Firearms are deeply ingrained in what it means to be American and our history of the American West— a history of celebrated individualism paradoxically based on our freedom and that of the conquering settler and oppressor.
In these early stages of a work-in-progress, I delve into gun culture not as an exclusive domain of the enthusiast, but as a facet synonymous with American identity. Today, we coexist with more firearms than fellow citizens.
While numerous narratives exist on guns, few examine their role in shaping the mythology of the American West. Our pop culture exports—from film, music, and literature—glorify rugged, gun-wielding archetypes embodied by cowboys, pioneers, soldiers, mobsters, and gangsters. What was once a uniquely American export has now become a uniquely American health crisis. Here you’ll encounter scenes from civilian tactical training facilities, communities afflicted by gun violence, grieving parents of victims of classroom massacres, activists, hunters, politicians, artifacts, family heirlooms, gun safety demonstrations and Wild West shootouts.
I have a personal history with firearms. Raised in the Ozarks, hunting was a way of life, yet toy guns were forbidden in my household. In high school, shortly after Columbine, I found myself on a mass shooting kill list. In 2012, my cousin tragically took her and her young children’s lives, aged 11, 10, and 22 months.
Articulating a collective sense of helplessness is challenging, but understanding it is presumably easy as we witness what appears to be a solvable problem escalating into frequent and repetitive disasters with little to no action, yielding a numbness fostered by complacency and grotesque apathy.
