[nataz]

I think hn and tech culture in general is sleeping on the rise of popular gun culture.

Even with some significant headwinds on social media, gun culture influencers have huge audiences, slick media production, and run the gambit from highly technical to meme fueled gif parties.

It's a long way from the old stereotype of an old white Vietnam vet waxing poetic about 1911 .45s.

Something else that has been interesting to watch has been how much video game culture acts as an on ramp to gun culture. The influence that games like modern warfare have on the real life gun community is fascinating. It makes sense since there are way more call of duty players than actual high speed operators, but still...

If you think about it, it makes sense. Unlike a lot of other gear orientated technical fields, it's almost impossible for people to regularly employ their toys outside of a range setting. Everyone and their brother wants short barreled ARs, but how many people are actually clearing rooms. Same goes for recce rifles. How many folks out there on patrol? It's the equivalent of the guy who buys a land cruiser with a roof top tent and hood mounted jack, but just drives it to the mall on the weekends (and yet look how much the overland community has exploded over the past few years).

This is very much an underserved hobby driven by culture and entertainment. It's almost entirely disconnected from actual military needs/requirements/drivers. I think there is a lot of growth in the industry, surprised it doesn't come up more often.

[collegeburner]

Yeah fudds haven't made up the bulk of the gun scene since the 90s really.

I hope that since people in video games can use use a wide variety of weapons we get some push back against banning specific gun types. Opening the MG registry would be really good and maybe this is a way to encourage it, same for removing suppressor and SBR regulations.

Btw there is some intersection between the two, a lot of the guys behind the 3d-printed gun movement are moving to decentralized technologies for chat, video hosting, etc. because the gun-grabbers running mainstream platforms don't like them.

[dole]

The 3D printed gun movement is fascinating in itself as far as the potential influence on the gun industry, society and legislation. I feel like there’s no way entities like the ATF (and Justice Dept) will be able to keep up in about 10 years as guns like the FGC-9 evolve and become more ubiquitous.

[cronix]

> Even with some significant headwinds on social media, gun culture influencers have huge audiences, slick media production, and run the gambit from highly technical to meme fueled gif parties.

As I read that, I heard the words and voice "If you've ever been ..." bounce around in my head. It's the start of a phrase uttered by a very popular YT gun channel on youtube before each video.

[nataz]

For those curious, Garand Thumb.

https://youtu.be/FlHsVQDbyx4

[collegeburner]

Lmao didn't expect to see flannel daddy here of all places.

Other good channels y'all might enjoy:

Gun Jesus' Forgotten Weapons is very historical: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrfKGpvbEQXcbe68dzXgJuA

Brandon Herrera mostly posts gun memes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTrSsPMmZavLbc3Ex7VhjDg

Hickock45 is mostly just shooting: https://www.youtube.com/user/hickok45

Military Arms channel is more on the educational side: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ-qxagOkAmCEP-Tu6YliUQ

Larry Vickers is great. The AFT recently raided him and took most of his cool stuff, and he's got cancer so probably not many new videos, but nice backlog: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0zNoCMMiPEAst0JrwUht0w

Paul Harrell is very informative: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6QH13V2o68zynSa0hZy9uQ

[cronix]

Demolition Ranch: https://www.youtube.com/user/DemolitionRanch

You just never know when the question "how many toilet seats would it take to stop a 50 cal round" might pop up at a fancy dinner party.

[bjt2n3904]

> I think hn and tech culture in general is sleeping on the rise of popular gun culture.

2020 saw a significant rise in first time gun owners. The NSSF estimates 5+ million.

[packetlost]

I own a gun, I considered buying more too for a time (before ammo got really expensive) and I have friends and acquaintances that really like guns, and have several. I really don't see how software/tech could improve the experience outside of marketing and maybe some wiki-style education, if that's where you're going with your comments. Part of the appeal is the purely mechanical aspects of firearms and another is the actual experience of shooting.

[collegeburner]

Ballistics simulations could be a big one. More technical literature on how to design things like machine guns and complex operating systems would be helpful also, I think the most comprehensive I've read on the subject is Chinn's The Machine Gun but it's pretty old these days and doesn't cover some new stuff. 3D-printed and homemade gun scene is big and getting bigger and that's def got overlap with tech. Especially since it tends to get booted from mainstream platform and has mostly moved to stuff like LBRY and Rocket chat, helping to keep it up in the face of gun-grabber censorship would be good. Or using tech to expand the reach of gun-rights activism and make it easier to design, modify and print 3d-printed guns. Tons of ways if you want to get involved.

[packetlost]

The market for 3d-printed/self-made guns is a... rocky one legally. I personally wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole, but someone is probably willing to do it.