Why white men worship guns

Many American White Men Worship Guns Because of Sexual Insecurity, Entitlement, and Profit

By Mark KarlinYou won't find anyone willing to dare say it much in the media, but a good percentage of the white men who oppose gun control of any sort – and who back measures that would even allow alleged terrorists and straw purchases for drug dealers to buy guns–are just afraid that without their guns, their phallic power will be reduced to size.

You can feel at least temporarily reassured when a long-barreled assault weapon compensates for just another average manhood; it's an irresistible testosterone high to the beleaguered white male.

Call this Freudian psychobabble analysis, but when you add it into the mix of just angry white males who want their guns to show that they are still top dog on the political, social and marital hierarchy, you got a good percentage of the psychologically need gun owners. A gun, particularly assault weapons and lethal militarized handguns, are at least two things: a prosthetic dick and a sign that even unemployed white guys still rule the Western World and sit at the head of the kitchen table.

We're talking about a dying patriarchy making a last stand with the ownership and brandishing of weapons that provide the semblance of ultimate power over life and death.

And:The reality is that for many of the gun "culture warriors" (and remember that they have the gun industry with a profiteering motive egging them on through the NRA and other gun groups), they are standing at the edge of a cliff with the multi-cultural hordes surrounding them, even governing them. And women are now supervising them in the workplace or in the same jobs as they do, if they are employed. And many women are now sexually independent and don't put up with a male sense of sexual prerogative.

Oh yes, and the American empire is facing threats on several fronts. Globalization is eating away at its post World War II dominance, with nations like "the yellow peril" of China becoming economic power houses. Jobs are hard to come by and terrorists abound behind every paranoid turn of the head.

It's not a good time to be a white man wistfully lamenting the age when white men ruled without dissent.

But like a nervous eater who turns to food to resolve anxiety, there's nothing like guns to restore a sense of glories past.

This is not an issue about self-defense; this is about psychological need--born of sexual and cultural displacement--assuaged by the possession of a killing machine.Confirming the point is the collection of NRA magazine covers below. They're heavily weighted toward scaremongering about President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder--two black men.

Check Out The Last 16 Covers Of The NRA’s ‘Pure News Magazine’

This gem makes it clear what gun nuts really fear: a country run by women and minorities, especially blacks.



These white men want to restore a past when they clearly ruled over everyone. They're scared of losing all the power and privilege they've amassed over the centuries.

Fear of the "other"...America's original sin since 1492.

For more on the subject, see Boston Bombing Triggers Islamophobia and Conservatives Fear Minorities.