Gun nuts = geeks.

Image from geek.com

As a lifelong geek, this is a painful realization for me – but I’ve come to conclude that almost all gun fanciers are geeks too. They fit the classic definition: they are very knowledgeable and fascinated, even to the point of obsession, about the topic of their obsession and all its minutae.

“You referred to that bullet as a 94-XX-5, when it is plainly a 94-XX-6. Therefore your observation is invalid.”

They of course would be horrified if someone pointed out their geekitude to them. While I and most of the geeks I know embrace the label joyfully, they don’t see themselves as geeks. They see themselves as Rambo crossed with Serpico crossed with Jack Bauer crossed with Chuck Norris. But they fit every aspect of the geek profile.

The realization troubles me too, though. Because indifference to the mayhem, suffering, bloodshed, and death that accompany the focus of their passion seems to violate some kind of unwrittten geek rule.

Gun owners: accept that you are geeks, and show some compassion for the victims. Just my .02.