Understanding Men and their Testosterone, part 2
To men, it's obvious why they love sports, guns, cars and loud things. But women can't always say the same for themselves. This article aims to help you ladies out there to better understand men and their testosterone driven behaviors.
Why
does he want to play with guns and other dangerous things?
As far as the fear of the unknown, I've found that when guys take women to swingers clubs, it's always the women that bring the men back. When guys bring their girl to shoot their gun, it's the same effect. Women, I'd hate to break this to you, but you are more vicious, war like and power hungry then men will
ever be. Yeah yeah, I know, there's always exceptions to the rule, but seriously, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Realize that part of your fear is that of your own desire, you worry that an aspect of your personality that you've been hiding will get out and cause problems. Maybe you're worried you might shoot your boyfriend in a fit of rage and regret it afterwards. Maybe, you're worried he'll do the same. If this is an issue, then the gun isn't an issue, because a knife that's easily found in the kitchen could be used in the same way as well as anything from a bat to a heavy potted plant.
Accidental discharge:
Okay, maybe your man already has a problem with ummm... "accidental discharges". But realize; you don't know how difficult it is to accidentally discharge a weapon. And you won't, until you pick one up and give it a try. If your boyfriend already has a gun, make sure that it is a modern weapon, or very high quality older model. The more modern the gun, the safer it is. The Beretta CX4 Storm (9mm) that you see me shooting in that picture above, has a special spring loaded bar inside of the gun that automatically raises up in front of the firing pin (the thing that hits the bullet to make it go boom) so the only way for the gun to go off, is to pull the trigger. What this means, is the only way for an accidental discharge to occur, is if I dropped out the magazine (the thing that holds the bullets) threw a hand full of sand in through the magazine well (the cavity where the magazine slides in) Then jam the magazine back into the gun, cock it about ten times in order to work enough sand into the action that the block MIGHT possibly get stuck in the down position. After that I'd have to load a bullet into the chamber, leave the safety off and then drop the gun down a flight of stairs. Now, if there's a lot of sand in your home, and your husband is a complete moron, okay fine, don't let him play with guns. Other then that, accidental discharges should not be a concern.
One thing that SHOULD be a concern to you, is why your husband or serious boyfriend is buying the gun. If he's buying it for self defense, you might want to force him into taking several gun safety courses. Usually people that buy guns for "protection" end up never taking the gun to the range, never taking a gun safety course, never even reading the damn users manual, and then shoot themselves
in the foot playing charlies angels while you're out at work.
Besides, a gun is a last means of defense in the home and on the street, so if he's really concerned about defense then make him take a home security course first, and other prevention classes. If he goes through all of that and still wants the gun, then you know he's got the maturity to handle owning one.
Either way, if he's given proper safety instruction, you'll be fine regardless. If he's buying it for target shooting, usually you will be okay, firing ranges avidly practice gun safety and will correct your man immediately.
Simply make sure that he cleans the gun by first disassembling the entire gun and giving you all of the ammunition. Most guys that get shot while cleaning their gun get lazy and try to use a rod with a bristle brush on it, ram it down the barrel a few times and then they look down the barrel and accidentally pull the trigger. Or maybe those guys just committed suicide, who knows. The point is, don't let a moron buy a gun, or a car, or board games and keep him away from the plastic bags while you're at it too.
If your boyfriend/husband is a moron, why are you in a relationship with him? Let me put things into perspective for you. According
Remember, safety first, why is he getting the gun? Where is the ammunition when he's cleaning his gun? Did he completely disassemble the gun before beginning his cleaning process? Make sure he subscribes or picks up gun magazines, they make gun safety seem like "the thing to do" and will ensure the proper attitude on his part. Tell him to join the NRA, that may not make sense to you at first, but the more he has invested in his firearm, the more seriously he will take it.
So that's what you do if he's going to get a gun. But why? Why does he want a gun. If it's only for fun aren't there safer things?
If you've ever gotten a thrill off of riding on the back of a guys motorcycle going 90 down the highway... you should really shut the fuck up right now. DON'T EVEN make me bust out the motorcycle deaths, and car accident deaths, because they easily outweight gun deaths.
Okay, so it's fun, it's exciting, but what is it really about? Before there were guns, there was the bow and arrow, before that, there was the sling, before that there was "chuck a rock at the badguy". What I'm trying to say is that no matter what time period, what society, men have always felt the need to be able to drop an enemy from a distance away. This is a combination of the need to defend and protect their territory and also a way to distance themself from the act, and so projectiles were born. A need to fight combined with the social conditioning to despise killing. Next in this cocktail of ingrained emotion is what it takes to be good at anything.
In order to be good at shooting a firearm, you need to get to know that firearm, you have to take care of that firearm, and you have to rely on that firearm. In order to be successful, you rely on the gun, the gun relies on you and neither let the other down... seeing a pattern yet? If not reread the last article.
Let me say it from my perspective, check this out:
75 yards, that's 225 feet, with iron sites, meaning I'm basically just using my normal vision to tell where the bullet is going to go. And I have bad eyesight, which means at 225 feet all I could see was a red blob, so I pointed at the center of the red blob, waited for the wind to calm itself, exhaled to improve the steadiness of my hands and pulled the triggers just as my nerves wavered the front sight over the very dead center of the target. Not only that, but it was extremely hot and humid on that day which effects how the bullet flies.
And BAM, I hit the X, the very dead center of the target. The only way to intentionally do something that good is to completely understand what you're doing.
OOOOOHHHHHhhhhhhh, the magic word, guys LOVE to feel like they understand things, it brings comfort and reliability to their life. Why? Because most of life is extremely unpredictable. Sports, cars, guns, it's all like taking a vacation and forgetting about stress and doing something that has small consequence, a little bit of danger (so they can feel like they "got it" in the excitement department) and a clear and definable way of tracking progress makes for a formula of activity that all guys love regardless of the medium (some guys paint, other guys blow shit up, if they're like me, they do both :-) )
Men act out their need for that type of bond and understanding through their sports and activities. That's half the reason, the other half we will now cover in the competition section.