sensesolutions”togunviolence.
Proposedgun-controlmeasuresre-
f lectedanythingbutcommonsense,
theytoldme.Moreover,theNation-
alRif leAssociationwasstridently
againstthem,onthegroundsthat
almostanyconcessionwouldun-
derminetheSecondAmendment.
ButDuvall,whodescribedhimself
as“verypro–SecondAmendment”,
seemedtosuggestthatthisargument
wasinsincere.“Itjustmakessense,
stufflikeagerestrictions,” he told me.
“There’sacertain
maturitylevelre-
quiredforgunsin
general,andespe-
ciallywithsome-
thinglike[anAR-
15].Somepeople
probablyshouldn’t
havet hem .”
Itoccurredtome
thatguyslikeDuvallandtheothers
atthecounterhadhadtheirvoices
hijackedbypeoplelikeKaitlinBen-
nett.Shemarkedhergraduationfrom
KentStateUniversityin 2018 witha
photoofherselfshoulderinganAR-
10 andholdinghercap,whichshe’d
decoratedwiththewords,“Comeand
takeit”.Thephotowentviral,and
nowBennettpostsincendiarytweets
designedtoelicit“liberaltears”.
Thatthebroaderpopulationhas
transferredtheattitudesofpeople
likeBennettontomostgunowners
isunderstandable.Populardiscourse
is given to extremes. But gun owners’
representatives– ostensiblysentto
Washingtontocutthroughthemo-
rass– appearguiltyofthesame.In
allthetimesI’vetalkedwithRepubli-
canlawmakersaboutguns,whyhave
theynevermentionedthatagere-
strictionsare,formanyconservative
voters,a worthwhilestartingpoint?
Betterquestion:dotheyevenknow?
“I don’t know,” said another
employee,MorganPate.“It’snotlike
theyaskus.”
I hated whathadhappenedtome,
andI hatedwhat
hadhappenedto
the children in
Parkland.I want-
edto hateguns,
too. That’s how
I thoughtagood
personshouldfeel.
I’d recatalogued
my ambivalence
fromunsettlingtoirresponsible,
evenimmoral.Andyetit remained.T
wonightsaftervisiting the
shop,I wentshooting with
anoldfriendI’llcallTyler.I’d
reachedouttohiminthehopethat
hecouldhelpmerememberthings
abouthunting,abouthome,thatI’d
forgotten.Westoppedathishouseto
pickuphisLabradorandsomebeer,
thenheadedtosomelandheowned
about 45 minutesoutsideoftownto
killsomehogs.
When wegotto hiscabin,the
alarm was blaring. At first, weAfter Parkland,
my grandfather,
a gun-shop
owner, wanted
to talk41
The View From Gun Country