Why do you call it a weapon?

[Nikola]

I call my guns "rifle" or "pistol" or "revolver" for the sake of specificity and because that is the way I have been taught. If I had a shotgun I would call it that.

However, I think refusing to call it a weapon is a little dishonest for reasons already mentioned, and it also panders to the anti-gunners! Instead of presenting our guns as sporting equipment and tools and whatnot, we ought to be disputing the liberal notion that a "weapon" is inherently an evil thing. I have the right to keep and bear "arms", not "tools".

[mds2004]

I have always said firearm, but for my intended use for most my guns they can be considered weapons as I primarily hunt.

[Grumpyoldretiredcop]

Boot camp. Blame boot camp.

In the years since then, I've taken to using the proper terminology for a specific weapon when needed (i.e., pistol, rifle, carbine, shotgun, etc.). Generically, however, firearms are weapons. Whether directly used in conflict or food gathering, or training in/demonstrating the skills required to effectively use makes no material difference.

The press (and the NRA, for that matter) can kiss my ***. I won't bow down to political correctness and delete the term "weapon" from my firearms vocabulary.

[johnthomas]

The term "weapon" serves the anti's well. A man in the woods with a hunting rifle is looking for an animal to eat. A man in the woods with a weapon is a wannabe looking to take someone out. Anyone with a weapon is a threat to society (fallacy) or a cop that uses his weapon to protect. I too spent many years in the service and was taught that my rifle and side arm were weapons. In that context, they are. No matter what we call them, there is a stigma associated with gun ownership.

[till44]

It is a weapon, that was its original purpose, and still what most gun owners have them for.

They have lots of other uses, sports, hunting, etc., but they're still weapons. Antis and non gun people know what they are too. Why try to sugar coat it and pas it off as something else.

[Greg-Dawg]

A weapon is a gun you carry 24-7 against guys that want to hunt you down.

[LkPillsburyDude]

Gats, straps, heaters, choppers and ninas, its all the same to me.

[Requiem]

Ok, here goes...Why do we call our guns a weapon? We don't call baseball bats a weapon, until it is used as one. We don't call screwdrivers a weapon, until it is used as one. So why do we call Guns a weapon? Some never intend to use their guns as weapons and until you do, it is a gun, rifle, pistol, or whatever its birth name was. I asking this because, I think non gun owners or general public would react differently if we called them rifles, pistols, shotguns, and not weapons. Just a thought, what do you think?

Because the Marine Corps taught me to call things by what they were

[Fire in the Hole]

Boot camp. Blame boot camp.

In the years since then, I've taken to using the proper terminology for a specific weapon when needed (i.e., pistol, rifle, carbine, shotgun, etc.). Generically, however, firearms are weapons. Whether directly used in conflict or food gathering, or training in/demonstrating the skills required to effectively use makes no material difference.

The press (and the NRA, for that matter) can kiss my ***. I won't bow down to political correctness and delete the term "weapon" from my firearms vocabulary.

I'd have to second the motion about boot camp indoctrinating me against using the forbidden word "Gun." It was either Rifle, Pistol, Shotgun, or just weapon to be all inclusive. I can't count the times we had to march up and down the bay at night reciting "This is my rifle, this is my gun (tug crotch). This is for fighting, this is for fun."

Old habits are hard to break. But now I don't use the "weapon" unless I'm teaching a SD course. I hunt and target shoot with my guns.

[SJgunguy24]

I call the guns, firearms or what they truly are, tools.

People always piss and moan when I say that but I don't care. What is a car?
It's a tool, something that helps you do something easier than if you didn't have it.
How many people are killed everyear by cars? More than are killed by guns and by a very large number.

[diginit]

I call the guns, firearms or what they truly are, tools.

People always piss and moan when I say that but I don't care. What is a car?
It's a tool, something that helps you do something easier than if you didn't have it.
How many people are killed everyear by cars? More than are killed by guns and by a very large number.

Absolutely. Cars are used as weapons also. So are boots, Fists, and sticks. It depends what the item is used for. But guns are designed to be weapons. Like the sword or spear was. Just after someone made rocks.
We have to defend ourselves and loved ones against those who would tread on us. Always have and, unfortunately, always will.