Why are American men into shooting guns?

[BigmanPigman]

Is it society, is it mass marketing, is it testosterone, what????? Very few women want to kill people with guns, why? What is the difference? Why aren't women bringing this issue up more often?

[BootinUp]

1. i think the underlying emotion is fear

and the false notion that guns give them the control they crave.

[BigmanPigman]

5. You'd think given the unfair treatment of women

in almost every way possible would provoke more women to want to be "in control" and fearful of the overwhelming presence of men in every corner of our society. But do women pick up guns and do mass shootings as a way to express their fear of men? Nope, not like men do. Women should be more fearful and want more control over their lives but they do not purchase and fall in love with their semi-automatic weapons as men do. That is a male thing for the most part. MTG and Boebert are the exceptions.

[Irish_Dem]

28. Yes women should be the ones with guns.

Women have been subjugated, murdered, raped, stalked, harassed by males since time began.

Men should be forbidden to have guns, women should have mandatory carry.
It might help correct the power imbalance.

Yes it is a male thing, violence to get what they want.

[Victor_c3]

31. I think another part to the fear is a man's increased testosterone

Boosting testosterone makes one more aggressive (i.e. roid rage). Mix fear and aggression and you get what we see.

Or at least that’s the layman’s theory I just came up with.

[JoeOtterbein]

2. I'm not sure about how other men feel. but...,

...when I was growing up in the1960's we watched tons of movies, News TV etc. Cause it was the only thing on TV in those days.

Some of us dumb boomers (mostly republicants now) keep trying to recreate that feeling of heroics in their/our "young" minds in the face of winning a nuclear war we could never win.

[FakeNoose]

35. However it's not the old guys who are turning into mass murderers

Almost all of these mass shooters are under 30. Watching violent movies has some effect for sure, however those violent computer games require active participation.

Maybe those violent computer games are grooming young men to become mass murderers? Or maybe a few boys eventually lose the ability to distinguish between simulated violence and the real thing?

[leftyladyfrommo]

59. These people brainwash themselves. Just listening

To rightwing stuff 16 hours a day and playing violent games for hours has to have some kind of serious affect.

[bluedigger]

62. Kids play the same games the world over.

It's the guns.

[Lithos]

3. Great question

I would say that it goes back to old gender based roles. Men hunt and women gathered. But I am probably being very simplistic in this.

What I have read is there are very significant differences in the victims - Men tend to kill strangers more often then women while women kill people they know at a rate higher than men. Women's choices of weapon as a result tend to be far more personal - Ie, poison and knives.

[LizBeth]

44. men hunt women gather has been scientifically disproven. Women hunted too and why not.

If they were good at hunting why would their skills be used in order to eat and survive. Not at the point of conditioned role like today with men hunt women gather conditioning.

[Lithos]

61. Apologies

I was thinking primarily in terms of 17th to 20th century gender roles, but granting there are exceptions even then. Roles were much more fluid back in the time periods up through the Bronze and Iron ages.

L-

[pfitz59]

4. Penis fantasies

hyper virility

[CentralMass]

6. An interesting read on gun owner demographics.

https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2017/06/22/the-demographics-of-gun-ownership/

Another on men vs women gun ownership.
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/06/29/how-male-and-female-gun-owners-in-the-u-s-compare/

[BigmanPigman]

10. That's good info, thanks.

I want to know the percentages of not the gun owners but the percentage of men who actually shoot guns, not own them I guess. From what I have gathered, women buy guns for protection against men from primarily aggressive males. They don't use them in mass shootings. Men are the ones to use them in mass shootings for the most part. It is an aggressive act, not personal protection.

You'd think more women would own guns as protection from men. But men use them for mass shootings, which is an act of violence, not protection. They are the aggressors, they aren't protecting themselves and they aren't purchasing the guns to protect them from aggressive females as women do to protect them from men.

[Silent3]

32. While mass shooters are practically all male, it's still only a very small fraction of men...

...with guns who go on shooting rampages.

The mostly-male (but still significantly female) problem is voters who either vote based on 2A extremism, or who don't care enough about the carnage guns are causing to vote against the 2A extremists.

