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Gun Guys: A Road Trip
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Books on Tape 2013
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Description
Here is armed America—a land of machine-gun gatherings in the desert, lederhosened German shooting societies, feral-hog hunts in Texas, and Hollywood gun armories. Whether they’re collecting antique weapons, practicing concealed carry, or firing an AR-15 or a Glock at their local range, many Americans love guns—which horrifies and fascinates many other Americans, and much of the rest of the world. This lively, sometimes raucous book explores from the inside the American love affair with firearms. 
Dan Baum is both a lifelong gun guy and a Jewish Democrat who grew up in suburban New Jersey feeling like a “child of a bitter divorce with allegiance to both parents.” In Gun Guys he grabs his licensed concealed handgun and hits the road to meet some of the 40 percent of Americans who own guns. We meet Rick Ector, a black Detroit autoworker who buys a Smith & Wesson after suffering an armed robbery—then quits his job to preach the gospel of armed self-defense, especially to the resistant black community; Jeremy and Marcey Parker, a young, successful Kentucky couple whose idea of a romantic getaway is the Blue Ridge Mountain 3-Gun Championship in Bowling Green; and Aaron Zelman, head of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. Baum also travels to New Orleans, where he enters the world of a man disabled by a bullet, and to Chicago to interview a killer. Along the way, he takes us to gun shows, gun stores, and shooting ranges trying to figure out why so many of us love these things and why they inspire such passions.
In the tradition of Confederates in the Attic and Among the Thugs, Baum brings an entire world to life. Written equally for avid shooters and those who would never touch a firearm, Gun Guys is more than a travelogue. It gives a fresh assessment of the heated politics surrounding guns, one that will challenge and inform people on all sides of the issue.  This may be the first book that goes beyond gun politics to illuminate the visceral appeal of guns—an original, perceptive, and surprisingly funny journey through American gun culture.
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Format:
OverDrive MP3 Audiobook, OverDrive Listen
Edition:
Unabridged
Street Date:
03/05/2013
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780385363099
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Dan Baum. (2013). Gun Guys: A Road Trip. Unabridged Books on Tape.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Dan Baum. 2013. Gun Guys: A Road Trip. Books on Tape.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Dan Baum, Gun Guys: A Road Trip. Books on Tape, 2013.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Dan Baum. Gun Guys: A Road Trip. Unabridged Books on Tape, 2013.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
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Date Added:
Jun 12, 2018 16:43:22
Date Updated:
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Mar 24, 2024 08:06:32
Last Metadata Change:
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Here is armed America—a land of machine-gun gatherings in the desert, lederhosened German shooting societies, feral-hog hunts in Texas, and Hollywood gun armories. Whether they’re collecting antique weapons, practicing concealed carry, or firing an AR-15 or a Glock at their local range, many Americans love guns—which horrifies and fascinates many other Americans, and much of the rest of the world. This lively, sometimes raucous book explores from the inside the American love affair with firearms. 
Dan Baum is both a lifelong gun guy and a Jewish Democrat who grew up in suburban New Jersey feeling like a “child of a bitter divorce with allegiance to both parents.” In Gun Guys he grabs his licensed concealed handgun and hits the road to meet some of the 40 percent of Americans who own guns. We meet Rick Ector, a black Detroit autoworker who buys a Smith & Wesson after suffering an armed robbery—then quits his job to preach the gospel of armed self-defense, especially to the resistant black community; Jeremy and Marcey Parker, a young, successful Kentucky couple whose idea of a romantic getaway is the Blue Ridge Mountain 3-Gun Championship in Bowling Green; and Aaron Zelman, head of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. Baum also travels to New Orleans, where he enters the world of a man disabled by a bullet, and to Chicago to interview a killer. Along the way, he takes us to gun shows, gun stores, and shooting ranges trying to figure out why so many of us love these things and why they inspire such passions.
In the tradition of Confederates in the Attic and Among the Thugs, Baum brings an entire world to life. Written equally for avid shooters and those who would never touch a firearm, Gun Guys is more than a travelogue. It gives a fresh assessment of the heated politics surrounding guns, one that will challenge and inform people on all sides of the issue.  This may be the first book that goes beyond gun politics to illuminate the visceral appeal of guns—an original, perceptive, and surprisingly funny journey through American gun culture.
reviews
      • premium: False
      • source: Steve Bodio, author of Good Guns Again, and An Eternity of Eagles.
      • content: "You don't have to agree with Dan Baum on everything; perhaps a gun-loving self-described liberal Democrat from Boulder is so unique nobody will. But he has written the most original book on the gun culture yet, fair, funny, and as informed as it is iconoclastic. I urge all my friends, both those in the NRA and those who think guns are evil, to read, learn, laugh, and recognize themselves. Gun Guys is an unlikely bridge for our too-polarized time."
      • premium: False
      • source: Ian Frazier, author of Travels in Siberia
      • content: "Dan Baum's curiosity about guns and his passion for them pull you deep into this book before you even know how you got there. He has put in the heft of a firearm and the smell of gunpowder and the heedless pleasure of shooting, and has produced a beautiful piece of writing."
