[Aleks]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Silly image aside, I think you’re taking it too literally. The fact that guns are a stand-in or protectant of manhood is fairly established. Men commit the vast vast majority of gun related crimes, men own guns at significantly higher rates than women, etc.

While you may see it as sexual stereotyping, it really isn’t. The issue of “guns” goes much deeper, intertwined with our culture’s view on masculinity, what one must be to hold on to their masculinity, and the importance of power in maintaining or gaining masculinity. So, it’s actually a very important argument to be made, and it’s not just about having a small dick (the small dick is a physical stand-in for a lack of manhood/masculinity). Guns very much provide a false sense of power, right, protection, and all the other things men are supposed to have or provide. You can see it in the statistics, you can see it in the language used by “gun nuts.” It may be insulting, but it is very true, and gun ownership and worship is a symptom of a much bigger cultural problem concerning masculinity.

Of course, it doesn’t explain all gun owners. It doesn’t even try to. A “gun nut” is not your run-of-the-mill Hunter, or sport shooter, or whatever. There are plenty of people who do not use guns for violence, or as a false sense of protection, or to make up for insecurities with their own masculinity. But.... there are many more vocal folks who do. Pretending the manhood problem doesn’t exist basically ignores one of the fundamental and largest hurdles in gun obsession.

TLDR: The image is crude but accurate.

Men own more power tools, hand tools, trucks, motorcycles, BBQ's as well. But that doesn't get projected on anyone as a compensation thing. I think that's what's dumb about it. I don't identify with firearms, I have them as tools and toys and it has nothing to do with masculinity.