Nomenclature ...

.
... I think we need to see to it.

Robb Allen has a post up about a not-really-consequential incident among family this Christmas, where otherwise sympathetic family members latched on to a media-driven narrative - namely the evil semi-automatic pistol.

I replied that, even though semi-auto is correct to us, it's just a small step below full-auto to those who aren't familiar with firearms. And it made me think ...

In my writing, I don't like using the the term 'gun', mostly because of the gutteral 'g' sound that it begins with. I prefer to use the term firearm, rifle and handgun (handgun isn't as bad as 'gun'). Think about how easy it is to marginalize the word 'gun' ... 'Are you compensating with your guuuunnn?' 'Oh look, he's got a guuunnn.' 'He's gonna play with his big bad guuunnn!'
guuunnn
This is much like my wife mocking me when she plaintively states 'But I have riiiggghhhttsss!'.

Compare that to 'firearm'. Firearm is much harder to trivialize, IMHO, along with 'rifle' and 'handgun'. This thinking applies to the method of operation, such as self-loading vs semi-automatic and military-pattern semi-automatic vs 'assault weapon'.

I also think that it's going to be a hard thing to get folks to change.

Listen to how police officers describe their actions on the witness stand: 'I confronted the suspect and issued a lawful order to drop his weapon while presenting my department-issued Taser. After utilizing my department-issued Taser and it having no effect, I transitioned to my primary service weapon to engage the suspect.'guuunnn

Almost clinical, that. And I have a hard time talking to my primary LE source because that's how he talks!

Anyhow, I was thinking, and thought I'd commit it to paper. Discuss.

pm