Millions of Americans love their firearms. We like guns and that’s not likely to change anytime soon. Nor should it. After all, these are the weapons with which we keep our freedom.

However, there are a ton of people who really don’t like that. They don’t want us with firearms at all. Others are fine with you owning a firearm, they just want to place so many restrictions on them so that they’re impractical for anything but going to a gun club and popping off a few rounds.

So what happens when those who don’t like guns try to ponder why those who do like them “cling” to them? Well, you get some hilariously bad takes.

Why are we so in love with our guns?

Historically, this nation was built on violence, whether the initial settlers from England or the wagon loads of internal migrants who ventured westward seeking land and opportunity. Creating a foothold on the east coast and then expansion to the west involved the violent subjugation of the Indigenous Peoples, as well as animals like Buffalo, because they stood in the way of that process. The perspective of subjugation at any cost, i.e. manifest destiny, still resides in our nation’s psyche.

Combine that opinion of cultural superiority with Heston’s interpretation of the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution and the result is the ‘until death do we part’ attitude about gun ownership. Why is it so relentless in its effort to protect itself? Why is every piece of proposed gun control legislation met with an avalanche of criticism by those who own guns and the politicians they support?

Obviously, the gun lobby, which includes the National Rifle Association and numerous gun manufacturers and vendors, is extremely vociferous and aggressive, stating that politicians who propose smart gun laws are ‘soft on crime’. In addition, it uses news media outlets, particularly conservative ones, to raise fear that the government is attempting to take your guns away with these new laws. And, if that were to happen, you would be less safe from crime, completely unable to defend yourself and, worst of all, be vulnerable to an authoritarian government.

I love it when they place all that on the “gun lobby.”

It’s because of the NRA and other pro-gun groups, including the National Shooting Sports Foundation which they couldn’t bother to name, that you’re concerned about gun control advocates trying to take away your right to keep and bear arms.

Of course, that could have nothing at all to do with these advocates’ own words, now could it. My friend, science fiction author David Burkhead, has been keeping a record of people of note saying they want all your guns. He’s kept it fairly up to date, too.

But that doesn’t play a factor, now does it?

Yet the author of this piece thinks he understands why we hold onto our guns? He feels he understands enough about all of us to tell his readers why we “cling” to our guns.

Maybe he should have just asked.

As noted, politicians and gun control advocates have expressly acknowledged their desire to disarm us all. Around us, violent crime is spiking, even if heavily gun-controlled states. We have a government that, frankly, few of us actually trust. With all that, you think the reason we’re resistant to gun control is because the NRA tells us to be?

To quote a prominent anti-gunner, “Come on, man!”

We’ve got ample reason to resist gun control. We’ve got all those reasons and more to “cling” to our firearms, including that it’s just plain fun to go shooting.

But for some people, actually talking to us and finding out why we refuse to budge is just too damn hard.