Torrell Jasper, a.k.a. Black Rambo (35) – Schiever, Louisiana (in the background, Allen Craff, Tyrone Gathen, James J. Herbert) Every day, nearly six hundred thousand people wait for Torrell Jasper to make his appearance on Instagram and show off one of his guns. To find him, just type in “Black Rambo,” a nickname he’s extremely proud of, and make sure you don't end up on his son’s account by mistake (at 13, he’s already trying to make a name for himself on social media). Torrell, now 35, learned to shoot from his father as a child. A former Marine, he spent a few years in war zones, “where pulling the trigger and hitting the target was a question of life or death.” Now, back in civilian life and working as an A/C systems installer, Torrell, a.k.a. Black Rambo, mostly just has fun with his guns. People have fun watching him, too. About a hundred different manufacturers of firearms and related paraphernalia have, over the years, asked him to use and promote their products, and he loves being the center of attention at least as much as he loves owning a flamethrower. “There are no weapons I would ban ordinary citizens from owning, but if I had to name one, well, a bazooka isn't really something you need,” he admits. That said, he has no fear that an item in his arsenal might be dangerous for his young children or for any of his many followers. “It’s not guns that hurt people, it’s the people holding the guns.” I couldn’t say which weapon is my favorite. I can’t choose just one. I love them all. That’s why I buy so many.

Floyd and Lesia McMillin (both 49 years old) – Topeka, Kansas Floyd and Lesia McMillin’s enormous home is a showcase of hunting trophies. Stuffed deer, squirrels, ducks and geese, eyes frozen in time, stare as visitors pass through each room. There are quite a few—more than one per room, so at least 20. The sole exception is the bedroom, hung with portraits but otherwise strangely bare. It is here, however, that we find the guns that were used to hunt the animals. Most aren’t loaded, the couple say. Only one or two are ready to be fired at a moment’s notice, “in the defense of the family.” Their collection consists of 65 pieces, and there's always something new. Each month, the McMillins spend roughly $2,500 on ammunition, accessories and new additions. Their passion for guns has been in their blood since childhood. Both come from families of hunters, people who would spend every moment of leisure time escaping into the great outdoors in search of prey. Floyd first shot a gun with his father, when he was 6 years old. At age 12, he was already spending much of his time pursuing game. At 17, he began participating in shooting contests. Lesia, on the other hand, had never fired a weapon until she was 46, when her husband bought her a Sig Sauer 380 and taught her to use it at the firing range. Until then, while on hunting trips firstly with her father and then her husband, she had only ever given tips and instructions. The McMillins own a very busy gun shop. “65% of our new customers are women who’ve never shot a gun before. Many have gone through something that’s made them want to learn how to defend themselves. Most of them say that, between the time they called the police and the time the officers got there, the worst had already happened. A gun gives them more power, more security.”

Danyela D’Angelo (16) – Southern Arizona Somewhere in Southern Arizona is where Danyela D’Angelo keeps her treasure: hundreds of firearms, some one of a kind, historic WWII pieces, weapons of war, and prototypes that never made it to production. They are all locked away in a vault whose location the family does not wish to disclose, for security reasons. They also form part of a trust that her father has put in her name, one she’ll come into possession of as soon as she comes of age. It’s hard to say whether Danyela is truly aware of the value of the collection, but that’s not what she cares about most right now. Since the age of 12, she has been competing in numerous types of shooting events across the US, firing approximately three thousand rounds per month. She trains three times a week, and all of her weekends are booked with competitions of various sorts. She is second in the Women’s Junior Division of the USPSA, which brings together athletes from every shooting sport, and her results are often better than those of the adults she competes against. She is courted assiduously by sponsors of all kinds, who enrich her collection by sending her handguns and long guns to use. Her passion comes from her father, Danny. He taught her to shoot when she was 8 years old and accustomed her to shooting with her right hand, even though she’s naturally left-handed. These days she has a professional trainer, but father and daughter compete together in many two-person events. “I first got interested in guns because my dad shot competitively. He would take me with him and what he did looked like a lot of fun. Now we like to go shooting together.”

