When I was a young man growing up in rural Oregon, there was a term for people like me: âgun nut.â By my twenties I had a sizable collection of rifles, pistols and shotguns. Some people I knew had a âpre-64â Winchester, a rifle renowned for its quality. Or they had a Browning Auto 5, a beautiful shotgun. A friend had ten of those in various gauges. But gun nuts today are a different breed entirely. When they talk about guns they donât get into describing graceful lines, tight grain wood or immaculate bluing. At gun stores today what I hear praised is firepower that comes out of black plastic and steel. And these weapons are not for hunting, theyâre assault rifles sometimes called âmodern sporting guns.â The kind of sport theyâre good for is not spelled out.