Isn't it curious the tight correlation between fundamentalism /sexism-racism/guns? It's so consistent a pattern as to be curious. Even a blind squirrel can see it.
So what's that about?
Here's a Freudian-ish hypothesis: These folks are constitutionally anxious (e.g. "Tweek Tweak" of South Park fame) with ~50% of that being genetic so (sincerely) no denigration here (other ~50% who knows)
The most anxious-making thing is the unknown, esp. future. So: no to rollercoasters, skydiving; yes to absolute predictability, same-ness.
Mormonism/fundamentalism offers absolute predictability (has all answers) but the price of entry is you leave yer nuts at the door, for the perfect Mormon man is the eunuch (obedience, follow rules, bow thy head say yes, etc) because it's a primitive tribal autocracy and the Untamed Man is a true risk to breaking up their elite harems. So the price of entry is you lose power - it's Aesop's dog-wolf fable, but yer the dog - not the wolf.
Yet somewhere deep inside is a nagging limbic bother: you miss that power, and wow - a gun is power! But miss those balls, too - so "power" gets confused with the gun which gets confused with sexual prowess (i.e. fetishization). Man oh man, with that gun gotcher power and gotcher balls, too = gun fixation. Q.E.D. theory of correlation anyway, but who knows. (Sexism/racism another topic but flows of the same geometry)
Not anti nor pro gun here; have semiautomatics, carry permit, and I pack - but it's no fetish. It's exciting as a yawn.
Before I met him, my husband was drafted into the Army Air-coir during WWII, and was issued a gun and rifle. And, due to his high IQ, he was also assigned, as a Sargent, to drive the jeeps for the brass. This was also due to his ability to speak a little German and French (I still have his little dictionary language books).
As he didn't smoke, he exchanged his carton of American cigoretts--which were very much envied by the population--and were issued to each military man, by exchanging his for a German Luger.
Thus, he came home with this item (and some German brass sleeve insignias (which our son--with no children at home) keeps locked in a high closet shelf, and which is unusable "as is", with items in front of them so they cannot be seen.
As I understand it, when this country--America--began, one of the largest issues was allowing men to own, and be able to carry, their own weapon, namely a gun--which were illegal to own in some of the European countries. And at first, most men had one (or more). Therefore, not allowing guns to be owned by persons anymore appears to be against our constitution.
Of course, they are very dangerous when purchased, or stolen, by evil persons. But evil persons cannot be stopped by a law-abiding civic person who is not allowed to own or carry his or her own weapon.