http://planettimes.com/features/barrel_twist/2000/june/guncult.shtml
The Gun Culture
Bill Twist
June 14, 2000
I find myself in a unique position. I am part of a culture that is so diverse that I have a hard time coming up with a good definition. I am part of the "gun culture".
I, like the blind men trying to describe an elephant, know my little corner of that culture. I am familiar with perhaps the largest part of the gun culture, hunters. But to define a culture with as many widely disparate interests by its largest faction is unfair. Approximately 14 million people buy hunting licenses every year. Every fall, the woods are full of armed men, women, and (gasp!) teenagers. These are the people who make America run. They are farmers, truck drivers, clerks, managers, executives, janitors, and yes, even computer programmers. A quick guesstimate is that they collectively spend at least $350 million dollars a year on licenses alone.
But hunters are only a small part of the gun culture. There is benchrest shooting, where accuracy is the paramount concern, and groups are vanishingly small, on the order of .2 inches at 100 yards (To put this number in perspective, it is like hitting a 3 foot circle from ten miles away). There is silhouette shooting, where the idea is to knock down metallic representations of pigs, rams, turkeys, and chickens, out to 500 yards. There is long range rifle shooting, where you shoot at targets anywhere between 300 and 1000 yards away.
There are pistol competitions like the Bianchi Cup, Silhouette (shot at shorter ranges than the rifle event), and "Bullseye" competitions. Pistol shooting is even an Olympic sport, with several disciplines including slow fire and rapid fire events. Shotguns also have a very large following. Skeet, sporting clays, and trap are some of the sports enjoyed by the scattergunners among us.
We also have those with a sense of history, and are involved in shooting everything from matchlock smoothbore arquebuses to heavy barreled black powder "chunk guns" that are almost as accurate as modern benchrest rifles. Every time you go to a historical site and see a demonstration of a Brown Bess musket, or a Springfield rifled musket, you are looking at someone who is part of the gun culture. Those who re-enact famous battles, or participate in rendezvous, are also part of the gun culture.
I have, of necessity, left out many parts of the gun culture. The two reasons I have done so is that there are so many that I don't have the space to list them all, and even if I did, I am sure that I couldn't remember them all. As a group, they take pride in a well placed shot, and the self discipline necessary to make it happen. This is true even among those whose only interest in guns is plinking at tin cans with a .22 or an airgun. These people are the gun culture.
While it is hard to define the gun culture, it is easy to define what they are not. They are not the Hollywood representations of gun owners as potential criminals waiting for an excuse to shoot up a shopping mall or school. They are not gangbangers, whose complete lack of respect for others makes them quick to shoot their own brethren. They are not the irresponsible gun owners on vacuous television sitcoms who show a complete lack of common sense safety procedures. They are not bank robbers, murderers, kidnappers, rapists or muggers. Yet, it seems increasingly common to refer to the gun culture as a lawless segment of the population. This is absolutely false. In fact, I would wager that the average gun owner is MORE law-abiding than the average non-gun owner.
Why are gun owners vilified as a group? I am not sure. Probably because it is easy to use us as a scapegoat for crime. It is easy for groups that are not familiar with our culture to denounce us and call us the enemy. We are not the enemy. We in the gun culture in the United States trace our heritage back to the first settlers on this continent. We are the ones who stood up at Lexington Green, and sniped at the British all the way back to Boston. We are the ones who kept the peace, and volunteered when our country needed us to fight for freedom over the next two and a quarter centuries. We are the good guys. We are the gun culture.
© 1999 - 2000 Bill Twist
Copyright 1999 - 2000 The PlanetTimes.com
bill@planettimes.com
The Gun Culture
Bill Twist
June 14, 2000
I find myself in a unique position. I am part of a culture that is so diverse that I have a hard time coming up with a good definition. I am part of the "gun culture".
I, like the blind men trying to describe an elephant, know my little corner of that culture. I am familiar with perhaps the largest part of the gun culture, hunters. But to define a culture with as many widely disparate interests by its largest faction is unfair. Approximately 14 million people buy hunting licenses every year. Every fall, the woods are full of armed men, women, and (gasp!) teenagers. These are the people who make America run. They are farmers, truck drivers, clerks, managers, executives, janitors, and yes, even computer programmers. A quick guesstimate is that they collectively spend at least $350 million dollars a year on licenses alone.
But hunters are only a small part of the gun culture. There is benchrest shooting, where accuracy is the paramount concern, and groups are vanishingly small, on the order of .2 inches at 100 yards (To put this number in perspective, it is like hitting a 3 foot circle from ten miles away). There is silhouette shooting, where the idea is to knock down metallic representations of pigs, rams, turkeys, and chickens, out to 500 yards. There is long range rifle shooting, where you shoot at targets anywhere between 300 and 1000 yards away.
There are pistol competitions like the Bianchi Cup, Silhouette (shot at shorter ranges than the rifle event), and "Bullseye" competitions. Pistol shooting is even an Olympic sport, with several disciplines including slow fire and rapid fire events. Shotguns also have a very large following. Skeet, sporting clays, and trap are some of the sports enjoyed by the scattergunners among us.
We also have those with a sense of history, and are involved in shooting everything from matchlock smoothbore arquebuses to heavy barreled black powder "chunk guns" that are almost as accurate as modern benchrest rifles. Every time you go to a historical site and see a demonstration of a Brown Bess musket, or a Springfield rifled musket, you are looking at someone who is part of the gun culture. Those who re-enact famous battles, or participate in rendezvous, are also part of the gun culture.
I have, of necessity, left out many parts of the gun culture. The two reasons I have done so is that there are so many that I don't have the space to list them all, and even if I did, I am sure that I couldn't remember them all. As a group, they take pride in a well placed shot, and the self discipline necessary to make it happen. This is true even among those whose only interest in guns is plinking at tin cans with a .22 or an airgun. These people are the gun culture.
While it is hard to define the gun culture, it is easy to define what they are not. They are not the Hollywood representations of gun owners as potential criminals waiting for an excuse to shoot up a shopping mall or school. They are not gangbangers, whose complete lack of respect for others makes them quick to shoot their own brethren. They are not the irresponsible gun owners on vacuous television sitcoms who show a complete lack of common sense safety procedures. They are not bank robbers, murderers, kidnappers, rapists or muggers. Yet, it seems increasingly common to refer to the gun culture as a lawless segment of the population. This is absolutely false. In fact, I would wager that the average gun owner is MORE law-abiding than the average non-gun owner.
Why are gun owners vilified as a group? I am not sure. Probably because it is easy to use us as a scapegoat for crime. It is easy for groups that are not familiar with our culture to denounce us and call us the enemy. We are not the enemy. We in the gun culture in the United States trace our heritage back to the first settlers on this continent. We are the ones who stood up at Lexington Green, and sniped at the British all the way back to Boston. We are the ones who kept the peace, and volunteered when our country needed us to fight for freedom over the next two and a quarter centuries. We are the good guys. We are the gun culture.
© 1999 - 2000 Bill Twist
Copyright 1999 - 2000 The PlanetTimes.com
bill@planettimes.com