My name is Robert and I’m addicted to guns.
Both greed and guns are addictive. Those addicted to greed are obsessed with wealth far beyond their needs. Their compulsion results in a stunning indifference to others, which is also true of the gun addict. Gun addicts demand guns and ammunition far beyond their needs, with firearms at the very center of their lives. Self defense is used as an excuse, and a willingness to shoot to kill and to shoot first and ask questions later is the gun addict’s mantra. Both addicts flip off Judeo-Christian morality and worship at the godless alter of Friedrich Nietzsche and Ayn Rand, celebrating what Eric Fromm called “malignant narcissism.”
