Gun Guys

February 11, 2013
To explore America’s gun culture, Baum, a former staff writer for the New Yorker and author of Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans, traverses the country talking to gun owners, shooting instructors, gun advocates, gun control supporters, and even a former gang member who used a gun to kill someone. As a “stoop-shouldered, bald-headed, middle-aged” Jewish Democrat, Baum isn’t your typical gun owner, but he admits to having an “obsession” with guns and has one on his person for much of his road trip. Crisscrossing America he finds a lot of inconsistencies, like gun owners who think the government is coming for their guns despite the fact that “guns laws were getting looser everywhere” or gun control groups pushing for new legislation without understanding how guns work or the historical ineffectiveness of gun control. Though he tries to find diversity among the gun owners he interviews, many just spout antiliberal dogma or “play the role of victim,” so these encounters become repetitive. It’s when the tone of the book shifts from travelogue to narrative, with stories like those of Tim White, who “used a gun in his criminal undertakings”; Rick Ector, an industrial engineer who turned gun carrier after a mugging; and Brandon Franklin, a young New Orleans man who was shot while trying to defend the mother of his children, that Baum’s skill as a writer and journalist is revealed. Overall, this is a very balanced accounting of both sides of America’s gun issue, and while Baum doesn’t have all the answers, his solution that both sides come together to promote gun safety is both admirable and prudent. Baum can be lauded for trying to find an accommodating solution to the problem of guns, but no doubt gun lovers and gun haters both will vehemently disagree with him.

Starred review from February 15, 2013
Engrossing social study from a rara avis: an East Coast progressive who's also a gun enthusiast. Former New Yorker staff writer Baum (Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans, 2009, etc.) wonders at the vast gap between his social peers, who tend to abhor every aspect of firearms culture, and the "Red State" demographics that embrace it, particularly as a response to the perceived effete social meddling of liberals. He is also curious as to his own lifelong fascination with the forbidden, masculine allure of guns. For this project, he pursued a "gun-guy walkabout" through parts of the country where guns are beloved (the Southwest) or, in some cases, problematic (Detroit, New Orleans). He first obtained a concealed carry permit (noting how easy this process has become in many states), then tried to find pro-gun academics, industry types, gun-store owners, hunters and other firearms enthusiasts to share their views. He heard from many thoughtful individuals on gun culture and the social value of self-defense, though he also documents an undercurrent of embittered paranoia among "gun guys," which he shrewdly connects to the hard economic times he observes in the working-class regions that skew pro-gun--e.g., Kentucky or Nebraska. Baum summarizes this complex effect of the gun issue on American politics by noting, "It was hard to think of a better organizing tool for the right than the left's tribal antipathy to guns." The author develops well-shaded character portraits, including wealthy machine-gun enthusiasts, an African-American self-defense advocate, aimless young suburban men growing up on gun-oriented video games who've embraced the now-notorious AR-15, and his own fish-out-of-water adventures among more conservative gun enthusiasts. Baum's road trip into gun culture taught him about self-reliance, but he admits his core questions about firearms' easily politicized allure remain slippery. Though many liberals will dislike Baum's conclusions (and gun rights crusaders may distrust him regardless), he offers a thoughtful corrective to the mutual ideological hysteria surrounding the issue of guns in America. The book should gain further exposure and/or controversy following the tragedy in Newtown, Conn.

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April 15, 2013

A self-described Jewish Democrat from New Jersey, Baum is also a passionate "gun guy." To better understand gun culture, Baum put on his NRA cap, strapped on his legally concealed handgun, and hit the road to talk to gun owners. What emerges from his travels is a welcome corrective to the current deeply polarized and rage-filled debate about guns in the United States. Baum's perspective as a liberal who loves guns allows him to write with refreshing clarity about an issue that is usually addressed only from one side or the other of a deep cultural divide. The "road trip" narrative gives the book momentum. Readers will almost certainly find some of their assumptions about armed America challenged by Baum's evenhanded exploration of the subject. VERDICT This is briskly paced, personal, funny, and engrossing. Extreme partisans on either side of the "gun issue" are unlikely to be moved by Baum's travel narrative, while readers interested in a fresh perspective on a divisive issue will be pleased. General readers seeking a better understanding of the appeal of guns and their role in American culture will enjoy this candid exploration of our gun culture. [See Prepub Alert 10/1/12.]--Rachel Bridgewater, Portland Community Coll., OR

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 1, 2013
You don't hear about a lot of preteen gun nuts, but Baum was one of them, discovering when he was five years old that he was a crack shot. He's always known why he loved guns (natural skill in using them and their beauty and efficiency as mechanical devices), but as an adult, he began to wonder why other people loved them. So he decided to do something he'd never done: join the gun culture, meet its people, and find out what made them tick. Along the way, he encounters a 24-year-old young man who lives with his mother and became interested in real guns by playing with simulated guns in video games; a gunmaker who's upset to the point of distraction about the passing of President Obama's health-care bill; a Hollywood armorer; and an expert in the history and manufacture of machine guns. He also deals with the murder of a friend, a victim of exactly the sort of gun violence that sparks the politically polarizing debate that Baum has been witnessing nearly everywhere he goes. Baum is careful not to take a political stance; he's reporting the story, and he's also, as a gun enthusiast, a part of it, but he's not writing an apologia. If you come into the book convinced of the need for tighter gun control, you'll probably leave the same way, although you will leave with a deeper understanding of the many reasons, political and personal, why people love their weaponry.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)