Word For The Day; "Hoplophobia"

LJWorld.com weblogs Stop Me If You've Heard This One

Posted by Roedapple May 17, 2012 at 11:55 a.m.

"Hoplophobia, n. Irrational, morbid fear of guns (c. 1966, coined by Col. Jeff Cooper, from the Greek hoplites, weapon; see his book Principles of Personal Defense). May cause sweating, faintness, discomfort, rapid pulse, nausea, sleeplessness, nondescript fears, more, at mere thought of guns. Presence of working firearms may cause panic attack. Hoplophobe, hoplophobic.

Hoplophobes are common and should never be involved in setting gun policies. Point out hoplophobic behavior when noticed, it is dangerous, sufferers deserve pity, and should seek treatment. When confronted about their condition, hoplophobes typically go into denial, a common characteristic of the affliction. Sometimes helped by training, or by coaching at a range, a process known to psychiatry as "desensitization," a useful methodology in treating many phobias.

Hoplophobic behavior is often obvious from self-evident irrational responses to real-life situations, and is frequently seen in the news media and public debate. When a criminal commits a crime using a gun, hoplophobes often seek to disarm, or make lists of, innocent people who didn't do anything, a common, classic and irrational response.

The idea of creating an enormously expensive government-run 90-million-name database of legitimate gun owners -- which by definition would not include armed criminals -- is a prime example of an irrational hoplophobic response to the issue of crime. How writing your name in such a list would help stop crime is never even addressed. (See, "The Only Question About Gun Registration")

An effort is underway nationally to have hoplophobia recognized in the DSM, the official directory of mental ailments. Resistance from elements in the medical profession suggest this may be quite difficult, but that does not reduce the importance of recognizing a widespread, virulent, detrimental mental condition commonly found in the populace. The actual number of undiagnosed hoplophobes is unknown, but believed to be in the tens of millions."

( From Alan Korwin's Bloomfield Press at GunLaws.com )

http://www.gunlaws.com/GunPhobia.htm

by RoeDapple

My first reaction to this picture is to determine the make and model plus the caliber it shoots. What is your first reaction?

(image from web source)

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RoeDapple 1 year, 1 month ago

My best guess is it's a Charter Arms "Bulldog", .44 Special in blued steel with 2 1/2" barrel.

RoeDapple 1 year, 1 month ago

Gun Nut (source, Urban Dictionary)

A person who takes a keen interest in firearms and ammunition, possibly including the study, peer discussion, ownership, bearing and use thereof - usually used playingly by oneself or by other firearms enthusiasts in this sense. Often associates with people with similar interests.
A person who takes seemingly morbid interest in firearms out of a belief that they provide protection, security and freedom while appearing scary to the uninitiated - usually used derogatively by non-gun people, particularly those who are scared of firearms.

I prefer the term "Weapons Enthusiast"

rockchalker52 1 year, 1 month ago

The guy that took the picture 1) was forced to do so at gunpoint. 2) got shot. C) was well paid for the picture. 4) all of the above. 5) none of the above.

RoeDapple 1 year, 1 month ago

Or he might have had a remote switch for his camera and placed the gun after the camera was secured . . .

rockchalker52 1 year, 1 month ago

well, if you're gonna bring logic into it, I'm not prepared to discuss it anymore...

RoeDapple 1 year, 1 month ago

Aw, man! Sorry . . .

rockchalker52 1 year, 1 month ago

My first reaction was 'if the gunshot don't kill me, will the tetanus from that nasty lookin' ammo finish the job?'

Ron Holzwarth 1 year, 1 month ago

I think it is possible, but it's not a for sure. A friend of mine suffered a gunshot wound from a pistol that entered the front of his chest, and exited out his back. Fortunately and amazingly, it did not hit his heart or any major arteries, and he was found five hours later. The bullet was a target practice bullet, not a hollow point so it didn't expand within his chest, that's why he survived. He recovered completely, tetanus did not kill him.

He got a scar on the front of his chest and another on his back to show off for his experience, but I never did see them. A few years later he died, apparently because of a heart attack.

rockchalker52 1 year, 1 month ago

I have a .22 bolt action rifle handed down a generation or two. I used it when I was a kid on the farm & then target shooting about 20 years ago. Hasn't been fired since then. Just go buy a cleaning kit & swab 'er down, I guess? I had to borrow a rifle to shoot the groundhog. Got the rest of 'em thinkin' I'm locked & loaded. Should prolly be ready if they call the bluff.

Frankie8 1 year, 1 month ago

It that rust on part of the things that are in the round things? It looks weird to me, are you sure it is supposed to look that that. Reminds me of a Mae West joke, don't point that at me unless you mean to use it. LOL

RoeDapple 1 year, 1 month ago

The orange color you see inside the cylinder chambers is the copper jacket around a lead bullet core. Kind of an odd looking bullet, one I don't recognize.

RoeDapple 1 year, 1 month ago

Might be blue. Odd crimp on the brass if so

Ronda Miller 1 year, 1 month ago

Guns are sensual and should be appreciated for their intrinsic beauty. There ain't nothing like a well oiled gun.

I believe that was the third or poly definition.....

RoeDapple 1 year, 1 month ago

hmmm . . . me thinks you are confusing guns with weapons . . .

