Humanizing gun nuts: an anthropologist shoots down stereotypes about gun enthusiasts

Reason, Feb, 2005 by Eric Dzinski

Those weaknesses aside, Kohn paints a fascinating portrait of gun enthusiasts. Studying people who are often maligned as racist, jingoistic troglodytes, she portrays a lively and diverse group brought together by common interests in history, mechanics, and liberty. Her colleagues in academia should take her insights to heart, replacing their blind disgust with a more dispassionate understanding of citizens who see a gun as a tool, not a menace.

Eric Dzinski (Dzinski@juno.com) is a writer living in Denver.