The pandemic put all previous gun rushes to shame ; 2020 shattered the prior record for annual sales set in 2016 . Nearly five million Americans purchased a firearm for the first time . And , this January , Americans purchased more guns than in any single month on record , says Ammoland Shooting Sports News . ( Perhaps a violent insurrection against Congress live on national television makes folks a bit squirrely about safety .)
Lest we delude ourselves that this gun fever was quarantined in the red states , last March , Rhode Island led the nation with the highest percentage increase in background checks — generally considered a proxy for gun sales — and was near the top again in April , per a report from the FBI .
For the first time , I wonder : Should I own a gun ? I have a home , a family . Do I need to be prepared to protect them with lethal force ?
I find myself examining an increasingly polarized America with a deep political divide at its center and realizing that one side pretty much has all the guns . I don ’ t necessarily fear for my safety , but I ’ d be lying if I said I ’ m not at least a little uneasy being on the unarmed side of that fissure .
Apparently , I am not alone . In 2017 , the Rhode Island John Brown Gun Club was founded , a self-described “ leftist workingclass community defense organization .” And , during the early days of the pandemic , the Boston Globe reported on the crowds rushing to Rhode Island ’ s gun stores : “ They saw people new to gun ownership , some of whom John Francis of Competition Shooting Supplies in Pawtucket described as ‘ liberal progressives ’ who told him they wouldn ’ t have considered buying a gun six months earlier .”
Here ’ s the thing : I ’ m a forty-year-old white male homeowner , married with two children , living in the most gun happy nation on the planet . America wants me to have a gun . Everything in our society not-so-subtly defaults towards making it as easy and appealing as possible .
I
DECIDE TO AT LEAST EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITY of exercising my Second Amendment rights . I put in a call to a friend , an avid firearm enthusiast who lives in Vermont , a state where the junior senator — the not-at-all junior Bernie Sanders — estimates that roughly half of households own guns . ( In Rhode Island , it ’ s less than 20 percent , according to the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence .) Because this friend ’ s life and career tend to hover in what we might call legal gray areas , I will withhold his real name and refer to him instead by his preferred nom de guerre , Tom Phillips . (“ Two Ls ,” he insists .)
My first time firing a gun was under Tom ’ s enthusiastic yet diligent tutelage last summer . And what a first time it was . After a brief lesson in firearm operation and safety , we went full ’ Murica : blowing up watermelons with an AR-10 ( the bigger , heavier sibling of the famed AR-15 ) while listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd on a hemp farm on the Fourth of July . All we were missing was a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader jumping over us on a jet ski with a plate of buffalo wings . As far as first times go , it was akin to losing your virginity to a porn star on prom night . “ I ’ m thinking of buying a gun ,” I tell him recently . “ Absolutely . You should buy a lot of guns ,” he says , presumably on behalf of America and the Founding Fathers . Not the carefully reasoned deliberation I was hoping for , but then , I know who I ’ m asking .
On Tom ’ s recommendation , I visit a local gun store he describes as “ gun nerd Toys R Us .” The first thing I hear upon entering is a fragment of a conversation : “… you ’ re only allowed to own 25,000 rounds .”
“ Only ” is not necessarily the adverb I would choose for that sentence .
The place has enough firepower to outfit a small militia and close to a dozen staff members helping customers . I thought it might be a good place to gain insight and expert advice , to find the gun Jedi who would teach me the ways of the Force .
“ I ’ m thinking of buying my first firearm . I know nothing about them and this is my first time in a gun store , so I ’ m really interested in learning as much as shopping ,” I say to the gentleman behind the counter , expecting that he would ease me in . “ So what kind of gun do you want ?” I say I ’ m not sure , and reiterate that I am brand new to this . “ Well , what ’ s it for ?” “ Peace of mind ,” I respond , trying to sound cool . He seems satisfied , and I am glad I resisted the temptation to say it in a gravelly , Clint Eastwood-type voice .
In less than two minutes I have a 9-millimeter pistol in hand . God bless America .
I ’ m not sure what level of formality I was expecting — perhaps something like taking a Mercedes for a test drive — but I am a little surprised by how casually a deadly weapon is passed across the counter to someone who just admitted he knows nothing about them . The rack of shotguns sitting on the sales floor unattended also strikes me . If you want to grab a pack of razor blades at CVS , a sales associate has to come out and unlock them for you .
Perhaps a gun store isn ’ t the best place to wrestle with philosophical questions over gun ownership any more than a casino would be the right place to explore an intellectual curiosity about mathematical probability .
Eventually , through my North Providence “ know a guy ” roots , I find the firearm Sherpa I need to guide me up the mountain . Steve DiLorenzo is the founder and operator of Rising Shield Consulting , which provides security and threat evaluation , selfdefense training and a variety of firearm education . He is a firearm enthusiast and strong believer in the Second Amendment but , above all , he ’ s a staunch advocate for personal safety , whether it ’ s from external threats or mishandling firearms .
“ I believe everyone has the right to own a firearm and I strongly encourage everyone to be able to defend themselves ,” he tells me . “ But it ’ s up to you to make the decision about whether a firearm is right for you . I don ’ t try to pressure anyone . I just try to educate .”
Steve works with a variety of clients , both private and corporate , and notes that when it comes to individuals seeking his services , it ’ s increasingly not forty-something white men like me .
48 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l APRIL 2021