Is Glock Hating a form of Hoplophobia?

Merriam-Webster defines hate as 

a :  intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury

b :  extreme dislike or antipathy : loathing <had a great hate of hard work>

Hate is a human emotion, but more than that it is a reaction to something. When a person claims to hate something, the emotion is excited by an input, even if that input is ignorance or fear.

Glock haters love to make fun of Glocks and Glock owners (and yes I be one of them mouth breathing Glock owners)

They call Glocks ugly or un-egronomic. 

Well, you know what else people considered ugly? The International Scout.

And like the Glock, the Scout gained fans because they worked, they got the job done. Isn't that the most important thing about a tool, is that it gets the job done?

I am not here to defend the Glock pistols, they need no defense.
Without getting ourselves too mired in psychology (a science that is still evolving),  I would like to briefly examine the mentality of the Glock hater.

I found a parallel between Glock haters and people who claim to hate the rock band Nickelback. 

It is very popular these days to claim to "hate" Nickleback. It would appear as though everyone hates Nickelback, yet the band has sold over 50 million albums. They rank as the 11th best selling music act in the 2000-2010 decade. This is empirical evidence that somebody likes them, at least enough to buy their music and attend their concerts (last time I looked that is how we defined the popularity of a music act).

The Glock pistol is the number one choice for Law Enforcement worldwide (65% market share ain't too shabby). With over 5 million units sold they have won over many civilian gun buyers as well.
I think the Glock (or Nickelback) "hatred mania" exists for the same reason cults or gangs exist. The haters get to feel like they belong to a group with a mutual obsession. 
What I am saying is that many who claim to "hate" Glocks, have never owned one, never fired one, they just want to be part of the "in" crowd.
This I believe is out of fear of being called out....they would rather ridicule another than risk being ridiculed themselves.

This is in essence a form of bullying. I know that sounds silly, but when you think about people jumping on a bandwagon of hate, just to be part of the "cool" crowd, you see that the hate is more of a mob mentality or fear rather that of real emotion based on experience. They speak out because of their own insecurities.

I am sure there are people out there who really believe that they hate Glock pistols. The question I have is: why? Why do these people assign an emotion to an inanimate tool?

I could understand if a person said that they dislike the grip angle or they do not like the feel of the polymer frame.
I can grasp that some gun enthusiasts only like guns that have nice aesthetics or pistols that they can hit the target with.
Fine, I get it, you don't like Glocks...but why hate them?

I myself have problems shooting a Beretta 92 in D/A mode as the trigger pull is a bit long for my shorter fingers...but that does not lead me to hate Berettas. I simply prefer a D/A only gun with a shorter trigger pull.

So how does this emotion of hate being applied to Glocks similar to Hoplophobia? 

For the same reason(s) some gun enthusiasts hate Glocks, the Hoplophobe hates guns.
It is a hatred born out of fear or ignorance. Fear of the unknown, fear of being ridiculed for liking something others might find offensive or ugly. Many Hoplophobes will make attempts at belittling or emasculating gun owners.... using phrases like: "only pussies need guns". As if they could single handily take on a Mexican street gang or disarm a 6'5" 300lb thug.

Out of one side of the Hoplophobe's mouth comes disdain and vile hatred towards gun owners, while the other side of their mouth preaches for tolerance of militant Islam.

They call us "domestic terrorists", they blame our guns for systemic violence that exists not because of guns but because of a socioeconomic condition furthered by their own party. 
We should pity these people, for they are the ones that are afraid. They are the ones striking out because of fear and hate. They are not tolerant, they are not benevolent, they are not open minded.

Ignorance of what a barrel shroud is/does leads one person to want to eradicate it, in my mind this is no different than the Glock hater wishing to remove Glocks from the world.
So I think we can safely label anyone who says they "hate" Glocks as mentally irregular.

I jest, but seriously, enough with the hate, please use the proper word of dislike and we'll get along just fine.........

Our New Years resolution for 2015 should be to take some one shooting, preferably someone who has never held or fired a Glock. Education is half the battle.




not all Glocks are ugly.... :)

Like Red-Green always says "I'm pulling for you, we're all in this together"