Long before I wrote about the Second Amendment, I was a gun guy. A fellow gun guy suggested I check out an author named Larry Correia and his bestselling Monster Hunter International series. I didn't have anything to read at the time, so I picked up the first book and gave it a read.

I've been a fan of Larry's ever since.

For those unfamiliar with Larry Correia's online presence, to say he doesn't suffer fools is putting it kind of mildly. He only blocks people when they get boring, instead preferring to mock his opponents.

He doesn't back down when he thinks he's right.

But over on his personal Facebook page, he recently posted something about how older folks in the gun community need to adjust their attitudes toward the younger generation. (Language warning, however.)

I've got to address a really idiotic take that I see from gun guys a lot, and that's crying about video games. As in some angsty bullshit like "hurumph these kids with the tacticool dots and lights and shit think this is Call of Duty but they ain't respecting the real life experience of us elders hurumph hurumph." They're almost always old, and they're almost always stagnant in their shooting, but think they're all that and a bag of chips.  

First, off there's a 100% chance this dude also whines about us losing the culture war while he bitches about video games like we're still living in 1995 where video games aren't a mega huge industry, big games crush hit movies by orders of magnitude, and it's a totally mainstream activity for kids AND adults. 

I hate to break it to you old grumpy bastards, stuff like Call of Duty has turned more normies into gun people over the last 20 years than anything the NRA has done. (which side note, is another reason Wayne LaPierre pissed me off, with his blaming crime on violent video games like we're fucking Tipper Gore crying about rock music or something, and I'm happy to see his corrupt and totally out of touch quisling ass get the boot) 

Video games are a huge business and a lot of pro-gun people also play video games. They shoot in real life and play games during the time they can't go to the range for whatever reason. And yes, a lot of people played Call of Duty, then started looking up the guns.

For the record, they never shot up a mall, school, or public event, either.

And as for Larry calling out Wayne LaPierre on the video game thing? Let's just note that as video games gained in popularity, the homicide rate went down. Correlation isn't causation or anything, but causation should lead to correlation.

It didn't.

And those 20 year old kids you're crying about, who've reliably had anti-gun propaganda crap rammed down their throats their entire lives by TV and movies and school and everything around them... Can also identify every single evil black rifle on a well stocked gun store wall by its in game name and they are super fucking pumped when they get the opporutnity to shoot one in real life... If you elitist assholes would get off your elitist fud ass and actually show them. 

I sold hundreds of guns to hundreds of newbs this way, and it friggin' rocked. And most of those guys end up being pro-gun for the rest of their lives. And more importantly, pro-gun where it counts, on the stuff the antis are actually trying to ban, unlike the old snob bastards who've been fine with banning ARs as long as the gov leaves their classic wooden deer rifle alone. And thank God that generation of assholes are finally dying off, because putting up with their snooty shit for the last 30 years has driven me mad. 

but but but games aren't real life! Well no shit, sherlock. Only the strawmen in your imagination actually think that. They're not training. They're an entertainment medium which makes our thing look AWESOME. John Wick isn't real life either, but it's sold a lot of fucking guns. And not that these old bastards will admit it, but most of them at some point got influenced by culture too, which is why they bought their first musket because it was the same one Davey Crockett used. Hell if I know, the point is they are usually really fucking old.  

Not that there is anything wrong with being old. I'm getting there myself. The problem is being STAGNANT. Get out of your comfort zone, dork. Be a flowing stream, not a muck pond covered in lily pads. 

And this is the part that's likely to rustle a few jimmies.

That said, they're jimmies that need to be rustled a bit.

Let's remember that a lot of the people between Generation X and the 20-somethings don't just play video games but also served multiple tours in Iraq and/or Afghanistan. They played video games on their downtime then hunted insurgents for real. It didn't make them soft and it didn't make them into violent, homicidal maniacs.

But when older folks--and as Gen X, I mean older than me--start lamenting the video game generation, what they're doing is gatekeeping. They're telling those younger folks that they're not welcome in the same community as their self-appointed betters.

People need community. Without it, people don't do well. They'll seek it out and if they don't conform, they'll subconsciously try to fit in, including shaping their views on things like the right to keep and bear arms.

Pushing them out of a community because you simply don't understand the allure of a given entertainment medium--and yes, that's what it is and no one thinks otherwise--is idiotic.

"But he doesn't have to be so aggressive about it," someone might say, which would be hilarious because Larry's been told that before. Usually, it's some leftist dipstick who will call him a racist, sexist, homophobic, evil person, but he's the one who's supposed to be nice about everything.

Look, the truth is that we need all the help we can get and we need a younger generation to step up and help out. If video games is what gets them into wanting to protect the right to keep and bear arms, then fine. I honestly celebrate that and hope it happens more often.

So lighten up, Francis. Let people like things, especially if it brings them into the gun community.