"Having a gun changes everything".

Last Friday I noted that NPR's Weekend America program would be featuring a segment on a guy with a gun. I didn't get a chance to listen to it on the air, but sure enough it's available as a podcast at their website now. I took some time to listen to it today. Interestingly enough, it's accompanied by the original letter to NPR that spawned the piece, and some pictures of the subject. If you don't want to take the time to listen (it runs right at five minutes) or if you don't have RealPlayer, I've transcribed the audio below. I'll reproduce the letter and a couple of the pictures here, too, for posterity. Here's the letter from Eric:

My first firearm. It was a Ruger Mark 2 semiautomatic target pistol and with it I learned to shoot at the oldest continuously-operating handgun club in the United States. I was interested in self defense but my experiences at the revolver club led me into the world of competitive shooting and joining the NRA. I had always had suspicions about the motives and practices of the NRA but I wanted to join so that I could compete in NRA sanctioned matches (where the best shooters compete). I came from an upper middle class family from White Plains, NY. Guns were strictly forbidden by mom and dad. My two sisters had no interest in guns, and even I didn't like riflery at Boy Scout camp.

Learning to shoot a deadly weapon with skill (I became the #5 shot in Ohio in Olympic 10 meter air pistol, and was co-winner of the revolver club's handicap pistol league in my first year) put me in a strange position: how could I explain my activities to my family who was hostile with my new found interest. My personal politics had never been "conservative" and many of the people I socialize with are anti-gun to say the least.

Well, I've learned to separate the wheat from the chaff as far as what the NRA claims to be true and correct. I've become more confident in defending myself and in defending my gun rights to those who are hostile toward them. This is tough since I associate with a lot of Unitarians and academics (my wife teaches at a university).

All this has led to much soul searching and a better understanding of what I believe in regarding self-defense and the right of the people to have the power that is represented by guns.

I'd be happy to expand on any of this at your request.

Now, Eric didn't want to be identified (as the following transcript notes) but he gave everybody enough information to identify him in about thirty seconds of Google searching, I think - but no matter. Here's the transcript:

Desiree Cooper: Last year more than nineteen billion catalogs were mailed out, so as you all pour over those slick pages this weekend, I want you to ask yourself this question: "Is this purchase really going to change your life?" Over the past weeks we've been asking about purchases that have changed your lives, and no matter where you made the purchase or how, we want to know what happened when you finally brought it home.

For one story we're going to the Midwest where we'll meet Eric - now he doesn't want us to give his last name or the city where he lives, but this weekend Eric will be spending some time with a purchase that changed his life: a gun. And like a lot of guys, he got into them at an early age.

Eric: When I was a kid I was in Cub Scouts, and I had this idea, as I'm sure that a lot of little boys do, that it was gonna be - and I remember the fantasy totally clearly - um, there were gonna be hula dancers; really, really good lookin' hula dancers. And machine-guns. (Laughs) I don't know. I was a little boy! I guess too much action TV. Of course Cub Scouts had absolutely nothing to do with that. There were no guns or anything with Cub Scouts. (Ukelele music in the background.)

Eventually, um, what I wanted to do was get a pellet gun, and actually I went out and I just bought one. Um, and I brought it home, and you know, and I still remember my mom screaming "IT'S AN INSTRUMENT OF DEATH!" (Laughs) Which, of course, you could kill somebody, but boy, it'd be really hard to kill somebody with it - so guns were just like this foreign, you know, virus.

The first firearm that I bought was a Ruger Mark II bull-barrel pistol. And the club where I was taught how to shoot shot a specific type of target shooting called Bullseye, and, um, I became the fifth best shooter in the state. And, um, I was really proud of that. And, um, it was really, really a lot of fun.

I mean there really is a perception that people who are gun enthusiasts are by nature socially conservative, and, um, that's it. I come from a completely different background. Um, I'm very independent. And the thing about guns and, you know, in terms of my friends, some friends were interested. Uh, other friends I could really clear out a room, you know, if I brought up the subject.

I learned really fast that it just wasn't something you talked about.

I don't think there's any question, it has made me much more cognizant of the ethics and the morality of self defense. The only time you would ever produce a firearm in an act of self defense is when you fear for your life. That's it. And I never really had to come to grips with the idea that I might actually have to do that until I bought a gun. And then it became a very, very important quest for me to get as much knowledge about "what am I gonna do with this thing?"

Having a gun changes everything.

I can't meditate. I have a "monkey mind" as the Buddhists would say. I just think about too many things. Um, the only time I've ever been able to really focus on my breathing and on relaxation for any period of time has been during shooting. When I have that task, I relax, and I focus, and I visualize shooting a lot when I can't shoot. Gentle breaths. The arms raised. And then my finger moves to the trigger. And the squeeze is timed with the breathing. I bring in a breath, and then I begin my squeeze. And I have to complete the firing of the gun before I run out of air. And the fun thing about shooting sometimes is that's when I listen to NPR. (Laughs. NPR theme plays in the background.)

You know, we're all running around like crazy, you know, for a lot of us on the weekend, but when you get to the shooting range - everything stops. And for a lot of us who do things fast, fast, fast, fast, it's a time to slow down. (Segment ends.)

I'm not going to comment on the fear, the disease parallel, the social pariah identification, I'm not even going to comment on the self-realization that came about from his purchase of a firearm. I'll leave that to you, my gentle readers. I'm just going to post the two pictures of the subject with one quick comment afterward:

OH MY GOD! HE'S GOT AN ASSAULT RIFLE!!! (Looks like a match-legal pre- post-ban, too.)

Interesting that no one at NPR said anything about that. I wonder what else didn't make the cut?