Presents for Gun Lovers (and other strangers)

With the winter gift giving holidays quickly approaching, I'd like to talk to the friends, partners, and spouses of our gun-loving readers as it can sometimes be challenging to find gifts for them if you don't speak our jargon or know firearms culture.

I’m not going to discuss gifting a firearm here as that should probably be its own post, mainly to explain some of the legal issues, both real and imagined, involved in buying a gun for someone else. Instead, I’ll start by dividing gun lover gifts into two main rough categories: firearm accessories and firearm-adjacent items. Though these overlap somewhat, they can be generally defined as follows:

Firearm accessories are items that interact directly with a gun, such as ammunition, magazines, optics, gun parts, slings, and holsters (both leather and Kydex).

840 Round Can of .223 Rem 55 Grain FMJ-BT Ammo by PMC
on AR15 Stripper Clips and Bandoleers in Ammo Can at SGAmmo.com

Firearm-adjacent items are things that go with guns but at a different level than the accessories previously mentioned. Examples are cleaning kits, bench mats, chronographs, eye and ear protection, and reference books. This category also includes decorative items, including but not limited to posters, clothing, and tin signs.

Tin Sign - Remington - Right of Way

Please note that not all of these items will appeal to every gun lover. For example, the Cowboy Action enthusiast may not appreciate a new Red Dot optic, just like the ardent two or three-gun competitor may not want a western-style leather cartridge belt.

Gift cards to a favorite website or local store, while less personal, are easily purchased and enable the gun lover to purchase exactly what they want. There's also the old trick of leaving a catalog lying around and noting which items your gun lover shows the most interest in. Something else to consider is that gun lovers don't  only want gun-related gifts! I'm also a kitchen person, and some of my most treasured presents are for use in that room.

Another gun lover gift idea is a trip to a firearm museum. I still remember with great fondness the time my then-girlfriend surprised me with a trip to the Remington Museum in Ilion NY, which sadly seems to be closed now. Years later, My Wife(tm) and I made a visit to the Springfield Armory National Historic Site in Massachusetts. There are many other museums around the world that either have a firearms exhibit, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, or specialize in firearm history, like the NRA Firearms Museum in Fairfax VA or the Cody Firearms Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming.

Cody Firearms Museum

Since she deals with her gun lover on a daily basis, I asked My Wife(tm) for her thoughts. She suggested a date at the range, and asking the gun lover to come up with a list of items to choose from. She went on to tell me that if they say "You should know" or something similar, the relationship is probably doomed. Then she laughed. I'm not sure if she was joking or not, but thankfully I've never done this.

Finally, there's the gift made by hand with love. Whether gun related or not, nothing can top this category. Many years ago, My Wife(tm) made me a selection of fabric pouches for taking my handguns to the range or classes, and I use them to this day.

Happy holidays, and here's to good memories.

The post was originally released as part of Episode 276 of the Assorted Calibers Podcast. As one of the "Gun Guys" of Blue Collar Prepping, I thought it would be useful to our readers here as well.