Lots of discussions on here about preferences for guns, uses for guns, laws about guns, but I don't recall seeing one like this.  And I feel like waxing philosophical.  So, do you love guns, or are they just a tool?

Me, I love guns.  Or maybe not, maybe what I actually love is shooting.  I'm not into the whole "to shoot is to train" mentality.  But for me, when I am at the shooting range, sending lead downrange at paper or steel, the rest of the world just goes away.  I stop thinking about work, about sex, about anything I thought I was pissed off at, and I just... float.  Sure, I get excited when I do well, annoyed when I do poorly, and disgruntled at malfunctions, but my world shrinks down to me, my guns, and the range.  It's the sort of peace that some religions meditate to achieve, or so I understand.  I also hear yoga offers the same goal. 

So shooting takes me to a Zen place, a place that I can also reach through sheer physical exhaustion.  And I'm not a fan of sheer physical exhaustion.  I am, however, a fan of burning gunpowder, and recoil slap, and spinning steel.  I love it for the peace it brings me, and I love guns for making that possible.

I like guns primarily because of the excitement of shooting. The sound of a round going off, the devastation if you shoot something other than paper. Who doesn't smile when you see a youtube video of a watermelon being vaporized?!

I also really enjoy the mechanical aspect of a firearm. The way pieces of metal work in harmony for one seemingly simple goal.

Also, the fact that a firearm is a vital tool (with ammunition) to being able to provide food, and protection.

Can't say I am too excited about the cost of ammunition or the fact that once you get one gun you will end up with an entire armory before you are done if you really are a "gun person"

"Love" is an emotional response.  I'd say it's more like an infatuation!     

I do love what my guns represent regarding the right to keep and bear.

I do love the freedoms, liberties, and rights they help protect.

I do love the people they may one day defend from harm.

I do love the history and engineering embodied in relics which still operate flawlessly after 50, 100 or more years.

I do love the feeling of being able to protect myself and others instead of being dependent on a government police force who in all likelihood will not be on the scene quick enough to do me any good.

I do love the sense of accomplishment I get  breaking down and reassembling, modifying, upgrading, and making them ready for use.

I do love the feeling I get practicing, knowing I can hit the broad side of a barn if the need arises.

Guns?  I don't love guns.  They are tools.  Tools, just like hammers and screwdrivers, serve a specific purpose. 

Yeah, they are really cool tools, but tools nonetheless!!   

                                                  

Yeah what y'all said. I have been into guns for as long as I remember. My mother didn't want us to have toy guns but gave up when my brother and I were making guns out of pbj sandwich's. I love shooting, gunsmithing, and reloading. Nothing recharges me like going to the range and shooting guns and talking guns with like minded fellow shooters. I am not so much into the tactical stuff because its too much$$$.

I love hunting and I love tinkering with stuff.  Can't say I "love" guns, but they do make good objects to hunt and tinker with.  I also love things that go boom and watching things blow up (damn you fireworks ban!).  Guns accomplish both of those for me.  But as much as I like to hunt with guns, I get a WAY bigger rush when drawing on something with an arrow.

I'm not into the whole "to shoot is to train" mentality.  But for me, when I am at the shooting range, sending lead downrange at paper or steel, the rest of the world just goes away.  I stop thinking about work, about sex, about anything I thought I was pissed off at, and I just... float.  Sure, I get excited when I do well, annoyed when I do poorly, and disgruntled at malfunctions, but my world shrinks down to me, my guns, and the range.  It's the sort of peace that some religions meditate to achieve, or so I understand. .

this

I've been into shooting for basic sport, not into training for home defense.   I do plan attending the fun shoots for a change in scenery from basic range shooting.  I've always been into guns with wood stocks, not onto "evil black guns."  I also enjoy modding and working on my .22s

I really don't like them.  They are dangerous and can hurt someone.

Are we talking about knives? baseball bats? Other peoples wives?

For me it stems from a love of all things mechanical.  I love guns, cars, knives.  I like to tinker and I love figuring out how stuff works. 

I also subscribe to the thought of I'd rather have and not need than need and not have. 

I would love(NEED) to train more and take classes, but time constraints and bills lately make it nearly impossible. 

Lots of discussions on here about preferences for guns, uses for guns, laws about guns, but I don't recall seeing one like this.  And I feel like waxing philosophical.  So, do you love guns, or are they just a tool?

Me, I love guns.  Or maybe not, maybe what I actually love is shooting.  I'm not into the whole "to shoot is to train" mentality.  But for me, when I am at the shooting range, sending lead downrange at paper or steel, the rest of the world just goes away.  I stop thinking about work, about sex, about anything I thought I was pissed off at, and I just... float.  Sure, I get excited when I do well, annoyed when I do poorly, and disgruntled at malfunctions, but my world shrinks down to me, my guns, and the range.  It's the sort of peace that some religions meditate to achieve, or so I understand.  I also hear yoga offers the same goal. 

