2nd Amendment Cowboy
When I was a child, my younger sister and mother were held up at gunpoint in our Portuguese supermarket in Toronto, Canada. The traumatic experience prompted my mom to buy a toy BB gun during a U.S. vacation in Florida. Toy guns in America were more realistic than their Canadian counterparts. Mom would flash this fake gun in front of her customers, saying “tell them to come back, I’ve got something for them.” The possibility that a fake $9 gun could protect our family left a tremendous impression on me, as did my mother’s show of power when she brandished her gun.
Years later, while I was going through the process of becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen, the interwoven issues of guns, protection, and power returned. I was legally required to take an oath to bear arms (if required) to defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. To put it another way, I swore to bear arms in order to protect the right to bear arms, against everyone, including my new fellow Americans. This is something I’m still conflicted about today.
Through this survey of American gun culture, I'm aiming to understand not only the American gun owner, but also myself: how I feel about guns and the citizenry I've chosen to be a part of today.