Gun Guys

Gun Guys is the title of a book by Dan Baum, a self-described New Jersey liberal who also likes guns.  So, he grabs his gun and heads across country to try and understand the American fascination, and to reconcile his liberal tendencies with his affection for firearms.  He did an interview over at The Atlantic, and it's worth reading.

These are precisely the kind of people the Democratic Party says it exists to serve. Over and over, people I met on my trip would say, "I don't get it. Democrats are the party of the working man. How can the Democrats do this?" They feel so alienated that they won't listen to the Democrats on climate change or health care or immigration or anything else. As a Democrat, it broke my heart to hear this over and over and over again. These are our guys. These are our people, and they hate us. We take this anti-gun position and we're giving these people away, and we're getting nothing in exchange. We are not making the country safer.

It's a thoughtful interview, where he discusses open carry vs concealed carry, how he feels when he's packing a gun, and how other people interact with him.

 In some ways I really liked it. It's physically uncomfortable, it's heavy and it digs into you, and you have to be very conscious of your clothing to make sure you're not displaying it, because you really don't want anyone knowing you're carrying it. But it kept me vigilant. You really have your shit together when you're carrying a gun. You never forget you're wearing it. Maybe cops who've been wearing a gun for 30 years forget they're wearing it, but I certainly never did, and I wore it for about 18 months.

It sounds like he needs to get a better holster, because a gun shouldn't be uncomfortable, but I think he's starting to get it.   Go read the whole interview.