While plenty of people in the world of firearms snark at millennials, I believe millennials saved gun culture. We drug into the modern era and out of the realm of Mini-14s and M1911s. There are plenty of anti-gun millennials, but I have to ask. What level of gun control has been applied since millennials entered the voting market?
The NFA, GCA, Hughes Amendment, and Assault Weapon Ban were all passed under previous generations. I’m getting off subject today. I really want to talk about why the Millenials got into gun culture.
The why is important to me. Think of it as a Generational After-Action review. Knowing the why could help gun rights survive into the next generation and so forth. I’m no scientist, and my observations are purely anecdotal. I’ll save the data for the folks smarter than me, but I do have a few reasons why I think millennials got into gun culture.
Educational Channels
The History Channel, when it was actually about History and not Pawn Stars. Discovery channels weren’t just fake documentaries about mermaids. We had shows like Future Weapons Tales of the Gun, Shootout, and many, many more. Some were one-off specials, and others were series that continued over and over.
The shows weren’t all that accurate, but they were the gun content we had. There was no Garandthumb, Brandon Herrera, or Admin Results. None of that was available. This series introduced us to weapons from the past, present, and potentially the future of firearms. This captured the attention of lots of tween and teenage boys.
The Internet
The internet opened the world of firearms up in three distinct ways. First, we had dedicated gun websites. Some were incredibly esoteric and might be focused on weird Colt revolvers. Others were wide open and had lengthy blog posts about various firearms. This gave birth to websites that easily outpaced gun magazines in views. They forced gun magazines to change. They couldn’t get away with reviewing four 1911s and talking about how WMLs would get you killed.
The next big influence on gun-owning millennials was forums. Before I was old enough to own a gun, I participated in tons of forums about guns. These forums were a mix of fantastic information from experienced gun owners and idiots like me. Some covered specific niche interests, and others were massive and covered everything.
Finally, the early days of Guntube brought tons of us in. Seeing FPSRussia shoot AA-12s seems like a right of passage for guys my age. Guntube was much smaller, but watching Carnikon, Eric, Barry, and FPSRussia was massively influential on millennial gun culture.
Video Games
Video games drew me into the world of firearms. Reading the manuals that came with games often introduced me to real-life guns. I specifically remember the short description of each weapon in the Syphon Filter 2 manual. That made me want to learn more about firearms.
Video games like Call of Duty used real guns, and games like COD Modern Warfare likely spurred the night vision movement we see now. Who can forget using the PEG on your M4 under NVGs in Modern Warfare? For a short period, video games had no problems introducing real-life guns from real-life companies into their video games.
The End of the AWB
When the Assault Weapon Ban sunsetted in 2004, the market opened up. Seemingly overnight, my local gun store went from wood-stocked bolt guns to ARs, AKs, and more. Stuff I had never seen in real life was right there, in my face, and accessible. This made firearms more interesting as a whole.
It also spurred a massive increase in firearms production, namely with AR-15s. A massive market not only creates better guns but lowers the price. One thing the anti-gun industry can’t seem to understand is that the AR is so popular because it’s cheap or can be cheap. For less than 400 bucks, you can have a modern, ergonomic, modular, light recoiling weapon.
The GWOT
The Global War On Terror is America’s longest war. Fathers who fought in the early stages ushered their sons into the war’s final years. So many millennials volunteered that we didn’t even need a draft. Military service exposed troops to guns, often for the first time. This created an interest. Match that with the fact you get something akin to your service rifle for a low price, and these troops got hooked.
The GWOT also exposed non-service members to modern gear, tactics, optics, etc. People wanted what soldiers and Marines used, and optics from Aimpoint and EOTech became popular with everyday gun owners. This continues to this day and likely will affect Zoomer gun culture.
Bonus – Mosin Nagants
As a quick aside, the fact that Mosin-Nagant rifles cost like 79 bucks at one point also helped a lot of guys get into mil-surp and guns. The Ammo was dirt cheap, too. Boomers might have gotten an amazing housing market, but millennials got the Mosin market, baby! Seriously, if a cool, old gun only cost $79, even if you didn’t like guns, you’d probably give it a spin.
Millennials and Guns
As a generation, millennials have done a great job protecting and expanding the Second Amendment. Constitutional Carry is now in the majority of states. Federal gun control has been kept at bay, and 3D printing might have killed gun control. As fun as it is to make fun of millennials, I think we’ve helped preserve the Second Amendment and carried the fight.
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