Armed America: Photos of Gun Owners in Their Homes

1. Christophe
   March 18th, 2008 at 7:59 pm

   "Portraits of Gun Owners in Their Homes"
   or
   "Robber's guide on house owners to avoid"

   Just from the site : "When I am angry at the world I find relief in dropping a clip into the air"
   Yep.

2. Geekazoid
   March 18th, 2008 at 8:11 pm

   Yup, what a fine way to celebrate our "gun culture" that kills and maims so many innocent people everyday.

3. keegan
   March 18th, 2008 at 8:19 pm

   this keeps getting blogged, and i've seen it in several bookstores, and every time i see it i think the same thing: great idea, BORING photographs. it drives me a little crazy. it's like he squeezed a little ducky and told them all to smile.

   also, why the ridiculous wide angles? let alone the pictures where he's let the distortion stretch peoples' faces, i just don't see how anyone needs that much bland living room to dwarf the subject. i need a valium.

4. Evil Pundit
   March 18th, 2008 at 8:19 pm

   It is indeed a fine way to celebrate the "gun culture" that safeguards America's innocent from criminals, and its citizens from tyrants.

5. Sofar
   March 18th, 2008 at 8:22 pm

   Only old people should have guns.

6. Jennifer
   March 18th, 2008 at 9:12 pm

   Disliking guns is one thing, but pretending they don't exist and refusing to at least know how to use one is downright dangerous. I worries me my partner wouldn't have the first clue to unloading or turning the safety on on a gun.

7. D
   March 18th, 2008 at 9:22 pm

   This book is amazing. I own a copy and have poured through it.

8. Peter
   March 18th, 2008 at 9:23 pm

   Finally some positive propaganda

9. ted
   March 18th, 2008 at 9:35 pm

   I think you pored through it.
   If you poured through it, you'd probably ruin the book.

   Gun culture isn't unique to the USA. What about all the Middle Eastern countries where they fire guns in the air at weddings? They don't have any problems with violence.

10. JF
    March 18th, 2008 at 9:40 pm

    One more reason to never set foot in that country

11. Fight Plaque
    March 18th, 2008 at 10:20 pm

    Shouldn't it be more like a, "Where's Waldo" kind of thing. But with a gun. Find where the old person has their gun hidden in the horribly decorated room. Fun!

12. Terry
    March 18th, 2008 at 10:23 pm

    I am grateful that I live in what was voted the friendliest community in the world, which happens to be 7 klm's from the (voted) most progressive town in the world which is a 75 min drive from the most livable city in the world. The only gun I know of in my community is a starters pistol owned by an old lady.

13. Leah
    March 18th, 2008 at 11:23 pm

    My brother is featured in that book. One thing to look for in each photo is the pet. He really made sure to include cats, dogs and children with the guns. I don't know what that is supposed to say, but it is sort of the where's waldo of it.

14. Evil Pundit
    March 18th, 2008 at 11:28 pm

    Terry:

    (1) I guarantee that your voted-most-smug-community-in-the-world only exists because somewhere, heavily-armed rough men stand ready in the night to defend it.

    (2) I am quite sure that the number of guns in your vicinity is far greater than you suspect.

15. Terry
    March 18th, 2008 at 11:53 pm

    Evil Pundit:
    I laughed out loud I read that, thanks.

16. Lasse
    March 19th, 2008 at 3:38 am

    Guns are the basis of every civilisation. Just look at the peaceful and harmonic USA in comparison to troubled and violence ridden Denmark, for example.

17. Sarah BR
    March 19th, 2008 at 5:19 am

    It is worse here in Brazil, where you can't legaly own a gun.
    But people still pose with then and show it all around the web.

    I find it personaly lame. =]

18. L.C.
    March 19th, 2008 at 5:30 am

    Well Im a police officer and there are four handguns in my home...two are mine, two are my partner's. I totally agree with exercising your rights as an American citizen; the rights that so many people have died to protect. HOWEVER, do you really, honestly need automatic weapons and assault rifles??? No...IMO they should be outlawed. Thats just my humble opinion and I may be biased since I dont particularly like running into them on the streets....

19. Rain Prate
    March 19th, 2008 at 6:16 am

    Terry, did you laugh out loud because you're kidding yourself?
    There are bad things in the world, whether you see them or not. Some of us are lucky to be born in places where they're not as visible.

    And JF, you should visit the US sometime and thank them and their guns that the rest of the world isn't part of a facist government right now.
    I promise you won't get shot, unless you're breaking into someone's house, or trying to take control of the country!
    How quickly we forget the history that created "the gun culture."

20. Evil Pundit
    March 19th, 2008 at 6:25 am

    Lasse, Denmark is only 'violence-free' because thousands of Americans with guns chased the Nazis out of there sixty years ago.

    Without those Americans and their nasty guns, you'd either be sieg-heiling your little heart out or rotting in a concentration camp.