[gopiscrap]

7. personal insecurity, selfishness

[walkingman]

8. I think it is toxic masculinity that's at the root of domestic violence and mass shootings.

Guns are the weapons of choice for extremists, for misogynists, for insurrectionists. Many men tend to have an attitude of "the world owes me more than I have." They're disappointed where they're at in life, or they feel frustrated that they lost their job or that they can't get a girlfriend or whatever... so they pick a target of who to blame, whether they pick women or their school or a racial group or even just random victims.

I think social media also allows a space to connect with others who validate their thoughts and feelings and over time they become radicalized.

IMO, what makes America unique is we allow easy access to guns where other developed nations limit access.

[LizBeth]

46. I read a couple weeks ago over 80% of mass shooters have a known dislike of women.

[GReedDiamond]

9. Way back in 1989, I was passing through Colorado...

...so I dropped in on my old pal and keyboard player in one of my bands in L.A., before he moved to Colorado some years before.

His house bordered a National Forest, and there was/is a steep incline behind his house, in the "backyard" which is a mountainside forest.

We went out there, and I shot his rifle at targets on trees, or whatever.

Just shooting at whatever.

Or, just shooting.

It felt literally physically invigorating, like a drug rush.

Which, of course, I would know nothing about, right?

I believe that, at least for some if not many, their gun-humping is based on the drug-like release of endorphins they get when they're shootin-off their gunz.

I have never touched a gun since, and that was the first time.

[BigmanPigman]

12. You make a good point.

However, isn't "hitting a target" something of a game? I have gone to state fairs and have used a water pistol to aim into a target that inflated a balloon and I was very good at it and won often. It WAS exhilarating. I assume that is the case with any target practice, archery, skeet shooting, etc. But I don't go out and buy a gun for that sort of exhilaration. Why do mostly men cross the line and it is no longer for targeting an intimate object but for murdering innocent people?

[GReedDiamond]

13. It started with targets, than it didn't matter...just shooting at the fucking mountain...

...was enough to generate the "gun buzz."

I would think that having targets would enhance the buzz, if one were to actually hit them.

Again, I have never touched a gun since.

[NJCher]

25. I was in a similar situation

Mountain, gun, but I’m female. I had something to shoot at and I was angry, determined to shut this effing bird up. It was a peacock if you must know. Screeching when you want to sleep; that’s what they do.

Grabbed boyfriend’s gun and went outside at 5 am and realized I had to know something to be able to shoot it. It was heavy and cumbersome. I thought wth; this thing sure doesn’t live up to its all-purpose promise. Kind of like Photoshop. PITA.

Put gun back and tried to go back to sleep. No gun rush, no nothing. Well, annoyance.

Anyway, your story was very interesting. I think it says a lot and is very pertinent to the op’s question.

The one time I did achieve the kind of satisfaction you describe was when I received my paycheck from a very high paying job. My male companion with whom I was living also had a high paying job. We would throw our important papers on the desk and when I noted my paycheck was many thousands more than his, I became exhilarated. I began thinking of all the advantages I would have as the highest earning partner. I think this is also known as throwing your weight around.

Of course this story shows that I was once a shallow, scheming, emotionally immature person. I would not behave this way today.

[usonian]

11. I posted something on brettdale's thread

https://democraticunderground.com/100216745927
Why???? Why are gun people like this?

I was inspired by this post:
You can't make this shit up, department: Last week I happened to be in a gun store
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216725414
emphasis mine.

A pawn shop just off the highway in rural Colorado, as a matter of fact. We went in to take a look at the jewelry, and we were looking at the vast collection of silver pawn and rings and such, when I noticed an AK-47 set up and ready to go on the gun counter. I was brought up to be a gun type person by hunters and cops and gunsmiths, but it did catch my attention. It was posed above the glamour gun shelf, with the pink revolver and the lavender Glock (nice!) and the antique Colts.

So, two things occurred to me:
First: it's sexual projection (it's pretty obvious, everything about guns is "like that", not much imagination needed. )
Second, society fetishizes guns, like "jewels" to collect and admire ... even fondle ...

Those are two powerful forces.

No real need for all this excess

From "Tremors"

People commonly think of justice as vengeance.
Real men have nothing to prove.
They lead just lives, and my personal interpretation of justice is treating others with equality, honor and fairness.

