larvatus' Journal

the roots of english hoplophobia
Carrying a revolver is a fad, just a fad or a fashion; but the revolvers are mighty harmless. Of course there are desperadoes on the frontier, but that is the only part of the world they live in. Their deeds give a false character to their district. I have carried a revolver; lots of us do, but they are the most innocent things in the world.
—MARK TWAIN PUT TO THE QUESTION, ADELAIDE South Australian Register, OCTOBER 14, 1895, in Mark Twain Speaks for Himself, edited by Paul Fatout, Purdue University Press, 1997, p. 152

( Read more... ) It is a Freudian thesis, with which I am inclined to agree, that the pistol, whether in the hands of an amateur or of a professional gunman, has significance for the owner as a symbol of virility—an extension of the male organ—and that excessive interests in guns (e.g. gun collections and gun clubs) is a form of fetishism. ( Read more... )