21. Jb
    March 19th, 2008 at 6:59 am

    a couple of points:
    - evil pundit: so the current order in denmark (and rest rest of europe) is due to the continued effort of the american military? i think the european governments will be pleased to hear that they are no longer necessary, thanks to the US
    - the silliest claim of them all is that societal order is upheld by privately owned guns: this is bullshit and you know it. society is upheld by common laws who in turn are being enforced by the governmental system, which in turn guarantees your right to bear arms. so without laws there would only be guns to fall back on, and this isn't exactly freedom, is it?
    - anyone who keeps an assault rifle, or a machine gun for self protection should seriously consider moving to a safer city.

22. jochen
    March 19th, 2008 at 7:13 am

    i just can't believe some people actually think, that the world would be saver if everyone had a gun...

23. murre-
    March 19th, 2008 at 7:17 am

    I don't get some americans... They go on about what a fine country the US is and how it's every american citizen's right to own firearms so that they can protect themselves. Now, how come it's such an incredible place to live in when there are so many bad guys there that everone and their grandma' need guns for protection? Isn't it the people that make a country great?

24. Geekazoid
    March 19th, 2008 at 7:50 am

    Amen murre, people keep bringing up outdated concepts and the second amendment stuff to divert the issue away from the fact that there are TOO many firearms in the U.S. The media continue to glorify guns and violence, from video games to movies and everywhere inbetween. Any wonder why we have so many school shootings and five year old kids that can barely speak packing heat?

25. Chris
    March 19th, 2008 at 9:14 am

    I bought a gun after seeing what happend after hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast and the lawlessness that went on. Also, because zombies are real and will attack us all one day. Not kidding.

26. Retrokatze
    March 19th, 2008 at 9:17 am

    "It is indeed a fine way to celebrate the “gun culture” that safeguards America’s innocent from criminals, and its citizens from tyrants."

    Was that supposed to be sarcasm?
    Because your guns manage to kill more playing children, students and innocent homeowners than actual criminals and your so called freedom gets chipped away bit by bit while you watch on and applaude the tyrants doing the chipping (who have, by the way, tanks and missiles and atom bombs and other BFGs that make your guns look like gorram toothpicks).

27. Sid Morrison
    March 19th, 2008 at 11:32 am

    Evil Pundit tells it like it is with regards to Denmark quickly rolling over before the Nazis. A 2 hour resistance before surrender and then largely collaborting (economically at least) with the Third Reich until the tide of started to turn in favor of the Allies. Good thing some gun lovers in the US and UK were there to liberate you.

    Gun ownership is not merely for protection against random criminals, but for protection against oppressive governments (from within or without!) and mob violence like that occurred in the LA "Rodney King" riots or in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

    L.C. is obviously NOT a police office since (s)he doesn't realize that personal ownership of automatic weapons has already been outlawed many years. How could a real police officer not realize this? Very fishy.

28. Rosi
    March 19th, 2008 at 11:51 am

    What's odd is that most of them say they have a gun for "protection" and then have more than one. Why would you need so many just to protect yourself? I think a lot of time guns are like smoking; people just do it and they don't really think about why.

29. shecky
    March 19th, 2008 at 12:59 pm

    Automatic weapons are not outlawed in the US. So far, that has been left to the jurisdiction of a minority of States. In most of the country, the legal barriers are significantly higher for such weapons, but not insurmountable.

    I could swear the book has been blogged here before.

30. Lasse
    March 19th, 2008 at 1:17 pm

    Evil Pundit & Sid Morrison >> Actually it was the british who liberated Denmark, thank you very much.

    But seriously, you are talking of government controlled troops fighting wars with a sense of rationality (The USAs objective for helping liberating Europe was to prevent Mitsubishi Zeros and V2´s over New York.)

    Another case is when every clown on the street have easy access to guns. It could be a paranoid clown, or a very agressive clown, or a clown who sells the gun to criminals. I don't think you clowns should have that access.

31. shecky
    March 19th, 2008 at 1:44 pm

    http://www.neatorama.com/2007/02/02/american-gun-owners-in-their-homes  /

32. Thebes
    March 19th, 2008 at 2:13 pm

    In the past 110 years approximately 230 million people have been killed in mass purges and genocides by their government, including most of the Jews in the world.

    In that time span about 65 million have died in war.

    And, probably, less than one million have been murdered by a criminal with a firearm.

    Its pretty simple to do the math and see where big anti-gun organizations are coming from, wanting to let only the government have guns.

    For more mundane self defense, as opposed to defense against genocidal tyrants, please consider that in the vast majority of cases where one defends themselves or their home with a firearm, NO ONE is shot, much less killed. The Brady Campaign's statistics willfully LIE by ignoring this, and supposing that only those criminals who are shot and killed, without the shooter EVER being arrested (like while police sort out what happened) are counted as self defense. In my own case someone tried to beat me to death with a weapon in my own home, I would be dead if I had not had a .22lr training rifle nearby... my assailant didn't care about a life in jail or my pleading, but certainly did not want to be shot. I never even had to point it at them, and according to anti-gun groups I didn't defend myself.

