We shrinks have always viewed this absolute NRA mania about their guns as a thinly veiled anxiety about castration. The idea is that a gun represents phallic power (i.e. a penis) in the unconscious, and that those who feel insecure about their masculinity, or their power, feel gun control would take away their masculinity, their power, their manhood.
And that's a pretty powerful anxiety in many men. We haven't talked a lot about this, because it arouses such defensiveness and indignation and probably wouldn't convince anybody.
But now this idea seems confirmed by an elected official who is fighting mightily to stop gun control legislation in Illinois. Rep. Jim Sacia, from a downstate area of the state, railed against his Chicago counterparts who are pushing for gun control legislation. Here's what he said on the Illinois House of Representatives floor this week:
"You folks in Chicago want me to get castrated because your families are having too many kids! . . . It spells out exactly what’s happening here: You want us to get rid of guns."From the larger context, he meant that this is a Chicago problem, with its gangs and poverty and crimes; and they should not force the other parts of the state to submit to gun control.
But he did spontaneously use the analogy of castration. Yep, he did. Point made.
Ralph
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