I was thinking about this further, and I think a big part of the discussion that is very frustrating is this: while I recognize that guns can be used as tools, for hunting/farming/etc, I don't think this is the emphasis of guns and gun enthusiasm anymore. Instead, there is a huge focus on defense and protection- the emergence of Stand Your Ground laws, concealed carry, buy guns because Obama is going to come and take them, etc. I'm guessing this marketing decision has happened because most people don't hunt or have many other need for a gun as a tool, but everyone gets scared a little sometimes so it's comparatively easier to convince people the solution is to buy a gun (and America has frankly become a society that's much more afraid of everything in recent years).
Take
this guy for an example, who legit thinks it's a reasonable thing to take an AR-15 to Wal-Mart because of the chance of a terrorist attack there. Reading this article made it pretty clear to me that this guy if anything probably needs some medical help with his paranoia, but more importantly I sure as fuck would not feel safe if I saw him on the street. And yet this shift in emphasis from "guns are tools" to "you can only protect you and yours with an AR-15" is an important one, because while I know FZ keeps showing up in these threads to remind us guns are tools to him, I genuinely do not think a large fraction of gun owners would agree with that mentality.
In other news, as I was writing this I got a news alert that the NRA is open to regulations on bump stocks, which I find kinda amazing and more than I was expecting. I guess we'll see what happens.