;-)

Ronda Miller 1 year, 1 month ago

Guns for weapons Or weapons for guns Either way, just clean fun Give me a pistol Sleek and black Move it slowly Stroke its back Finger the trigger Until rat a tat tat Who explodes first This or that

Ron Holzwarth 1 year, 1 month ago

Yes, Ronda, and they are good for 12 to 15 shots. And some have a range that is amazing, which is demonstrated by the evidence on a few walls.

RETICENT_IRREVERENT 1 year, 1 month ago

Roe, blue, Not a wad cutter.
The only thing that gets star crimped in a pistol cartridge are blanks or shot cartridges, and some of the MagSafe ammo.

riverdrifter 1 year, 1 month ago

I'd have said snake shot cartridges with some kind of a lead overshot card on top. If so, that would make the shot pattern "doughnut" with a large hole in the center. Maybe it's thin enough that it just vaporizes. Nasty for the bore rifling, though.

RoeDapple 1 year, 1 month ago

Interesting group of posters responding here, most posting as I imagined. (Ronda, you exceed all expectations ;-) . . ). What is also apparent are the no shows, also an expected response. Those who seem preoccupied with the size of gun owners genitilia, those who rant incessantly about legal gun ownership by over 20 million American citizens being responsible for the criminal misuse by a tiny fraction of the population, those who want to declare the Second Amendment something it is not then take it away from us. But of course they won't respond. By the very nature of the words of Jeff Cooper and Alan Korwin they would be admitting they are hoplophobes. No matter how they sugar coat it.

RoeDapple 1 year, 1 month ago

Oops, make that legal gun ownership by 90 million American citizens.

Ronda Miller 1 year, 1 month ago

Well, my gun thanks you for teaching me a word I did not know but should have known. Where are the straight shooters?

How many guns do you own, Roe? Which is your favorite little joy arrouser?

RoeDapple 1 year, 1 month ago

Well . . one for sure. The best one is the one I have access to . . . should I ever need one. (I assume you meant weapons not guns.)

8-I

riverdrifter 1 year, 1 month ago

Also, if in fact a snake shot load, would have to use a 'cold' primer as a hot one would pop the load too far up the barrel and cause a 'blooper'. And us guys hate them bloopers. Just sayin'.

Ronda Miller 1 year, 1 month ago

Nobody hates a blooper as much as the receiving end of the load. So much clean up time.

Roe, do you ever let anyone else handle your weapon? Some people seem to be so weapon sensitive and specific.

Ron Holzwarth 1 year, 1 month ago

I believe that a psychiatrist would consider "Hoplophobia" to already be covered in the DSM-IV-TR as a subset of "specific (simple) phobias". There are simply too many things that a person can have a phobia about to have a specific listing for each one. Phobias have many things in common and also have many common causative factors, so it could be added, I suppose, but it would be just one more in a long list, and would not have a treatment that was specific to only Hoplophobia.

Clipped from: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/288016-overview

"A phobia is defined as an irrational fear that produces a conscious avoidance of the feared subject, activity, or situation. The affected person usually recognizes that the reaction is excessive. According to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) and its subsequent Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR), phobic disorders can be divided into 3 types: social phobia (now called social anxiety disorder), specific (simple) phobias, and agoraphobia."

Clipped from: http://www.med.upenn.edu/ctsa/phobias_symptoms.html#diagnostic

"Types of Specific Phobia

There are five different types of specific phobia.

Animal Type (e.g. dogs, snakes, or spiders) Natural Environment Type (e.g., heights, storms, water) Blood-Injection-Injury Type (e.g. fear of seeing blood, receiving a blood test or shot, watching television shows that display medical procedures) Situational Type (e.g., airplanes, elevators, driving, enclosed places) Other Types (e.g., phobic avoidance of situations that may lead to choking, vomiting, or contracting an illness; in children, avoidance of loud sounds like balloons popping or costumed characters like clowns)"

Ron Holzwarth 1 year, 1 month ago

RoeDapple, I have an appointment on Thursday, June 7, and just for you, I'll ask my psychiatrist if she has ever heard of hoplophobia. Since she works for the VA and has consistently had about 2,000 patients for many years, if hoplophobia is at all common, I'm sure she should know about it if it is very much in evidence.

RoeDapple 1 year, 1 month ago

Well Ron, if she feigns ignorance of it she probably has it . . . and is in denial! ;-)

Ron Holzwarth 1 year, 1 month ago

Could be! But, she's seen about everything, I'm sure.

And guess what, I have a good one for you, and it is NOT a joke. I learned a new word today, and it is the name of a phobia. And, it's a very common one from the looks of things!

Phronemophobia: Fear of thinking.

RoeDapple 1 year, 1 month ago

Well I ain't got no fear of thinkin', but sometimes I thinks I gots that Wernicke’s Aphasia . . .

And every now and then I gets my murds wixed up. First time I heard "logorrhea" I thought it would require a shot of penicillin and I is allergic to it.

RoeDapple 1 year, 1 month ago

Heck, that NRA ain't all bad. Two or three times per year I even find something I enjoy reading in the AR. All that propagander they sends in the snail mail clogs up the vents in the burn barrel but so does the Victoria's Secret and all that other girlie stuff. Not mine of course. Most of it . . . of course . . .