History & the Second Amendment


A reporter who hadn't had a chance to read American Gun (but had to write a story about it) was asking me the other day if it was a polemic in favor of the Second Amendment.

It's not.

Certainly Chris (and myself, for that matter) was a strong believer in the Second Amendment and the Right to Bear Arms. He made plenty of statements to that effect. But that's not the point of the book.

What Chris wanted to do - and what I hope we all achieved in working on it after his death - was to talk about American HISTORY. He picked ten guns to do it.

History, especially the Wild West and the Civil War, was one of his favorite things to talk about. Many bs sessions in between breaks on American Sniper and later on were spent dissecting the tales of the Texas Rangers and some of the battles of the Civil War. He wasn't an historian, but he loved hearing and telling tales of the past.

He also loved guns, and his idea in American Gun was to combine those two things.

Can the history of the U.S. be told through the guns that its people used?

Absolutely. If you look at the weapons, they reflect perfectly the people who used them and the times they were used in. Whether it's the rugged, hand-crafted individualistic long rifle, or the made-from-high-tech materials AR-15 and Glock*, the weapons are a window on what was going on in the country. But don't take my word for it - check the book out and decide for yourself.

* A weapon Chris never particularly liked, though he admitted it was a solid performer. The romantic in him much preferred the 1911 Colt or, even better, the revolvers of old.