I think it's because the old white guys that conquered this land from the Native Americans and exploited slave labor and other injustices all at the end of a gun indoctrinated a fear in their descendents that the tables could be turned if they are not strong and ruthless. This concepts has been called "folk Darwinism"

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Inside the conservative brain: What explains their wiring?

"At the turn of the twenty-first century, ethnographer Raphael Ezekiel discovered the same, naturalistic dangerous-world metaphors among extreme right-wing groups in the United States. Richard Butler, the leader of the Aryan Nations, used animals to describe his political convictions:

Of course, we know the jungle, that the lion will eat the rabbit, and a rabbit doesn’t have any right. He doesn’t have any right to life, he has a right to use the endowments that nature and the genetic program have, to save his life. In other words, to run down the hole when he sees something [stronger] coming after him, a coyote or something.

Tom Metzger, the leader of White Aryan Resistance, expressed a perception of human nature in which competition is taken to the extreme. Metzger believed that little had changed since Hobbes’s state of nature, since life remained a war pitting man against man: “either I am strong enough to defeat you or you will smash me. It’s simple,” he said."

http://www.salon.com/2013/09/15/inside_the_conservative_brain_what_explains_their_wiring/singleton/

Early America was, among a lot of other things, a dumping ground of sociopaths from the Old World.
A lot of it was self exile, but still, people who just could not function inside a civilization made a bee-line for the anarchic Frontier that once was America.

it said the gun problem was all because "white people were afraid".

and thanks for some truth on the origin of the gun owning insanity in america and the insanity bred by domination of people(s) "at the end of a gun" and perceived exceptionalism and entitlement based on race. We went wrong as a nation long ago and never recovered our national moral center. How do I know? The politics of the right wing today, starving the poor as one example, denying healthcare possibilities to people who really need it as another. This is all the proof I'll EVER need. The RW gun humper, in america is an evil, irrational creature that will shoot up schools, theaters, workplaces and unarmed young people on a deranged agenda driven by an insane whim or notion of persecution or whatever. America is very sick, socially and racially.

I just don't like the Sgt. Rock vision of themselves that so many gun lovers have, as compared to the Mountain Dew reality.

That's pretty powerful hate there. So what if they're overweight. (Not all are, of course)

Can we stay on topic of whether open carry is a good idea or not, and leave weight out of it?

We had an incident in the Columbus area recently where a gun humper showed up at the Dublin (Ohio) Irish Festival with his handgun strapped on his hip, demanding to be let in. (He was turned away.) The photo accompanying the article revealed the guy to be an aging, paunchy, dopy-looking balding white man. Looking at the photo, I suddenly realized that MOST OF THESE PEOPLE LOOK JUST LIKE THIS GUY. I swear, if you put them all in a room together (not a bad idea, if the door has a sturdy lock) you would not be able to tell them apart!

The 'Time to water the tree' guy, and the asshole that showed up to an Obama political rally with an AR-15 on his shoulder, were both fairly fit looking people.

Obesity is a disease. I can understand people with a strong reaction to open carry, and people comporting themselves in assholish ways. But railing them for their weight seems to cross a line for me. Maybe these are people who could use help, rather than derision.

Do these assholes actually read their bibles?

The anger, malapropisms and lazy humor pretty much make this worthless.

This is really nice video, Thanks for share with us.