Armed America: Portraits of Gun Owners in Their Homes

By Kyle Cassidy

As the 2004 Presidential Election was beginning to take shape, Kyle Cassidy took note of the important role the simple concept of gun ownership was playing. Hardly anyone he knew didn't have an opinion in the debate over owning guns. Why was a constitutionally protected right so heavily debated, and who exactly as these folks that own guns? "I began to wonder who these seventy or so million Americans were, how they lived and what was important to them. I set out to photographs as many gun owners as I could and ask them one question: "Why do you own a gun.""

Cassidy traveled over 20,000 miles, crisscrossing the country to meet with gun owners in their homes. Cassidy's photo essays create a powerful, thought provoking and sometimes startling view of gun ownership in the U.S. These "everyman" portraits, and the accompanying views of gun owners, fashion a riveting and provocative hardcover book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gun Digest Books
• Release date: Jun 12, 2007
• ISBN: 9781440223990

Book preview

Armed America

Portraits of Gun Owners in Their Homes

PHOTOGRAPHS BY KYLE CASSIDY

9780896895430_0002_001

©2007 Kyle Cassidy

Published by

9780896895430_0003_002

700 East State Street • lola, WI 54990-0001

715-445-2214 • 888-457-2873

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Our toll-free number to place an order or obtain a free catalog is [phone].

All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a critical article or review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper, or electronically transmitted on radio, television, or the Internet.

Colophon

The body font is Centaur, designed over a period of four years and finished in 1915 by Bruce Rogers, one of the greatest American type designers. It is considered one of his masterpieces. The Monotype foundry issued the font in 1929. It is based on a font designed in by Nicholas Jensenit in 1470.

The headline fonts are Engravers Gothic and Franklin Gothic Book. Engravers Gothic is a beautiful but simple font designed by Olga Chaeva for ParaType in 1999. Franklin Gothic Book is a geometric sans serif designed by Sol Hess between 1936 and 1947 and issued by Monotype.

Library of Congress Catalog Number:

2007923000

ISBN: 978-0-89689-543-0

eISBN: 978-1-44022-399-0

Designed by Kyle Cassidy & Thomas Nelsen

Edited by Paul Kennedy

Printed in China

CONTENTS

ACROSS AMERICA

WHY DO YOU OWN A GUN?

CICILY AND ROB WITH KOOKIE

AARON WITH CALLIE

AARON AND BRITTNY

VALERI AND ANDREW WITH ROMI

ASHLEY

BILL AND CHRISTY WITH DAISY

AUSTEN WITH CHARLOTTE

BARBARA AND RYAN WITH MAUSER AND STAR

AVERY

BARBARA WITH SAMSON AND DELILAH

JENNIFER, CHRIS AND DANIEL

BENNETT WITH OPUS

MATT AND CATIE WITH NILES

BASH WITH CISCO

B.A. WITH ANNIE

JERRY AND COLIN

CHRIS WITH LOIS

CHRIS AND CECILIA

BILLY

PATRICK WITH KURO KUMA

DIEGO AND NAKITA WITH FIONA

DANIELLE WITH ZEKE

CHRISTINA AND KEARY WITH CLIO AND EVEY

BRANDON

DAVID

DAVID AND TARA WITH RAVEN

DAN

UZI, JUDI AND DONNO

CHRISTOPHER

DODD

EMERY AND PHIL WITH HUNTER

HOWARD

DREW

AVERY, MILES, GREGG AND THERESA WITH GINNY

ED

JEAN AND FLEMING

JACOB

ELIJAH WITH RUBY TUESDAY

MAGGIE AND GWEN

H.T.

JASON AND HEATHER

JAMES

H.W.

NICK, JENNIE, RANDI WITH SAM AND DUDE

JAMES

RODNEY AND KRIS WITH REX

JON WITH CHARLES GREY AND JENNY LIND

JEREMY WITH CHARLOTTE

GWEN, JEP AND DIANA WITH LILLY

JOSEPH

MICHELLE AND KYLE

KEVIN WITH BUDDY

JOHN WITH GUNTHER

DEVIN AND KEVIN

KENYATTA

KATE, PETE AND LORI WITH HEIDI

MARK AND LORI

KEVIN

IVY AND KIT WITH AUTUMN

MIKE

PORTIA AND ANTHONY WITH YUMI AND LEELOODALLASMULTIPASS

MIKE

PATRICK

MATT AND LISA WITH ARTHUR

RALPH

TIA AND STEVE WITH ANUBIS, LUCY AND OMEN

MIKE WITH LINUS

BROTHER ROBB

LIBERTY AND MICHAEL WITH GENERAL BEAUREGARD

ROBERT WITH DOBRO

NICKY

STAN

GAIL, ERIC, MORGAN AND MICHAEL WITH MISTY

OCHRESSANDRO

NEAL, OWEN AND LORA WITH BRANDY

RICHARD

DAVID, KRYSTLE, NOEL, KASSANDRA AND KINDRA

STEVEN

SONYA AND TODD

RY

BETH, PAUL, GAVIN AND EMMA

TIM

VICTORIA, CATHY AND RAPHAEL WITH ROMULUS AND REMUS

SEAN

KRISTINE, REX AND LISA WITH RUSTY AND WHISKERS

TIMOTHY

CATIE AND DAN WITH HAVOC

GAUGE AND SHANE WITH TATTOO

CRAIG WITH VIOLET

RICK, THOMAS AND SUE

VALENTINE WITH CHOMSKY

WAYNE WITH CLANCY AND TRIXIE

RYAN AND ZACH

DAN

JESSICA, GREGG AND BEN WITH BUBBA

WILLIAM AND JENNIFER WITH BUDDAH

WYLIE

JESSICA WITH SAMANTHA

ELANOR AND DREW WITH OBIE

JAMES WITH NICKY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ACROSS AMERICA

Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.

William Morris (1834–1896)

Hopes and Fears for Art (1882)

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.

Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things can not be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.

Mark Twain (1835-1910)

The Innocents Abroad (1869)

You can drive for a day and a half across West Texas and not see anything you didn’t see the mile before: creosote, scrub brush, mesquite, the occasional shin-dagger agave. The wheels spin under your car, the speedometer hovers over numbers never

Reviews for Armed America

[maughta · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating glimpse into the lives of people who own guns. Quite frightening in many ways but fascninating none-the-less.

[jpsnow · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

He captures a lot of character (and characters), but I don't think its a fair portait given that his own premise is based on gun ownership in 39% to 50% of American homes. Or... maybe this actually IS a true cross section of American homes.

[realbigcat · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I spotted this book in the bargain section and I must admit I was drawn to the cover of a well dressed couple holding guns with their young child in superman pajamas. I think this book brings the voyer in us. In some respects guns and owernship is still taboo to some people. This books shows a nice cross section of America posing with their favorite guns. The pictures are taken in their homes and usually include their pets as well. There are a few sentences on their thoughts related to guns. I'm surprised how many peple have guns that are more attuned to personal/home defense than to hunting. Perhaps a reflection on our society that is not readily apparent. Either way I like the book. I found it quite interesting. While it's more of a skimming book that a read I believe the gun enthusiast as well as the non enthusiast would like it.