Are guns a generational thing?

[grumpyduck]

I'm sure there are lots of opinions online about this, but I wanted to see how DUers feel about it.

Do you think the interest in guns is going to fade out as older generations die out and younger ones "take over" (for lack of a better word)?

Sure it also has to do with the part of the country, but, in general, what do you think?

[redstatebluegirl]

1. No I don't think so.

The young ones here in Oklahoma are by and large gun lovers like their crazy parents. I think it is more of a geographical thing, depends on where you live.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. No. It's anecdotal, but I know quite a few young people, most of whom are marginalized in some way,

who see guns as a vital self-defense issue.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. A lot of things have a demographic wave behind them

Music, fashion, religion (newly formed religious affiliations grow as old ones fade - even Christian ones). You won't see anyone wearing a zoot suit today, and you didn't find tattoos in 1950 very much.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_Popular_Delusions_and_the_Madness_of_Crowds

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds is an early study of crowd psychology by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay, first published in 1841 under the title Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions.[1] The book was published in three volumes: "National Delusions", "Peculiar Follies", and "Philosophical Delusions".[2] Mackay was an accomplished teller of stories, though he wrote in a journalistic and somewhat sensational style.

The subjects of Mackay's debunking include alchemy, crusades, duels, economic bubbles, fortune-telling, haunted houses, the Drummer of Tedworth, the influence of politics and religion on the shapes of beards and hair, magnetisers (influence of imagination in curing disease), murder through poisoning, prophecies, popular admiration of great thieves, popular follies of great cities, and relics. Present-day writers on economics, such as Michael Lewis and Andrew Tobias, laud the three chapters on economic bubbles.[3]

In later editions, Mackay added a footnote referencing the Railway Mania of the 1840s as another "popular delusion" which was at least as important as the South Sea Bubble. In the 21st century, the mathematician Andrew Odlyzko pointed out, in a published lecture, that Mackay himself played a role in this economic bubble; as a leader writer in The Glasgow Argus, Mackay wrote on 2 October 1845: "There is no reason whatever to fear a crash".[4][5]

[usonian]

4. Older folks attended school in fear of nuclear war. There has been an uneasy moratorium on them.

Young folks attend school in the daily dread of being shot in their classrooms.

[doc03]

5. Fewer people are into hunting today. Me and my friends all hunted back when we

younger but today everyone has their property posted so you are forced to hunt on state
hunting areas. A lot of my generation has quit hunting and young people are not as into it as we were.
That is why the gun lobby has been spreading fear of crime, they want to sell AR15s and semi-auto pistols.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. I think you are on.point.

[Silent Type]

13. I read a few years ago that 6% of population hunted at least one time in a year. That's not a lot.

[CentralMass]

7. No.

[sarisataka]

8. Anecdotally, there seems to be

No lack of interest in guns amongst younger people. At least enough to replace those who "age out".

I expect ownership will remain flat or slightly increase.

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

9. Don't think so

Hunting might be declining, so demand for traditional hunting rifles would drop. But the demand for stuff like AR15's is probably still rising. I know of plenty of people, my age(38) or younger who bought one because they either a) wanted one because they carried one in Iraq or Afghanistan, b) wanted one because of the video games they played, or c) want one for self defense or apocalyptic end of the world hypothetical scenarios.

I do personally know one gun store owner. He says women and minorities make up close to 50% of his new customers, and if you add in everyone under 40yo it's close to 80% of his new customers.

[Walleye]

10. Watching old westerns from the 50s. Accepted behavior is pointing a gun at someone and forcing them

to do something against their will. You get the drop on the guy and you’re in charge. I think that’s the attraction right there, The power to bully. they don’t think to the point where they have to actually shoot somebody. Then it becomes homicidal ideation

[LakeArenal]

11. No. Guns are glamorous. Guns are video games.

Guns are Action movies.

Guns are glorified

Guns are rebellious.

Guns are collectible.

Guns are valuable.

Guns seemingly have their own popular Amendment.

[samnsara]

15. i just finished watching all 23 seasons of MidSomer Murders....what a BRILLIANT series

.....and barely EVER any gunshots. It was a nice quiet show with lots of action. Why shoot someone when you can smash them with a 3000 lb chandelier? Or coat them in chocolate?

[LakeArenal]

19. I'm not defending guns. Although we have had nine guns at one time.

As above stated, many of us grew up with guns. But this rabid gun stuff has nothing to do with how most of us owners grew up using guns.


That’s a nice recommendation but I doubt it will start any trends away from guns.

[Diamond_Dog]

22. I love that show.

And yes, what you say is true.

[Autumn]

12. Nope. I see more younger people buying guns than older people.

I have a friend that lives close to a gun range. We see mostly young men and women park and go in when we are sitting on her deck.

[samnsara]

14. im 73 and i remember parties in my 20s where someone was said to have a gun and you know what?

...we didnt panic and went on drinking and no one ever got shot.we also had bomb threats in our HS..mostly cuz someone didnt want to take a test.


so the 'weapons' are the same but they are just used differently....imho

[emulatorloo]

16. I seriously doubt it. Do you have sales figures that indicate otherwise?

[Initech]

17. I saw an ad for a children's game the other day...

That was basically teaching kids what various gun types were. Yeah and drag queens are the problem.

[sarisataka]

20. What game was that??

[Initech]

21. I don't know, but it was on that Temu junk site.

[usonian]

18. To some percentage, they're a phallic symbol.

Projection of their own weaknesses and fears.

Automatic weapons have nothing to do with hunting, unless you are hunting phantoms (those zombies, you know). Unfortunately, real people too often take their place.

They were symbolic in movies (almost never real).

People generally fall for whatever is glorified.

Anecdotally: Long ago, a couple of us in the service had a buddy from PA who liked to shoot deer. We didn't propagandize. We were simply nuts for photography, and our enthusiasm spilled over, to the point where he enjoyed shooting with a camera.

[hunter]

23. Most people in the U.S.A. don't care enough about guns to tolerate all the bother of owning one.

Then there are those who may have a gun or two kept safely locked away when they are not using it for practical purposes.

Sorry, "self defense" is not a practical purpose, even if you are a cop.

If you are a hunter, go for it. You know where meat comes from, unlike so many people who buy their factory farm meat in the grocery store, thoughtlessly, as if it had magically grown there, all packaged up on the refrigerated shelves.

Unfortunately the only real market for new guns is the gun fetishists, most of whom probably shouldn't own any guns in the first place. An entire industry depends upon them.

In case you are wondering, the second amendment is flaming bullshit. The original constitution of the U.S.A. was full of flaming bullshit, reflecting the racist and misogynistic political views of our very frequently disgusting "Founding Fathers."

Yes, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were assholes.

[Hekate]

24. It's a long term propaganda thing by the RW that turned the NRA into salesmen for gun manufacturers

The NRA got filthy rich, the weapons manufacturers got even more filthy rich, and the RW got the satisfaction of destabilizing our country by promulgating fear-fear-fear and rage-rage-rage. Oh, and the oligarch of the RW also got more filthy rich.

The NRA was not always what they are now. The USA was not always what it is now.

[Recycle_Guru]

25. clearly not unless you mean in growth of guns

non empirical, but it seems interest in classic hunting gins (30/30 rifles, shotguns, etc) waning and interest in handguns, AR 15's and other weapons meant for killing humans is on an explosive trajectory.