Why did I do such a 180 on guns?

[Flatulo]

216. I'm going to completely level with you.

That's not why people are attracted to them, at least not the vast majority. People who intend to cause mayhem and death, as well as career criminals, are of course going to use the best tool available.

Here's the part where I am going to completely level with you. Are you ready?

I've been around gun owners my whole life. By and large, they are good, solid people who represent no risk to anyone.

However.

I've known more than a few around whom I was just not comfortable. They tended to acquire lots of guns and practiced unsafe behaviors with them.

I noticed, amateur psychologist that I am, that they shared a certain personality trait, or flaw, if you will.

They were loud, boastful, and tended towards exaggeration and bluster. They were always talking about how they were going to do this or that to anyone who crossed them. They had fucked more girls than you. Their car was faster than yours. They had beaten up so and so for looking at them the wrong way. They had been aggrieved by their bosses. Most of it was pure bullshit, but I think they really believed it.

A few of them were banned from our town shooting range (some by me when I sat on the board) for unsafe behaviors with guns. We were very nervous about crossing these guys.

I don't know if there's a name for this personality disorder, but I think it is a disorder. Lots of people who don't have guns also exhibit this behavior.

I wish there was some way to screen for this trait, and prevent these types of personalities from acquiring weapons. My guess is that maybe 5% of the people who joined the gun club were thusly unsuited. We had over 200 members when I was involved, and maybe 6 or 7 of this type.

I don't think it's fair to deny permits to 200 people because 10 of them are loud-mouthed asses, and maybe .0001 of them goes off and gets into trouble with his permit.