Eric Arnsberger (30) and Morgan Gagnier (22) – Lake Forest, California During his eight years in the Army, Eric Arnsberger was deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Kosovo, Russia, Vietnam and several different countries in Africa. He’s been a policeman in New Orleans, one of America’s most violent cities, and he grew up in Florida, where gangs were rife and very mean. “When I was a kid, I experienced all kinds of violence. I was stabbed, beaten up, robbed. Then I went to war. I saw what happens when someone else points a gun at you. I had to shoot at people and they shot at me, hundreds of times.” Now, back in the civilian world, Eric teaches people how to handle guns and shoot them safely. He lives in California, and he knows very well that many of his neighbors disapprove of his lifestyle and of what he does. “When I go off to work dressed in a certain way, I can see that people are judging me.” Morgan, the woman with him in the portrait, is not one of them. She's a trainer in a gym, and she fell in love with him through following him on Instagram. Eric never goes out unarmed and has a predilection for military-type firearms. “I’ve never bought a complete gun. I always buy the parts, then make myself a custom piece. I learned how to build guns in the Army. One of my jobs was to test and assess firearms, and that’s how I fell in love with them. If some new law made my guns illegal tomorrow, I think I’d break them down, hide them and go off somewhere else.”

Avery Skipalis (33) – Tampa, Florida When Avery Skipalis was 17, she joined the Air Force and her peaceful girlhood in a sleepy South Carolina town took an unexpected turn. Until then, she’d never been outside of the United States. Indeed, she’d barely gone beyond the borders of her own State. The Air Force allowed her to fulfill her dream of traveling the world and it made her fall in love with firearms, a passion which she would later transform into a profession. “I’d never shot a gun before, but I loved my rifle from the first instant. It made me feel perfectly in control of the situation, and I’ve never stopped feeling that way since.” After serving in the UAE, Japan and Germany, she left the armed forces to start a company that offers firearms safety classes to adults and children. The first two students were her own kids, now 10 and 13 years old, whom she taught to handle guns at the ages of 5 and 7, respectively. Today, she even gives lessons to military personnel. “They’re curious when they see me, because you don't often get a woman as an instructor, but I can sense that they respect me.” She is married to a military man and strongly believes that people who don’t love guns have an underlying problem. “Either they haven't been properly informed or educated or they simply don’t know enough about them. Otherwise, they wouldn't renounce the right to defend themselves.” I bought my first gun, a Glock 43, when I was 22. My favorite gun is the N16 rifle. When we talk about guns and self-defense, race, gender and political beliefs don’t matter. Everyone should learn how to defend themselves.

Joel, Lynne, Paige and Joshua (44, 43, 5 and 11 years old) – central Texas “Compulsive buyers and serial collectors.” That is how Joel and Lynne, married 18 years and the owners of a company that deals in jewelry, define themselves. He loves watches, motorcycles and remote-control cars, but she adores collecting firearms. She doesn’t know exactly how many she owns—between 150 and 170 is the ballpark figure—because she doesn't buy them whole. “I enjoy building them and modifying them myself. I always have a bunch of pieces lying around. Then suddenly I’ll realize I’ve got, say, sixty percent of a Glock. I could sell off the individual parts, but that wouldn't be any fun. Better to buy another part and have one more gun!” Their son Josh has inherited her enthusiasm. At 11 years old, he walks around the house with a handgun he built on his own—you can see it in the photo—using pieces he picked out from an online catalogue. His little sister, Paige, who is 5, can only shoot with parental supervision, for now. She doesn’t yet have a gun of her very own. She will soon though, in keeping with tradition, as Lynne explains. “My passion really runs in the family. My parents taught me to shoot at my grandparents’ ranch. I remember my grandma chasing after me when I was going out, saying, ‘Take this gun or you’re not going anywhere’.” It’s always been a lot of fun, a sort of competition between the different generations: Who could shoot best? Excellent! I’m a better shot than my mom! I bought my first gun when I was in college. It was a Paintball Shotgun. Before that, I used my parents’ guns.  

Robert Nordyke (43) – Topeka, Kansas Robert Nordyke’s dreams came true in 2015, when he finally obtained a licence to open a gun shop and private shooting range. He was 39 at the time and had been waiting for that moment for nearly thirty years—ever since, at the age of 10, his father gave him his first pistol and taught him how to shoot. “I can recall perfectly those days we spent in the fields trying to hit tin cans. They were so much fun.” Robert’s shooting range, in Topeka, Kansas, isn’t like others. Indeed, it houses a “Simulation Room”, one of the first in the country, he tells us. It is a room where, thanks to virtual reality, players find themselves in a reconstructed extreme situation, one which they will have to face using either real or fake firearms. One simulation, for example—which we experienced—was a mass shooting inside a school, where the goal was to find and take down the assailants while terrified screaming crowds were being projected onto the walls. Robert teaches his customers how to shoot, the rules about how to be safe, and the laws they need to be familiar with in order to buy and handle firearms. His personal collection numbers about fifty pieces. The pace of his purchasing picked up enormously during Barack Obama’s presidency. “Before Obama got elected, I only had 4 or 5 guns. After his election, I was afraid that gun laws might get tougher, so I bought as many as I could in the shortest time possible.”  

