Haha. I’m past the point in life of wanting to ‘be nice’; but I’m not looking to be mean either, nor was my response. That’s just me being me.

No one is criticizing gun safety or saying that it’s funny. It’s necessary.

My point was the same one you made. Not all men are a monolith. Just because you don’t initiate these dialogues or haven’t witnessed them doesn’t mean they don’t occur.

Men don’t act the same way around other men as they do women. That’s not a slam on men, the reverse is also true. There are things I as a woman do not do nor have I ever heard talked about but the men in my life swear up and down is common behavior in women. I have to conclude either men, independently, are experiencing the same delusion or I’m just not a witness to this behavior. I’m thinking the latter is more likely. And the sorts of things we’re talking about are not the sort of things I would be privy to. You can see, in this light, how comments about “protecting one’s family" might be more directed at women and why saying that to another man might be perceived as a challenge. If a guy said that to you, honestly, how would you respond? You’d think he thought you meant him harm and was threatening/challenging you preemtively, right?

So I’m saying this dialogue is actually pretty common and maybe you just haven’t noticed. Perhaps because it’s an unconscious part of mating behavior. All guys do this in various ways. Few realize they do or recognize it in other men. Why would they? It’s not meant for them. It’s meant for women they want to appear attractive to. Just saying. Again, the reverse is also true.

~

Have you read through any of the other comments? Hands down the objections are coming from guys (as of this reading). So we have a gendered response (and yes, of course I find that amusing. Amusing doesn’t necessarily mean in the sense of laughing at or discrediting, it can mean lightheartedly entertaining). The rebuttals are falling into two camps, ones like yours and ones that say, “you’ll be glad to have those guns when the rioters and thieves come and invade your homes".

But all of you guys are missing the broader point. Perhaps using a story with guns wasn’t the best idea given the polarizing nature of guns in political discourse. That said, it was low hanging fruit to make the point she did because of the popularity of action movies and the action hero trope, which often involves a lot of guns. Yes, I find that somewhat amusing too because it’s like a 'can’t see the forest for the trees' sort of situation … getting hung up on the wrong thing.

One of the other guys who objected on the same grounds as you wrote in his comment about seatbelts. I responded in his as well using the analogy of car safety to highlight the point the author was making. I’ll leave you to discover it on your own. The car safety analogy might have landed better with the male audience overall, but in using it to dissent against the article that guy still missed the broader point.

There’s a difference between being a protector and being a guard. A true protector acts against all universal threats. A guard or sentry only concerns themselves with one, or a select few.

You’re an environmentalist. Which do you think is the more attractive and desirable male trait for women and for society at large? Being a protector or being a sentry who thinks he’s protecting but is only really concerned with obscure threats?

Again, men are not a monolith. There are plenty of guys who tie shoes and make dinners, wipe butts and snot while tackling daily tasks of keeping kids safe and healthy. But we’re not talking about those men. Those guys actually are walking the walk of being a true protector. We’re talking about the ones who have taken the hero trope to such extremes around gun culture and male identity. The ones who are making an absolute farce out of what it means to be a man. The ones who talk and play act their warped idea of masculinity but leave their partners alone to do all the real work of protecting the home and family themselves. And then demand deference and accolades for a title the don’t understand and didn’t earn. Yeah. Those guys.