They Just Grabbed My Neighbor's guns

[Scootaloo]

6. Wishful thinking.

There's this whole mythological ideal of the "brave defender" squaring off against "forces of evil." In every case you will find that these knuckleheads held this fantasy before purchasing even one gun, that they dream of "taking a stand" - against the "thugs," against the "feds," against the Cuban-Russian invaders, whatever. They purchase an armory to bolster and accessorize these fantasies. They secretly want the ATF to come banging on their door, so they can show "the government" what-for.

If it were something they feared rather than something they relished, they would avoid, instead of encourage. That is, if they actually were afraid of the government coming after them for their weapons, they would divest themselves of those weapons and not collect more. That's what people do when they fear something, they act to avoid it. Instead these people buy more and talk themselves up louder about how it'll be a dark day in hell, yadda yadda.