Boomsticks: The NASCARification of guns.

I'm noticing an interesting phenomenon in the custom AR bits market these days: more and more manufacturers are getting fairly bold about labeling their parts with their name in a contrasting color. Just looking at my latest project gun as a f'rinstance, Vltor, Hogue, and SureFire are content with a molded or raised logo in the same color, and Yankee Hill settles for the traditional rollmark, so why do others, like GG&G and Daniel Defense, go for white paint?

Come to think of it, why do all these AR parts makers feel the need for the branding? Is there a subconscious desire among AR owners to own carbines that resemble, in their logo-festooned splendour, the back window of a gray primered '73 Chevelle at Sonic on a Saturday night? What's next, little sponsorship decals? It doesn't extend to all gun parts, or all parts makers; you can build, say, a custom 1911 without it looking like a riced-out Civic.

Thank gawd it seems confined to the AR market for the nonce. I'm afraid the old guys at the range would laugh at my Timney-Boyds-Lilja-Savage-sponsored Mauser...