      • premium: False
      • source: Kirkus Reviews
      • content: "Engrossing . . . a thoughtful corrective to the mutual ideological hysteria surrounding the issue of guns in America."
      • premium: False
      • source: Alden Mudge, Book Page
      • content: "[A] well-written, thought-provoking and often humorous account of [Baum's] road trip through America's gun culture . . . Gun Guys is the sort of readable, information-rich book that could change minds and help bridge the huge national divide over guns. Let's hope it finds the readership it deserves."
      • premium: False
      • source: Publishers Weekly
      • content: "Baum's skill as a writer and journalist is revealed . . . [A] 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."
      • premium: False
      • source: Michael Merschel, Dallas News
      • content: "Dan Baum may be exactly what America needs right now: a liberal journalist with a gun . . . [F]or those who prefer humorous, literate and honest discussion about [guns] to frothy ranting, Gun Guys will hit the spot."
      • premium: False
      • source: Lily Raff McCaulou, San Francisco Chronicle
      • content: "The gun issue is about to find a new ambassador in Dan Baum . . . [Baum is] the perfect tour guide for a well-timed trek through gun culture in modern America . . . an insightful exploration that brings some much-needed humanity to gun lovers and gun haters . . . a thoughtful, well-reasoned antidote to the polarized hysteria that currently passes for a national gun debate. By the end of the book, Baum arrives at something that feels truly fresh: a middle ground on guns."
      • premium: False
      • source: Daniel Akst, Newsday
      • content: "Vivid . . . Baum can still shoot, as demonstrated by a riveting chapter on some arduous gunfight training he endures. But more important, Baum can write. Schlepping among the gun lovers with this guy is unfailingly diverting as well as illuminating."
      • premium: False
      • source: Beaufort Observer
      • content: "[Gun Guys] is interesting and funny. But most of all it is enlightening."
      • premium: False
      • source: Geri Spieler, New York Journal of Books
      • content: "[S]mart and informative--an education for anyone the slightest bit curious about why gun owners are so passionate about their guns. Dan Baum's stories are alive, engaging, and earnest."
      • premium: False
      • source: Ethan Gilsdorf, Boston Globe
      • content: "[A]n evenhanded and witty exposé of hardcore firearms culture and gun control controversies . . . [B]aum hones and polishes his investigation like he would an antique Winchester."
      • premium: False
      • source: Craig Seligman, Bloomberg News
      • content: "As a writer, Baum doesn't have it in him to lay down a dull sentence. His sketches of the people he meets (not all of them white, and not all of them guys) are charming and funny . . . [W]ise, considered, delectably written, fun to read and wholly lacking in tendentiousness, and thus likely to deepen anyone's thinking on the subject."
      • premium: False
      • source: Doug Childers, Richmond Times-Dispatch
      • content: "[P]itch-perfect . . . a thoughtful, even-handed look at a subject that tends to raise the hackles of people on both sides of the gun-control debate . . . Baum should be applauded for his intellectual honesty."
      • premium: False
      • source: John Wilkens, U-T San Diego
      • content: "[A] provocative, probing and frequently funny journey deep into the mentality of the approximately 40 percent of Americans who own guns . . . Strong words from a strong writer, straddling a great divide and maybe through this book helping to bridge it."
      • premium: False
      • source: Bill Eichenberger, Cleveland Plain Dealer
      • content: "[T]horoughly entertaining and provocative."
      • premium: False
      • source: Carlo Wolff, The Christian Science Monitor
      • content: "[A] wonderfully guileless and open-minded guide to American gun culture . . . Baum, a fearless reporter of sharp eye and witty phrase, has done a public service."
      • premium: False
      • source: Chuck Leddy, Minneapolis Star Tribune
      • content: "[F]ascinating, intelligent . . . a necessary, insightful dose of down-the-middle reporting on a debate largely defined by extremes."
      • premium: False
      • source: Gene Warner, The Buffalo News
      • content: "Who better
      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        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.

popularity
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shortDescription
Here is armed America—a land of machine-gun gatherings in the desert, lederhosened German shooting societies, feral-hog hunts in Texas, and Hollywood gun armories. Whether they’re collecting antique weapons, practicing concealed carry, or firing an AR-15 or a Glock at their local range, many Americans love guns—which horrifies and fascinates many other Americans, and much of the rest of the world. This lively, sometimes raucous book explores from the inside the American love affair with firearms. 
Dan Baum is both a lifelong gun guy and a Jewish Democrat who grew up in suburban New Jersey feeling like a “child of a bitter divorce with allegiance to both parents.” In Gun Guys he grabs his licensed concealed handgun and hits the road to meet some of the 40 percent of Americans who own guns. We meet Rick Ector, a black Detroit autoworker who buys a Smith & Wesson after suffering an armed robbery—then quits his job to...
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