Member-only story
The New Gun Owners
This is not your father’s NRA
Guns have been a part of the American landscape since this country was founded, and for a century or so before that. As a matter of fact, guns have been in North America for as long as the white man has. Guns were a tool, a tool for killing animals for food, and a tool for defense. Unfortunately, this tool that provided food and defense also was used to wage war, both against the indigenous peoples and against soldiers of other European countries that had similar desires to colonize land they did not own.
For the next two centuries, guns were used for the same purposes. Hunters used their guns to bring home wild game. People carried guns for self-defense against those that would cause them harm. Soldiers carried them in war. Of course, guns were used by criminals too, whether by bandits in the old west to rob banks or gangsters in Chicago in the 1920s to guard their territory. Guns for many were simply a part of everyday life, and even though they were sometimes used for nefarious deeds, their use made sense. I understand the hunter. I understand the person who carries a gun for self-defense. I even understand the criminal who uses it for robberies.
I don’t understand the person who uses guns to commit random mass shootings in schools or elsewhere.
