Guns as modern fetishes (culled from shotgun thread)

[Trooper224]

I’ve always thought engraved Glock slide cover plates (especially Punisher and biohazard emblems) are a good indicator of emotional maturity and fetishization.



Am I like the only person who always thought these said “Slut Life?” Typography fail.

This is a good example, thank you.

It's all about context. It's not about owning collectables, or firearms just because their cool. I have plenty of those too. It's all about the context in which you place these things and the behaviors associated with it.

[WobblyPossum]

I’ve always thought engraved Glock slide cover plates (especially Punisher and biohazard emblems) are a good indicator of emotional maturity and fetishization.

This is a good example, thank you.

It's all about context. It's not about owning collectables, or firearms just because their cool. I have plenty of those too. It's all about the context in which you place these things and the behaviors associated with it.

I think we can all agree that putting Punisher skulls on anything that isn’t the Punisher’s body armor is stupid and should cause people to feel shame.

[Borderland]

So S&W made a shotgun that looks like something from Starship Troopers. Big laugh here. Obviously the marketing dept has been busy. Revolver sales must be slow and they've always been playing catchup with their AR's and strikers. That's not to say those aren't good products, just late to market. I don't see a trend here for space shotguns but maybe S&W wants to be a trend setter for a change instead of on the tail end of shifts in the market.

I'm not offended. It's the work of the internet and marketing gurus looking to score some sales. For me it isn't any different then Hornady introducing a new cartridge every few years. The old ones work just fine but in the minds of a lot of consumers, newer has to be better. In some cases it is but in most cases it isn't.

I like the analogy to cowboy action shooters.

I think this is most obvious with the CAS folks, though to their credit they've never pretended that it's something else. And I have to admit, shooting a Colt SAA, an M92, and a coach gun in a match looks like a lot of fun!

That seems to me to be adults acting out fantasies using costumes and firearms. I've talked to a few of those folks and they enjoy the games immensely. Having fun has always been a priority for me so who am I to judge how people want to do that. If owning a space shotgun puts a smile on your face then you should probably have one. Personally I'm stuck in the last century when it comes to shotguns because that's what I'm familiar with and know how to use. I collected British game guns that came into vogue about a hundred years ago. I hunted with those and I still have one. Was that something like CAS?

Look for the S&W space shotgun in an action movie soon. Maybe that's the marketing angle.

[Caballoflaco]

Remember that time in Europe, Northern Europe and England in particular where for 500 years or so the fashion of the day was to walk around with knives that looked like a dick? Yup dick daggers were a thing, though the proper name is bollocks dagger.

And while not weapons related; women doing the full Penthouse spread and gargoyles fellating themselves were more common on Churches than one might think and most here would probably be consider an adult male who carved such today immature.


If we move foward in history and a continent over I doubt all those penny novels about Jesse James and Billy the Kid sold in the 19th century were sold to teenagers and if folks back then made enough money I’m sure they would have been buying buntline specials too.

[bofe954]

This is might veering off, but as a guy that shoots a little USPSA. I don't really see that much difference between the CAS guy in cowboy gear and his stuff and the open guy in wrap around glasses, techwear and salomans, giant comped gun and 170mm mag. Same could be said about IDPA guy.

Everyone has their hobbies and activities, some people get more extreme and are looked at as outliers and critisized.

[Yung]

@Trooper224 @JRB

Do you guys have screencaps or links to any writing on the 'cargo cult' concept some trainers have mentioned as it relates to tool acquisition? I can't remember any specific names and my searching ability just isn't working for me this morning.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

On, no. Not the USPSA/IDPA = are tney just games or real 'training' debate. I think I once asked if USPSA did a carry survey like IDPA once reported from their nationals and some folks here had a flaming fit even to ask such.

Anyway, being an old slow toot - my USPSA or IDPA expectations is to get some trigger, draw, accuracy practice with a reasonable EDC gun. I don't chase milliseconds with things I couldn't carry. Now this may be cognitive dissonance as I am unlikely to ever win except if nobody in my division shows up.

The planning of reloads is certainly a game practice, for instance. I don't usually do that. I shoot till empty and reload unless it is incredibly obvious that reload make sense beyond millisecond chasing. I just have fun.

The CAS thing is amusing as on other forums, every once in awhile someone posts for an attaboy, you are cool - why they carry a SAA for EDC (not for game) or even a Black powder gun (not a felon). The latest was BP/OC and when the flaws of that style were pointed out, the flaming hissy fits of challenging someone's manly posturing were hilarious.

Folks say: I support you carrying something that you are comfortable with and shoot well.

If you say, NO, come up to speed with something realistics - MUH RIGHTZ! How dare you.

[Rosco Benson]

How many golf clubs does one "need"? How about pairs of shoes (don't ask my wife)?


In a long life of shooting, I have never encountered anyone for whom guns are a fetish. I have met collectors, but would not denigrate their choices...art, stamps, cars, guns, whatever.


I have seen lots of folks for whom a gun is a talisman to ward off evil, rather than a tool to confront it. Skill is tougher to attain than "stuff". This brings Cooper's observation that simply owning a piano does not make one a pianist.

[JTMcC]

I'd contend that weapons have always been fetishized. Not just guns, but swords, axes, etc through the ages that have been embellished and finely made from ornate materials just for the sake of being fancy clearly proves this.
Conspicuous consumption, or assertion of fine taste or means, lifestyle talisman, by any other name it's the same shit. It's made to impress you so you buy it to hopefully impress other people. Seller makes money, you get a fun shiny new thing to brag about; Nothing new under the sun there.

What has changed is the constant exposure to video and image media that the gunternet has played to just the same as every other commercial industry/consumer commodity genre, and the myriad of available commercial firearms that are within the means of the average hobbyist.
Working class American homes couldn't often afford more than a handful of different firearms, so utility had to be prioritized over 'I just think it's cool'.
Today, I can buy a pointless space-shotgun that has no practical use beyond giggles at a square range, and that's fine, because it's a hobby to be enjoyed and I'm fortunate to have the means to do so. Also, and more importantly, it's my motherfucking Constitutional right to do so unless the state can make a lawful and compelling argument to deny me that right.

As for the lack of maturity/enduring childishness etc. IMHO that's an entirely different situation. The root cause I see is a societally-pushed lack of bad results and outcomes following people's bad decisions in life.
Maturity, responsibility, and ownership of one's actions cannot be expected from folks who grew up without effective parenting into a world without an effective legal system, and thereby enjoy a paradigm that almost deliberately rewards 'cultural' bad decisions, displacing blame, and lying as much as possible.

Stupid space shotguns being lawfully sold to video gamers and airsoft kiddies collectively have nothing to do with that problem.

But that's just my two cents and it's worth probably less than that.

That all said - with NFA laws being as silly as they are, a 7+1 or 8+1 'bullpump' that was dead reliable and came with sensible controls, skipped the dual-tube-mag stuff, had good sling mounting points, and had a LOP adjustment of some kind would probably get my money. No disrespect to a sorted 590, 870, 1301, or Benelli.

Anybody that doesn't believe that first sentence hasn't lived around Indians ie native Americans ie whatever term you choose or they don't pay attention.

A simple image search for "native American firearms" tells the tale.

For what it's worth, I'm a fan of brass tacks, leather wraps, etc. Most people aren't, but it's been a thing as was posted probably since the first cave man put some decoration on his club during a cold winter night.

[Clusterfrack]

I think guns as a "fetish" is overly dramatic, and introduces misplaced analogies with religious fetishes.

Guns can be symbolic. Some people own guns largely because of their symbolism.