Is "Gun Nuts" the new "N-Word"?

LETTER: Calling gun owners ‘gun nuts’ ill-informed:

I'm a Gun Nut.

My father was a Gun Nut, and so were most of his brothers.

I've been a Gun Nut for over half a century.

Thinking about it, I've devised an ad hoc definition of the term:

• I don't know, for sure, exactly how many guns I own
• I don't care to count them.  I just shoot them, and keep them clean  That's my job.
• I own guns I haven't fired for years
• I own guns I haven't ever fired (grandfathered)
• I shoot guns hunting, in competition, and sometimes I just go shoot them because I want to
• I reload my own ammunition
• There have been years when I have fired over 10,000 rounds in competition
• I introduced my  Significant Other to shooting 'for fun', after she realized that she would never see me on a Saturday if she didn't go to matches with me
• There have been years when I've spent over $3000 a year in shooting expenses; aa an Amateur
• I have a full gun safe, and extraneous guns tucked away in most rooms in my home
• I've given guns to my children, because I am not using them ... and maybe they will
• ... and I think they should
• If they don't use the guns, I don't care; I've done MY job!
• I buy primers by the sleeve, not by the 100-count flat
• I currently have 100 pounds of gunpowder in my loading-bench area
• I spent over $1500 on reloading tools
• I have four reloading presses
• I have a reloading press semi-permanently set up in my front room (I say "semi-permanently because it has been there for less than five years)
• When I vacuum my living-room rug, I pick pick up spilled powder and expended primers
• I got my first CHL license 50 years ago
• My garage is a mess, except I keep the area around my MAIN loading press (Dillon 650) clear
• I don't object to use of the word "gun" when referring to firearms.  I know what I mean, and I HAVE seen the movie "Full Metal Jacket"  .. in fact, I own a copy of the DVD
• Most of my friends are "Gun Nuts"
• I teach a class in "Introduction to USPSA" every month; have done so for the past 5 years

So when someone says that the term "Gun Nut" is "Ill-Informed", I say "Look at the source".

The term is only "ill-informed" if someone else says it.  

I don't have to apologize to anyone for who and what I am.  

The people who don't understand ... their opinion is not important to me.