Edit: Agree on the TV series and movies. Damn, I had a Hopalong Cassidy outfit, with attendant plastic revolver.
I have the only copy of that photo in existence.
And men are the majority of military. I handled some weapons in boot camp and never again.
I live in the woods with rattlesnakes, mountain lions and the occasional bear.
No artillery needed.

[Irish_Dem]

30. Male need for power, control, domination, sexual arousal, instilling fear in others.

Gun meets all those needs.

[Kablooie]

14. Same reason they like farting, makes a loud noise.

[jaysunb]

15. Take a look at the western movies of the 40's and 50's.

The influence is overwhelming.
Whiskey, mysoginy, patriarchy, unbridled racism and lots of gun violence.

[betsuni]

22. But in those movies guns were a necessity, like horses.

Guns were needed for hunting, protecting against claim-jumpers and thieves and so on. Now it's a fetish with no real purpose.

[Recursion]

16. Actual competitive shooting has plenty of women who participate

What women seem less interested in is "plinking", recreationally shooting random shit in your back 40

[LeftInTX]

17. It's very loud...I probably couldn't handle a large firearm

I shot a gun once in my life...

I hated it. It was loud and I had to pull the trigger hard. This was over 50 years ago. I was with some guys who were duck hunting. That satisfied my curiosity.

Women are more safety cautious too...

Guess who drives trucks with huge tires while burning coal? It ain't women...
Guess who is more likely to engage in road rage? It ain't women

Testosterone is a part of it.

Since men like shooting guns, they are more likely to kill people with guns.

Even my husband enjoyed target practice with my son. (With blanks) Hubby is about a pacifist as you can get

Women do kill with guns, but it's more likely to be a handgun and they rarely commit mass shooting. Women serial killers tend to poison people with arsenic.

[Celerity]

18. because in American culture, violence is not just a means to an end, it is an end in and of itself

Avengers - American in Me (White Noise Version - 1977)

Ask not what you can do for your country / What’s your country been doing to you?

[LittleGirl]

19. Women have to step up on their education to their sons

It has to start at home. But if your home is full of guns and Fox spews then, you're losing half the battle.

We raise boys and girls differently and that needs to stop right now.

"Boys will be boys" needs to be stopped rfn. This is not normal. This is hyper sexualized masculinity with no control. We need to show boys that they can express their hurt as a child so that they can deal with their feelings when they are older.

Unfortunately, white men think they rule the world and we need to turn that around.

If it wasn't for women having babies, there would be no men. I'm not blaming women. I'm blaming the society that breeds mass murderers.

Sorry, the carnage lately has me on edge.

[Skittles]

20. so many fucking cowards in the "home of the brave"

it is PATHETIC

women don't need phallic symbols like so many men do....and when you do see gun humping women, they seem to have grown up around gun humping men

[Frasier Balzov]

21. To settle grievances. To express displeasure. To solve personal problems.

Without needing any actual mental or physical prowess.

[whistler162]

23. Same reason some people ask idiotic

questions!

[vercetti2021]

24. Before I transitioned

I enjoyed target shooting just for the sport and fun. I was around it growing up with my sperm donor (father) and I thought it was just about shooting targets. Never once did I think of protection or killing someone with it. I got older and did it for just the same fun. Targets, as I transitioned. I stopped doing it. I don't even want my rifles anymore. I think since I started to suppress my testosterone, the interest went away and I felt like I didn't feel the need for it anymore. Like I'm not really enjoying it as much. I think a lot of it has to do with men and masculinity. Though I keep a handgun on me for personal safety from some bigoted asshole that might wanna just kill me for no reason.

[BlueTsunami2018]

26. Because it's fun mostly.

Are there some dudes who get some kind of power trip from it or make up for some deficiency they feel they might have? Sure.

But it’s mostly because it’s just fun to shoot things. Beer cans, water jugs, fire bells….whatever. I wouldn’t shoot an animal or a person unless I had no other choice.

Also, the very real prospect of the brownshirts taking over leaves me wanting the ability to fight back. I’m not going to win but I’m not going alone. The pervasive idea that liberals are weak and defenseless is an advantage.

I’m hoping sanity will prevail but I’d never bet on it. This country appears to be too stupid to save itself.

