海角大神

A hunter and gun collector, a Jew, and a liberal Democrat, Dan Baum is听a wonderfully guileless and open-minded guide to American gun culture. Gun Guys, his 鈥渞oad trip鈥� across the firearms landscape, expands the听conversation about this treacherous terrain even as it turns down the volume.听

The book's autobiographical aspect also reflects the nation鈥檚 conflict about guns.听While carrying a firearm gained this middle-aged, stoop-shouldered听journalist entr茅e to a culture of gun devotees from rational to rabid, it also put off members听of Baum鈥檚 own family. And, had they known of his concealed carry, it would听have appalled Baum's friends 鈥� particularly in his home city of Boulder, Colo., a community 鈥渟o achingly liberal that its city council once听argued for three days over whether people were 鈥榦wners鈥� or 鈥榞uardians鈥� of听their pets. (Guardians won.)鈥�

Baum offers no solutions to the complicated issue of gun violence that听continues to roil the United States, particularly in the wake of the Dec.听14 shooting of 20 elementary school children and six of their teachers in听Newtown, Conn. Nevertheless, his book is a blast, pun intended.

As the US continues to struggle with questions of firearms control,听including a proposed ban on semiautomatic weapons like the ubiquitous AR-听15 (which Baum dubs the 鈥渋Gun鈥� because of its malleability) and universal听background checks, Baum weighs in with reason, insight, and humor.听

He takes us first to a gun range near Denver, and then to a gun store near听Phoenix where owner Frank DeSomma schools him in the AR-15.听

鈥淚t was easy to see, then, why the AR-15 was so popular,鈥� Baum writes.听鈥淚t was fun to shoot. It was a geek鈥檚 dream of limitless high-tech parts. It听made everybody a bit player in the global war on terror and the march of听American history. It worked for whatever kind of shooting a gun guy might听want. It limited a shooter鈥檚 exposure to the federal firearms bureaucracy.听And it made life harder for the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and听Firearms). It was the perfect gun for the Tea Party era.鈥�

Among others Baum visits/stops: Robert, the scion of 鈥淢idwestern Jewish royalty鈥澨齱ho invites Baum to a submachine gun meet in Wikieup, Ariz.; Larry听Zanoff, a Hollywood 鈥渁rmorer鈥� who tells Baum most movie guns are made听of rubber; a gun show at the Grand Island Convention Center in Nebraska,听where 鈥淚nfidel,鈥� a skinny, young dealer, suggests President Barack Obama听will 鈥渕ake his move鈥� against guns in his second term; Rick Ector, an听African-American from Detroit who took up arms after he was mugged; and Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership founder Aaron Zelman,听a Wisconsin man who traces the Holocaust to the Nazi ban on Jews听owning guns. No matter where he turns, Baum always seeks the rational.听

鈥淕un politics all but ruined my enjoyment of firearms,鈥� confesses Baum,听who also has written books on New Orleans after Katrina ("Nine Lives"), the war on听drugs ("Smoke and Mirrors"), and the family of beer magnate Adolph Coors ("Citizen Coors"). 鈥淎lthough the vitriol听surrounding gun politics was what had first attracted me to this project,听it was the cultural division represented by the politics that I鈥檇 set out to听explore.鈥�

Gun control, however, is different from gun politics. Those appalled by听the very notion of guns do their best to suppress them and shame their听owners. Those who cherish them 鈥� and defend them on the basis of听the Second Amendment 鈥� do their best to expand their spread. In airing out听America鈥檚 gun culture, Baum, a fearless reporter of sharp eye and witty听phrase, has done a public service.

Cleveland journalist Carlo Wolff plans to take a concealed carry course this听spring. He works for the Cleveland Jewish News.