Hoplophobia, (pronounced HOP-li-fobia), from the Greek hoplon, or weapon, is a phobia identified by firearms instructor Colonel Jeff Cooper in 1962. His intent was to satirically use a clinical term to bring public recognition of the irrational fear of firearms and other forms of weaponry such as knives or explosives. 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". Hoplophobia is deemed to be a cultural side effect of those who engage in the primordial human belief systems that anthropologists refer to as "animism", or the belief that inanimate objects can hold spirits that can effect human actions.
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