[Amishman]

40. I would say this, it is fun

I've mentioned my gun nut brother-in-law many times before. I've shot with him at his house many times, and it is very fun - especially with a trusted expert right there to take away much of the fear of making a dangerous error.

Shooting steel spinning targets or busting water bottles is just plain fun.

[hunter]

50. If it was about the fun air rifles would enjoy greater popularity.

It's the noise, nitrous fumes, lead poisoning, and illusions of power that feed gun addiction.

Air rifle competitions are more like archery.

Most people vastly overestimate the value of guns for self defense.

The "civil war" the brownshirts are jonesing for won't happen. It's bad for business. The fascism they get won't be the White Christian male dominated theocracy they hope for. They'll be the first to have their weapons confiscated, and the first to go to the reeducation camps.

It behooves us all to avoid that future.

[betsuni]

27. Guns are available, advertising.

Women are less suicidal and violent because they're used to things not going their way and plan if they want to kill anybody, don't feel the need to make a big murder/suicidal drama.

[Irish_Dem]

29. Male violence is the issue, started with throwing rocks, spears.

Now it is nuclear weapons and constant killing of each other with guns.

I keep bringing up the fact the shooters are males. And if women were the ones doing to the shooting, we would be rounded up into camps.

Why aren't women bringing up the issue of male violence? We have been taught to accept male violence as normal. We are to keep quiet and respect whatever males want to do.

Women are going to have to force the issue, but we are not good at challenging the male power structure.

[BigmanPigman]

56. Good point!

[ecstatic]

33. Genetics? Look at who the so-called forefathers were....

A bunch of criminals that included killers, rapists, kidnappers and slave owners.

[walkingman]

48. Americans like to call it "rugged individualism" - that translates to doing

what you want when you want with little or no regard for anyone or anything. If we were to be honest with ourselves, we would see that this obsession with violence is not a partisan issue but is a much longer and deeper part of our own national heritage. All we have to do is look at our colonial history and it becomes apparent.

Just look at the Marine Corp Rifle Creed. This is part of military indoctrination but, let’s face it, culturally, we are all expected to buy into this idea.

My Rifle

1. This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

2. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

3. My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will …

4. My rifle and myself know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit…
.
5. My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will ever guard it against the ravages of weather and damage as I will ever guard my legs, my arms, my eyes and my heart against damage. I will keep my rifle clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will ….

6. Before God, I swear this creed. My rifle and myself are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life.

7. So be it, until victory is America’s and there is no enemy, but peace!!

[Emile]

34. It's a fascist perceived power that gives them ability to control others.

[MissMillie]

36. Well, this is what I come up with.

Fear: Of losing privilege. In a world where being a white man used to mean you had control over everything, watching the world change can be a scary place. And of course, in the non-white world men still had the upper hand among the sexes.

Some men manage to deal with the fear in a non-violent fashion... muscle cars, motorcycles, body-building, etc.

Others just don't seem to be able to find those outlets. They turn to different forms of violence. It could be that they were brought up in a violent home.


I'm beginning to believe that almost all human actions are guided by one of two emotions: love (empathy) or fear.

[harumph]

37. I think there's a difference between those who own guns

- maybe that they've inherited, and that are infrequently used, and those that own guns and like to shoot a lot (like at gun ranges).
Many guns are passed down. You're looking at two groups that are only superficially similar.

[Scrivener7]

39. It's a virtue signal. I have a brother. I think he's typical of them. We grew up in

a house where my father had ONE gun and hunted once a year till he decided it was not him, and replaced the gun with a camera for his yearly outings.

My brother went with him a couple of times but did not show much interest. He certainly wasn't "into it."

Then he moved to a red state. He joined a gun club for the social aspect. Then he started to change. Became more republiQan, began ridiculing Democratic ideas. It went on until his red state was not red enough and he felt the need to move to one of the reddest states. This didn't happen till he was in his 60s. It certainly isn't something he constitutionally believes in.

Now he open carries to the grocery store.

It's just a badge. It's just the way for them to tell each other they're part of the same club.

And PS, it's no coincidence that it is undeniably phallic, and tends to go a long with a toxic masculinity concept that these men have been stripped of their primacy and need to get it back. Ya' know. It's the "man card."

