Welcome to the Gun Show

Let me start off by saying that I'm terrified of guns. On my list of fears, number 1 is snakes (obviously) and number 2, guns. That said, I saw this posted on the Presurfer and found it thoroughly gripping. The volume, Armed America by Kyle Cassidy, is an attempt to figure out who exactly is buying these weapons. From his artist statement:

Whether it's 39% or 50% of Americans, it's still an awful lot of people. I started wondering just who they were, what they looked like, and how they lived. Such was the genesis of Armed America: Portraits of American Gun Owners in Their Homes. The idea was to photograph a hundred gun owners, in their homes, and do a gallery show.

From a kid who just wants to own them, to the daughter of a cop, to a sculptor who uses his broken gun for molds and keeps it in a bag in his closet, to an elderly cancer patient who just bought his first firearm because he can't move or scream, the reasons are diverse, and the photos eerily compelling. The corresponding photos are posted in that order below, but you can see more via the Presurfer.