"Anyone noticed the irony in gun law critics using nicknames like "backwoodsman" and "musket"?"

In my case, no irony at all. I used to be 'Strollin' Johnny' until an extremely unpleasant, aggressive female member referred to me as a Backwoodsman (on the basis that I live in a small market town in a rural county, rather than in London, which was where she lived).

As she'd decided I was a backwoodsman, I decided to take it as my name. Nothing more sinister or mysterious than that.