More Than Just a Piece of Steel

There’s history in metal, in leather. Stories that we will never know, but can only yearn to discover. They can be found on dusty shelves in pawn shops, collecting rust in basements, or lost in the chaos of an estate sale.

In the United States, we are facing a severe crisis among sportsmen and defensive shooters alike. A question of legacy that if unanswered, will leave us without what has made this nation great for nearly 250 years. 

While my family certainly fostered an interest in the outdoors and firearms within me, I discovered my deep love for the world of firearms after 10 years of working in this field professionally. It was in my work and personal research, not my family life, that I found my passion for this world and fostered it fully. Unfortunately for many, while their fathers and grandfathers all collected arms and were passionate sportsmen, they gatekept their knowledge, or failed to effectively pass their love on to their children. With every heirloom gun found just resting in a case at the local gun store, is a family legacy lost. Aside from tattered old gun magazines, primary source information from the 20th Century is difficult to obtain, and is a generation away from being lost. Suddenly a tool that was carried for a lifetime and that was earmarked for the next generation is sold, often by an uncomfortable child or grandchild, who acts ashamed that their family was ever associated with a gun. I worked a gun counter all through high school and college, and personally witnessed so many of these legacies die. While social media and journals such as this serve as mediums to inspire others to take up the mission and continue carrying the flag, it is our obligation in our daily lives to interact with and assimilate our own family and neighbors into our world and sport. Normalization cannot be something that happens only online, or in groups built entirely in echo chambers. The dissemination of information online can help us change this with our families, because we are not limited to the knowledge or interests of a family member. We can build a knowledge base that allows us to educate those who come next and change the discourse. So many of us got into firearms through pop culture - movies or television series, or video games. Use these mediums to introduce your friends and family to our world. For years, I have focused on the character of James Bond as an entry point to firearms, because even North Koreans have heard of 007. It is an easy, familiar, and safe way to encourage someone to give shooting a chance.

I am grateful for every heirloom I take in from other families secondhand, from pawn shops and used firearm listings, but while I am always elated to add a piece of history to my collection, my heart drops for the child or grandchild who was failed, who did not care enough to keep their grandfather’s service pistol or hunting rifle. I understand that life is complex, and sometimes despite best efforts family might just have no interest in this world. But to the degree and frequency that this happens, I find this argument to exist in the margins, not in the bulk of cases. 

It is my mission to write stories that celebrate, document, and demonstrate the vitality of classic arms in the modern world, in the hopes that our generation can do better for those we bring into this world, so our children understand the why behind our values, and in 100 years, my children’s children might hold some old revolver or Walther PPK and not see a piece of steel, but a lifetime of stories shared with them. I hope you join me on this journey and mission.