Are You Guilty Of ‘Gunsplaining?’

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You’ve probably heard of the term “mansplaining.” In case you haven’t, mainsplaining is defined as verb meaning “to explain something to someone, characteristically by a man to woman, in a manner regarded as condescending or patronizing.”

Now, I think that we can agree that talking down to someone because of a difference in gender is obnoxious, and we shouldn’t do that.

But, now, two anti-gunner columnists are applying that idea to the NRA and complaining that the NRA is bullying them by “gunsplaining.”

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No, I’m not making this up.

Apparently, these two guys think that knowing what you are talking about isn’t important when you are talking about guns [hat tip to here for the lead]. Washington Post “journalist” Adam Weinstein wrote,

The NRA and its allies use jargon to bully gun-control supporters.

While debating the merits of various gun-control proposals, Second Amendment enthusiasts often diminish, or outright dismiss their views if they use imprecise firearms terminology.

He then said, “Like mansplaining, it’s less about adding to the discourse than smothering it.” Then, a guy named Zack Beauchamp from Vox tweeted,

Saying you need to understand gun terminology to have opinions on gun policy is the equivalent of saying you need to understand the biology of a heroin overdose to have an opinion on the drug war

Of course, what these anti-gun ignoramuses don’t understand is that you can’t have a clear discussion about a topic to actually discuss solutions if you aren’t actually talking about the same thing.

Beauchamp then further muddies the waters of the discussion because, unlike heroin, guns can be used in beneficial ways such as to both scare away attackers and to stop an attacker from committing a crime such as assault or murder. Is there actually any way that heroin can be used in a beneficial manner? Not that I’m aware of.

So, you have two people who DON’T know what they are talking about complaining because people who DO know what they are talking about insisting on precision in their language so that we can actually have a discussion about the same thing.

So, yeah, I’m guilty of gunsplaining to anti-gunners, and I’m completely unapologetic about it. If they want have a discussion about guns, then I want to have a discussion instead of two people talking at each other. If they don’t know what they are talking about, then we don’t have any way of knowing what they really mean.

That isn’t elitism. That isn’t bullying. It’s called knowing what you are talking about, and, when you have discussions like this, your choice of words do matter.

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14 COMMENTS

  1. So, if after the first two sentences, it is very obvious that the person does not even know the proper “terminology” for the subject, let alone any real knowledge at all, what are we to gather from this? Why should anyone even start to take them serious, (well we always have the leftist lap dog media that will quote the idiots, but that is another story) why are they surprised that we are condescending when addressing their ignorance, it has never been said that these fools have a brain.

    • exactly! i didnt know that 3 new rifles existed as defined by highly educated anti gunners. AR 16,AR 14, and the AK 15. educated but still stupid. they should stick to topics related to their education. condescendingly speaking. TALK WHAT YOU KNOW!

  2. I know and understand the US Constitution including the history behind what it says. One of the shorter amendments is the Second Amendment. It speaks specifically about the reason for firearms in the country. I have had firearms for now some 70 years and I know what they can do. I also know that it takes a human to use one. so, what else do I need to know?

    • Agree, as I have had a firearm since 1947 when I received a .22 rifle for Christmas and none have ever fired on their own.
      As many times as I have read the 2nd Amendment in the Constitution, I have yet to read the word “except” or the word “unless” after the word “infringed”. ALL gun laws violate the 2nd Amendment, PERIOD! ! !
      Letting the government turn a “right” into a privilege by requiring a license was idiotic and continues to be idiotic.

  3. I’ve been developing websites as a sideline since the late 1990s. If someone tries to tell me that HTML stands for “Hilltop Market Location”, when it really means “hypertext markup language”, and I correct their error, that is not an example of me “bullying”. What’s more, anyone who utters such wildly off base garbage clearly has not a leg to stand on if they try to tell me how to create a website.

    Likewise, if someone tries to tell me that the “AR” in AR-15 stands for “automatic rifle”, it’s a pretty safe bet that the next words from their mouth will be to call it a “machine gun” — which its not — and that it is capable of fully automatic fire — which it can’t — and that’s what makes it an “assault rifle”, which they think should be banned. So, if instead of listening to the same tired old “cut and paste” cloud cuckoo land arguments, I cut them short by pointing out they literally have no clue what they’re talking about, that’s not “bullying”. If anything, its me stopping an uninformed fool from oppressing ME with solutions that make things worse, not better.

  4. The ability to design a firearm is not a requirement, nor is an understanding of the physics involved. Still, when discussing even basic technology, even a passing understanding of what firearms are, what they aren’t, and how they actually work or operate is not to much to expect, or it shouldn’t be, it seems to me. That of course assumes that one wants to have their comments taken seriously, as something other than mere noise.

  5. When a reporter or ‘talking head’ refers to an AR-15 as an “assault rifle”, they are either demonstrating their ignorance or attempting to control the mindset of the audience. Just like an “assault baseball bat” or an “assault hammer”, there is no such thing as a semi-automatic “assault rifle”. “Assault Rifle” is a term concocted to push for firearm ownership elimination.
    https://www.dailywire.com/news/20668/why-progressives-use-made-term-assault-weapon-frank-camp

    • Right on ‘Meathead’. You nailed it. I think the point here is UNLESS 2 (or more) people are speaking the same language, meaning SPECIFIC terminology not just ‘their typical slang’ around, way too much gets lost in the already heated conversation/debate actually. There’s 2 OPPOSING sides here that will NEVER come together. It’s the ignorant (really) college libs, who TRULY BELIEVE they know everything-there-is-to-know and there’s those of us who are passionate to a fault about our 2nd Amendment AND actually DO know what we’re talking about, and it’s the proverbial “2 worlds collide” syndrome. It’s the age-old dog & cat issue…not meant to have a solution.

  6. I believe you should educate yourself about the subject before you try and tell some who is already knowledgeable about said subject all about it! Other wise you make yourself look like a fool it’s not the other person doing it to you!

  7. An informed public can make better decisions regardless of the subject matter. Gunsplaining sounds like a liberal issue. If they don’t understand gunspeak then 5heyneed to get more educated on the subject. I suggest they try to listen to the NRA and ask valid questions about the subject without running around with their hair on fire.

  8. An informed public can make better decisions regardless of the subject matter. Gunsplaining sounds like a liberal issue. If they don’t understand gunspeak then they need to get more educated on the subject. I suggest they try to listen to the NRA and ask valid questions about the subject without running around with their hair on fire. If a rocket scientist tried explaining rocketry using terms you don’t understand are they guilty of rocketsplaining? I suppose most people in school hearing their teachers talking would accuse the teacher of educationsplaining.

  9. Back in the nineteen thirties when our federal government first restricted things such as machine guns they said that an assault rifle is a weapon that has a selector that allows it to go from semi auto to fully auto.an ar-15 is just a semi auto rifle with up to date features,it is I repeat a semi auto rifle not an assault rifle.

  10. People;
    I don’t like to be bullied. So, listen up all you politically incorrect babies. Quit trying to bully me by threatening me in order to say everything incorrect according to your slanted way of thinking. I’m an American and if I want to say postman, mailman, policeman or any of those other stupidly rearranged American words, I’m going to do it. You people are not on the intellectual as we are anyway. Imagine calling a Black Person and African American when instead you should be calling this person either American or an African. Who can’t be both but this person can be called an American of African, Polish, Germany,or even Mexican descent. See those moron goof up their own languages. As for me I’m the Real American.

  11. Bravo, Hope you got through to at least a few of the nuts who refuse to listen to reason. And they call anyone a racist that has a difference of opinion. So who listens to that crap anymore. Old stuff!

Comments are closed.