33. Sid Morrison
    March 19th, 2008 at 3:16 pm

    @Lasse-
    When I wrote "UK" in my prior post, I was referring to the United Kingdom. You may say "British", but I did not want to leave out the brave soldiers, sailors, and airmen from Northern Ireland, so my definition of who saved rollover Denmark was a bit broader.

34. Fungui
    March 19th, 2008 at 4:41 pm

    How come every country that bans guns, they see their violent crime rate go way up?

    Look at Britain, Australia, ect. WHen you ban guns, only good, law-abiding citizens get rid of their guns. If you are a criminal, you already don't care for the law.. so why would you follow a gun ban???

    Also, please get your terminology correct, a full-automatic weapon is an assault rifle, and those are insanely expensive in the US (Full auto M16 =$16,000). Now, most of the people in the book own SEMI Rifles (one trigger pull, one shot), that are cosmetically made to look like assault-rifles (full-auto).

    I own a copy of this book, and it fills my heart with joy to see all these good people, ready to protect life, liberty and limb.

35. someguy
    March 19th, 2008 at 5:01 pm

    Why shouldn't I be allowed to protect my property or my family during a threat? I don't own a gun, but I strongly support the right of anyone to have a weapon for protection. More often than not, the police don't come in time. They shouldn't be expected to. Will one of you gun haters please provide one reason why an American should be forced to give up his right to defend his stuff or his family?

36. shecky
    March 19th, 2008 at 5:22 pm

    How come every country that bans guns, they see their violent crime rate go way up?

    Every country? I like guns as much as any decent American gun nut. But let's not make some magical claims here. Violent societies are violent regardless of the proliferation of firearms. The crime rate examples of Britain and Australia are on the low end compared to the US when it comes to murders, and closer to US when it comes to assault. Furthermore, neither hadn't a strong culture of firearm ownership previously. The attempt to link gun ban causation is rather weak. Crime trends there have a pretty weak correlation. And in the case of the UK, trends may even be heading lower.

    This isn't to say a gun ban is a good idea. Just that the linking gun bans with crime is a bit of a fiction when not taken into account with other data.

37. Terry
    March 19th, 2008 at 5:40 pm

    Rain Prate,
    I laughed out loud a the "smug town" crack and the image of "heavily-armed rough men stand ready in the night".

    Culture is an amazing thing. People are generally unaware of the ways cultural power molds their systems of thought and behavior. I am presently saving up my pennies for a trip to Orchid Island to check out Yami culture. The most prized possession for protection in Yami culture is a silver helmet made from melted silver coins. These helmets protect the wearer from evil spirits. Look, the humans are a species capable of believing anything. But, I'd rather hangout with the Yami than visit the gun crazy USA.

38. kyle cassidy
    March 19th, 2008 at 7:01 pm

    Thanks for taking the time to blog about Armed America. I was always hoping it would provide an opportunity for people to have conversations about serious issues. Looks like that's happening.

    I should point out that right now amazon.com has it at a nice discount.

    

    kyle

    --
    http://www.armedamerica.org

39. Lasse
    March 20th, 2008 at 1:34 am

    "How come every country that bans guns, they see their violent crime rate go way up?"

    Actually, the opposite is the case. Easy access to guns means equivalent easier access to guns for criminals.

40. ben
    March 20th, 2008 at 1:37 am

    Would you want to ban an object that has killed on average arround 41,000 young and old every year in the US since 1990?
    Well if you do, I can immagine that the large numbers are the reason. Well what about a product that has killed on average 28,000 a year in the US?
    If you had the choice which one would you like to ban first?

    If you said the object that has killed 41,000 a year, then congradulations. You have just banned the automobile (your car and all road vehicles)
    If you said the object that killed less, that was the gun. Which by the way, is responsible for more suicides than murders.

    Truth is death is inevitable, we fear it a little too much. In some cases we invest a larger ammount of fear to other types of death. For some reason genetal mutilation prior to being set on fire is feared more than just getting shot. You can see this fear everytime a new disease is reported as a possible pandemic. People fear bird flu more than they do the regular flu. Guess which one kills more people every year? The regular flu. It is only natural to fear death, what is beyond reason is our poor rationality when it comes to creating laws that try to prevent death. If we were consistant, everything that has a potential to kill us would be outlawed. Let's start with all cars before we move on to guns.

41. ted
    March 20th, 2008 at 8:24 am

    Not anti-gun, but I defy the aptness of your argument.

    The car has a completely different function than the gun. The car is not designed to kill, when used properly. The gun is designed to kill. That's is function. Your purpose for it may be protection, but its function as a device is to propel a bullet, most often into a living object, for the purpose of incapacitating or killing that living object.

    With a car, your purpose may be to get to work, pick up groceries, drag race, or to get laid. But the car's function is transportation.

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