I found this and thought I'd pass it along,
What Makes a Gunlover?
I got to thinking today... just what is it that makes me love guns so much? When a friend mentioned that he knew a fellow who was considering selling or trading a rifle, I started to feel it - that deep-down gotta-have-it feeling. But why? I don't need another rifle. I don't have an excess of cash lying around, just waiting for a gun to buy. But something in me wants to own that gun.
It's not just that gun, either. I like to tell folks that I want at least one of each... meaning one of every make, every model of gun ever built, of course. Such a statement is met with a variety of responses, from tolerant smiles to head-cocked, eyebrow-raised wonder. What most folks fail to grasp is that I mean it!
I suppose that I can blame a good part of it on my raising. After all, my Dad's a gunlover, too. Where he got the bug is hard to say, since his father only kept enough guns around for utilitarian purposes, such as defending himself while working in Chicago during the Great Depression, or dispatching a hawk before it ate all his chickens. But Dad got the itch somewhere along the line, and it surely has been passed on to me.
I don't hunt everything that walks or flies, so claiming to need a different gun for each game animal doesn't cover it. I have a .44 magnum carbine for hunting deer out to 100 yards, a 30-30 for medium range deer hunting if need be, and a .338 Winchester magnum for reach-out-and-touch-them hunting. With handloads, I can load that .338 down for deer hunting, or up to handle any big game on this continent. I have a .222 Remington for shooting targets and varmints, .22 long rifles for small game, plenty of handguns. So why do I get excited about a rifle I've never seen in 7mm Remington Magnum? I really don't know.
The bottom line is, it's a gun. I long ago adopted my father's motto: "If it shoots, I like it." Some are better than others, of course, but they're all good. And I'm told by a reputable source that this gun is a shooter. The late Frank de Haas has given this make and model his unique stamp of approval via his excellent book, Bolt Action Rifles. And I don't have a rifle chambered for 7mm Remington Magnum - which I find to be the second most compelling reason to buy it. The most compelling reason of all, of course, is that I want it.
I guess I really don't know what it is that makes me love guns so much. I love to make them accurate, I love to shoot them, and I love to carry them in the woods. I love to work on them, fix them if they break, clean them if they're dirty. I love to admire them, touch them, see how they work. I've touched up bluing, built parts from scratch, refinished stocks, and made pistol grips, loving every minute of it. I love guns like some folks love fishing rods, others love cars, and still others go nuts for football. Why? I reckon it really doesn't matter why we love what we do. We just do, that's all.
"Respect for religion must be reestablished. The arrogance of public officials must be curtailed. Assistance to foreign lands must be stopped. The people should not depend on government for subsistence." - Cicero, 60 B.C.