HOPLOPHOBIA

'Hoplophobia', (pronounced []), from the Greek ''hoplon'', or weapon, is a word coined in 1962 by firearms instructor Colonel Jeff Cooper meaning an irrational and morbid fear of guns.^[1] Cooper employed the clinical-sounding term as an alternative to other slang terms, stating: "We read of 'gun grabbers' and 'anti-gun nuts' but these slang terms do not (explain this behavior)." Cooper attributed this behavior to the irrational fear of firearms and other forms of weaponry. He stated that "''the most common manifestation of hoplophobia is the idea that instruments possess a will of their own, apart from that of their user''."
The word ''hoplophobia'' is not found in the Oxford English Dictionary, generally considered the most comprehensive dictionary of the English language, though that dictionary does identify twelve different words with the prefix ''hoplo-''.

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★ ''Gun-rights group touts new 'word', Dennis Romboy, ''Deseret Morning News'', December 29, 2003

Notes and references

1. ''"The root of the evil"'', ''"To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Speak The Truth"'', Jeff Cooper, Gunsite Press 1990