So shooting takes me to a Zen place, a place that I can also reach through sheer physical exhaustion.  And I'm not a fan of sheer physical exhaustion. I am, however, a fan of burning gunpowder, and recoil slap, and spinning steel.  I love it for the peace it brings me, and I love guns for making that possible.

same here, shooting is stress relief for me. and you're totally right about the zen. reminds me of when i used to run a lot. being 'in the zone' was all about muscle memory and your body taking over.

I love guns!  As a kid I read everything I could get my hands on and I've been buying and selling handguns and rifles (I'm not so much into shotguns) from the time I could legally do so.  I love the way they look and feel in the hand, and when I come across an exceptionally accurate one I love shooting them.

However, those who know me well enough know that what I really love is making a deal.  I don't really have a preference--if it's a good deal I'll buy it.  Whatever money I make from selling them just goes towards more guns, knives or ammo.  I think I've only bought 6 guns new over the counter--the rest has been used guns. 

I really enjoy shooting.  I've only been shooting a few years honestly; I don't consider what we did in the military to be shooting, but I worked at it.   

I'm looking forward to learning more and improving even more in the future.  Next on my list is precision shooting mostly in the 100-300 yrd range, but also out to 1k+ is what I'm hoping to work on learning. Going to be doing that with the remington 700 LTR.

Schools are also good as I love learning.

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Boy, you guys hit all my nails on the head.  This, from justin1098, was hilarious:

My mother didn't want us to have toy guns but gave up when my brother and I were making guns out of pbj sandwiches.

I suspect a large  part of the "love" is a general love of mechanical devices and the precisioneering that goes into all that, like reloading, machining, firearms discipline ("Zen"), and the military aspect of firearms ("2A," etc.).

I really enjoy the repetitive precision rhythms in reloading ammunition --Zen again.

Then there's the power aspect of it: busting watermelons and milk bottles, reaching out for long distances with some effect on that pile of rocks 600 yards away, being "controlling" beyond your physical reach.  Sort of like some politicians, eh?

Yeah, antis sometimes use cheap pop-psychology slander by calling this "compensation"  with the implication that one has a small penis, but, to turn the same pop psychology they use back on them, I say they're "projecting."  It's funny how that seems to stop them cold.  I also notice that this sneering slander mostly comes from people with no penises at all. 

Then I usually add, to paraquote Freud, "Sometimes a gun barrel is just a gun barrel, honey."

There's a whole constellations of things which go into "love" of guns, just as there is with a "love" of antique automobies or stamp collecting, or dialing-in an engine...

Or grilling a sirloin or salmon juuuust right.

Terry

I am not sure what to call it.  If I must call it something, I will call the firearm a tool to take me to that euphoric rush, where time slows down.  Simply like taking my sportbike to the local kneedraggin winding roads, or like taking my surfboard to that surf spot.  Much like how a drugee will look at his pipe.  It is just a tool to bring him/her to that spot.

I mostly just enjoy shooting, for similar reasons to Tom_G.  I get the same break from the world that I get when I'm shooting from surfing (at least when I used to), snowboarding and golf.  For a certain window of time, your mind is mostly on one thing.  Surfing and snowboard is a good ride and not eating it.  Golf is hitting good shots and playing well,  Shooting is shooting well, but occasionally just sending some rounds downrange is relaxing.  That's why I enjoy shooting steel.  You get the immediate feedback on how you are doing.  Every so often, I'll notice someone shooting steel and every ping that they get, a smile shows up.   

It's a love for me.
I remember the first time I smelled smokeless powder wafting from the breech of my grandfather's Ranger .22 rifle. My dad had bought Winchester 22 shorts in the old yellow Super-X box.
I shot at grape soda cans for practice, then wiley mongoose after that. I was 7 years old.
That was the hook.
In later years, the smell of a 12 ga. shell after dropping a lace-neck dove still lingers in my nostrils.
In recent years, the smell of Alox bullet lube smoke still hits me after firing a magazine of my hard-cast semi-wadcutters from the old Colt Gov. Model 1911.
Some people dislike the pungent mixture of smokeless powder and Alox 2138F.
To me, it smells like.....victory

some guns I love
some guns are just tools
but what may be a tool to me, another person may love
and thats ok
I love my revolvers.  didn't really know why until recently when i was cleaning up my house
I found some pictures from when i was 2 years old dressed in cowboy clothes with a pair of colt 45's holstered on a belt
toy guns of course.
but i used to love playing cowboys and indians, and i love cowboy movies
some kids had legos, or hot wheels, or a bike
I had a trunk full of toy guns

fast forward to today
i love to shoot and pass the time
it brings me peace of mind
much like exercising or working on my Mustang
its an important part of who I am
it's just what I do.

I like the zen of shooting and appreciate firearms but I dont "love" them.  Material things come and go like life itself. I appreciate the sport for what I have learned and the amazing shooters Ive met from around the world. The sharing of tips and comraderie on the line great times.