Yet, how many people would classify me as a “computer nut”, or a shower nut, or a car nut, or a TV nut, or a coffee nut, or a book nut, etc….because I spend 20 minutes (or far more in some cases) of daily time with those activities.

Gun nut is a term meant to disparage and to vilify. It’s used with bigotry, prejudice, and disdain. It’s used by people who have a bone to pick, or who simply don’t like guns, or simply want to discriminate against gun owners, and think of them as all the same, and lower than them (similar to how some people view or use other disparaging terms such as “dykes”, “spicks”, “crackers”, etc. They are terms used, and meant, to vilify and belittle. “Gun nut” does the same. People who use that term are often hypocritical, and simply won’t accept that free people can make their choices regardless of the fact that “bigotry nuts” hate and vilify them.