[sir pball]

41. Same reason I like cracking the throttle on a fast bike

Feeling the push like the Hand of God, front wheel going light, the scenery starting to blur…it's the sense of being in control of a great power.

Not in the "wield it over others" power, I'm plenty secure enough in my "manhood" (whatever the fuck that even means) but just in the sense of harnessing it, knowing you hold the reins over it. Probably worth noting "gearheads" are skewed pretty heavily male, too.

[usonian]

42. Anecdote I posted elsewhere on DU

In the service, a couple of us were pretty determined photographers, and we would talk it up with a buddy, E-5, who was a short-timer. He was a pretty avid deer hunter (from Johnstown PA, no less) but our enthusiasm caught on, and he soon got more of a kick from photographing all kinds of critters than killing them.

[Kid Berwyn]

43. Rachel Maddow, storyteller and gun lover

CBS News, MAY 15, 2016

There's rarely any doubt where Rachel Maddow stands on an issue. She's a cable news headliner, and Rita Braver has been watching her in action ... both on the air, and off:

"This is a beautiful gun."

So maybe you wouldn't expect the woman wielding the Colt .45 pistol or the AR-15 rifle to be unabashedly left-leaning Rachel Maddow.

"Like, I'm a real liberal, even on, like, gun safety and gun control issues," said Maddow. "That said, I think that shooting is fun, and I think that shooting ranges are an excellent place to both learn about guns and to freak your friends out!"

Indeed, as the host of her own MSNBC show, Maddow delights in doing the unexpected.

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rachel-maddow-storyteller/

[ForgedCrank]

45. I don't know

any men who want to kill people with guns either.

[brooklynite]

47. "Very few women want to kill people with guns"

Lets be honest: very few men want to kill people either.

[sarisataka]

49. Maybe ask my daughter

She really enjoys going out to the range for an hour of shooting.

Her brother came along once. Wanted to try it, has no interest in going again. He's 15.

[Rob H.]

51. I like to go target shooting with my dad because it's fun

and we've been doing it since I was a kid. I've never fired anything larger than a 20-gauge shotgun (once, more than 30 years ago) or .22 pistol. I don't hunt (I'm a vegetarian) but my dad does--he doesn't care if he gets anything, though, which is good because he usually doesn't.

[Sympthsical]

52. Feeling of power and control

I've never fired a gun, but friends who go to a range talk about how much fun it is and how awesome the feeling of being in control of something with so much force. It's a rush. I can see that. I imagine it's like a strong, irrefutable assertion of will.

I can see how it's attractive.

Not for me, but for others. I think I get it.

[Polybius]

53. I'm not

In fact I never shot one. Living in NYC, you don't see gun shops, at least where I live.

[Midnight Writer]

54. Watch the gun advertisements. The gun industry have researched this for decades and use it for ads.

Most advertising exploits people's personality traits. Insecurity (about manliness), desire for respect, belonging to a group, wanting to be sexually attractive, wanting to be a "capable man" able to handle any situation, etc. Look through the ads in a few gun magazines and patterns emerge.

The gun industry knows exactly what buttons to push.

And, like a cult, once you get locked into "the gun culture", it overwhelms other aspects of your life.

[TheProle]

55. It's been integrated into the human condition

-160,000 years of hunting using increasingly evolving weaponry
-10,000 years of war using increasingly evolving weaponry
-Cultural reinforcement of men as primary hunters and protectors
-End of feudalism and era of bottom-up revolutions
-Colonialism and the accompanying subjugation of native peoples
-Colonialism/expansionism and the accompanying need to "live off the land"
-The era of modern publishing and the iconic presence of guns in media
-Cultural reinforcement of gun use as "manly" and "necessary"
-The criminal advantage of firepower
-Paranoia of being victimized by armed criminals
-The gun as a symbolic extension of individuality and manliness
-Everyone who has a gun thinking they have it for the "right" reasons

[ripcord]

57. It helps fill the freezer

I take 5 or more wild pigs a year along with pheasant, chukar and if I am lucky a deer.

[budkin]

58. It makes them feel powerful

That's why the joke about compensating for a tiny penis hits so hard.

[allegorical oracle]

60. Confluence of cultural influences -- machismo, mythical settling of the west, patriotism. nt