Photo credit: Kyle Cassidy
Beth, Paul, Gavin and Emma
AK-47, Bersa .380, Ruger P345
Paul: My family had guns the whole time I was a kid. then i went off and joined the army and went away and come back. I have guns now largely for the same reason I have fire extinguishers in the house and spare tires in the car. I’m a self reliant kind of guy. and there could come a time when I need to protect my family and I’m a self reliant kind of guy.
Beth: I have one for self protection. I was raised to never rely on anyone else to protect me or watch my back. It took me a year to pick out one that I liked.
Photo credit: Kyle Cassidy
Chris with his Raven Arms .25, Cecilia with her six-gun tattoos.
Chris: I don’t promote the fact that I have a gun, but I grew up in Maine. I don’t believe in hunting, I’ll still eat the meat, but I don’t want to kill anything.
Cecilia: I grew up in Rappahannock county — the land of very big trucks and very big guns. The gun trading post is right across the street from the church.
Photo credit: Kyle Cassidy
Portia with her Beretta 96, Anthony with his Remington 870
Portia: I learned to shoot a gun when I was 10 or 11. My mother had a boyfriend who was a San Luis Obispo County Sherrif, and he lived in a teepee with a “wolf dog”. We’d stay out there, eat ashcakes for breakfast and shoot his guns .The first time I shot a shotgun, I landed on my ass and laughed uncontrollably the way you do when you’re a kid.
Anthony: I own a gun because I’m a fuckin’ American and a Marine. It’s my God-given right.
Photo credit: Kyle Cassidy
Dan and his Mossberg Model 88, Bushmaster AR-15, Rock Island Armory / Sendra M16, Remington 700 PSS,
Springfield XD, FN Five-seveN, H&K USP, Sig Sauer P226, Colt Commander 1911, and Glock 22
Dan: I consider the ownership of arms not only a right, but the duty of a free people to themselves and future generation
Photo credit: Kyle Cassidy
Jessica with her Kahr P9 and Samantha
Jessica: I’m just one little girl in the world.
Photo credit: Kyle Cassidy
Howard with his C. Sharps Arms Co. Model 1874 in .45-70
Howard: I love history and I love old mechanical devices — guns are both. I also enjoy target shooting.
Photo credit: Kyle Cassidy
Stan with his Taurus PT38s .38 Super
I think everybody should have a gun. It levels the playing field.
Photo credit: Kyle Cassidy
Eleanor and Drew with Obie and their SKS 776, 1958 .22 cal Single Bolt Action, Mossberg
Single shot 12g, Mossberg 12g pump, and Ruger P90 .45 cal
Drew: Owning a firearm brings me some sort of balance. When I am angry at the world I find relief in dropping a clip into the air. And, at the same time, if the world threatens me or those I love, I find relief in the protection it gives me.
Photo credit: Kyle Cassidy
Aaron and Brittny with their Keltec Sub 2000, Glock 34, Glock 19, and Ruger Mark II
Aaron: My parents taught me to shoot, growing up in Utah. I got a gun here because we live in kind of a rough neighborhood and I take the subway home from work. I figured that since the bad-guys had guns, I should have one too.
Brittny: After practicing together and getting better, target shooting turned into a fun hobby that we could share.
Photo credit: Kyle Cassidy
James and his Browning Citori copy and Hopi
James: I’m not really interested in guns. I don’t particularly like them. I was commissioned to do a sculpture of a duck hunter. Rather than make a gun out of clay, I just bought this one and made a mold from it. The bronze cast is in Missouri now, I reclaimed the body of the statue and I’m making something else out of it now. The gun’s been in a paper bag in my closet for years.