I'm curious about how you think about your feelings here. What do you think makes these things seem 'awesome', to you?
When I was a kid, I definitely thought that guns were 'cool', in some sense. I thought about them, I read about them, and I desired access to them. As I grew up and came to understand that (in the general case, and certainly for hand guns and the stuff mentioned above) guns are tools designed to end human lives, it became very hard for me to see them as anything more than a tragic symbol of human littleness.
What does 'awesome' mean, to you? Does it mean that they are symbols of power? Something else?
Think about the "designed to end human lives" a little more. What's really designed to end lives is a gallows, an electric chair, gas chamber, etc. Guns are designed for combat, not just killing.
And not just any combat. The strong and numerous attackers don't really need better tools for hurting the small, lone, and weak; they can do that just fine already. Guns are for the weak to defend themselves against the strong. They let the little old lady stop multiple attackers. They let the lone rebel fight back against the oppressive government. The gun is civilization and democracy.
When I was growing up, rifles and shotguns were used to put meat on the table all winter. No, I'm not that old. Getting a deer or two for the cost of ammunition and butchering is a lot cheaper than getting a side of beef for the freezer. It's also a generations-long shared hobby and ritual that members of the family go hunting and fishing together.
That's a far cry from ending human life. It's sustaining human life and culture. Speaking of culture, how dare you judge mine so harshly from yours?
Awesome: extremely impressive or daunting; inspiring great admiration, apprehension, or fear.
It's the same feeling you get when you watch explosions on MythBusters and such. Do explosions kill people? Yes. But they're pretty damn awesome when they don't.
Awesome = fun to shoot. I have a 50 BMG and multiple black rifles. The only reason I don't have full auto is they are too expensive, but I have shot them many times.
Can't reply to child comment that says automatic weapons are illegal. Kind of silly to say that on the internet - the OP could be in a country where they are not, or where the concept of "illegal" is ill-defined or irrelevant.
They're actually not completely illegal. You need an NFA stamp for things like full automatic rifles, machine guns, most silencers, short barreled guns, and the stamps are often very expensive. Which is why you probably don't see many full automatic AKs being used in crime.
When I was a kid, I definitely thought that guns were 'cool', in some sense. I thought about them, I read about them, and I desired access to them. As I grew up and came to understand that (in the general case, and certainly for hand guns and the stuff mentioned above) guns are tools designed to end human lives, it became very hard for me to see them as anything more than a tragic symbol of human littleness.
What does 'awesome' mean, to you? Does it mean that they are symbols of power? Something else?