Talk Back: Your Thoughts on Gun Photos

Americans from all walks of life photographed for gun book.

ByABC News
July 25, 2007, 2:11 PM

July 25, 2007 — -- Three years ago, freelance writer-photographer Kyle Cassidy embarked on a nationwide road trip in search of America's gun owners.

He photographed families with their guns for "Armed America: Portraits of American Gun Owners in Their Homes," which hits bookstores Aug. 1, 2007.

According to Cassidy, the book is less about firearms and the controversial place they occupy in today's society and more about the American experience. "This is not a book about guns," said Cassidy. "It's a book about people."

That includes one man, Howard, who Cassidy describes as a collector with an "enormous amount of guns."

"He had nine of what I thought were the same rifle, but he explained to me they were made by nine different companies," Cassidy said.

But the book is not a comment on gun control or the rights of gun owners. "All I was interested in was the person in their environment and then their reason for owning guns."

The book includes portraits of Americans of varying races and religions -- from a black gun owner who told Cassidy he was concerned about the portrayal of African-Americans with guns.

Cassidy also met a Jewish gun owner who said he owned a firearm for protection against possible anti-Semitism. He said the man told him, "As a civil rights advocate, I know that at some point words are not going to be enough, when people are kicking down your door to pull you out of your house because you're Jewish or black or gay. You can't be pro-civil rights without being pro guns."

"There were a lot more reasons that people owned guns than I'ld ever expected," Cassidy said.

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