Latoya Piper (32) – Huntsville, Alabama Not many people can say they stopped a mass shooting, but Latoya Piper is one of them. It was the night of December 31, 2018, and she was working as a security guard at the entrance to a club. Two men began to argue, then one of them went back to his car, took out an AK-47 and tried to go into the club, shooting. Latoya responded swiftly. She fired once and he shot back. Then she fired again and was able to stop him. The man did not die. It was Latoya herself who called the first responders who took him to the hospital. That episode only strengthened her convictions about the importance of carrying a gun. “I encourage victims of violent crimes to learn to use guns, to buy them and practice with them. It only takes one bullet to stop a mass shooting,” she says with confidence. Latoya’s familiarity with firearms runs deep. She practically grew up in the sheriff’s office where her father worked. She was 11 when he taught her how to shoot. At just over 20 she was in Iraq, serving in the military. Today, as a veteran, she believes there should be no distinction between ordinary citizens and members of the armed forces. “There’s no sort of firearm that people should be banned from buying. Anything the military has, individuals should be able to have, too.” I like military-style weapons because they are more powerful. You’re the one who controls the explosion in your hands, the one who directs it. It’s having the ability to control something that powerful with my own two hands. If, tomorrow, the government decided that some of my guns were illegal, I don't think I’d turn them in. I think I’d ask them to come and get them, and I doubt that they would. If I don't have a gun with me, I feel naked.

Chris Cheng (39) – San Francisco, California Chris Cheng is a textbook Californian, born and raised. He lives in San Francisco and built a career in Silicon Valley. He had been working for Google for 10 years when he decided to make a sea change, give free rein to the passion for firearms that his father, a former Marine, had instilled in him from the time he was a child. He signed up for a reality show, Top Shot, in which sixteen contestants faced off in shooting sports, and he won it. He went on to try and turn firearms into his occupation, leaving behind technology and devoting himself to shooting competitions. Recently, perhaps because these don’t pay as much as software and apps, he went back to his old profession, but with the knowledge that he has a lot of eyes on him now. “Living in San Francisco, I’m surrounded by very strong anti-gun sentiment. However, there are a lot of people around me, including some of my friends from the tech sector, who own firearms but just don’t talk about it. They’re wrong, because it’s a little like being gay. I’m gay, and it’s never a good thing to stay silent, to refrain from saying who you are. One thing I love about the Bay Area and about America is that this is a country full of diversity and we have the right to be who we want to be.”

Robert Baldwin Jr. (39) – Las Vegas, Nevada In a dream mansion just outside of Las Vegas, in a room that's more of a museum, is where Robert Baldwin Jr. keeps his guns, behind a bulletproof showcase window so like a mirror that, unless you turn on the lights inside, you can't see the collection at all. It comprises hundreds of pieces. None of them have historical significance, but Robert is nonetheless quite attached to them. “I like to give myself a gun as a gift to mark important moments, like Christmas or my birthday.” It’s a family tradition. When he turned 6, his father gave him his first .22-caliber rifle and taught him how to use it. “He used to shoot for fun. He was a hunter, and he wanted to bring me along, to forge a special bond. He succeeded.” Today, Robert is a well-known rally driver. He’s competed three times in the Dakar rally-raid and has twice won the Baja 1000, one of the most famous such races. He never goes out unarmed. “If I’m wearing pants, it means that my handgun’s there somewhere.” He is against any restrictions on owning weapons, although he does concede that “no private citizen should be able to have a nuclear warhead.” He’s extremely skeptical of the way the media talks about guns, mass shootings and the need to reform gun laws. “If you take a hard look at the statistics, you see that 68% of firearm deaths are suicides. Having suffered from depression myself, I can say with confidence that the fact that guns exist isn't the reason why anyone wants to kill themselves. Besides, a gun is certainly not the only way to kill yourself. The real problem in this country is depression.” If I’m out and I’m unarmed, I’m naked. My guns are like tattoos, linked to moments in my life.

Bree Michael Warner (43 years old) – Putnam Valley, New York When Bree Michael Warner decided to leave Manhattan and the city for somewhere less fast-paced, she put a lot of thought into what county would be best. In some, guns are strongly frowned upon, in others, they are better tolerated. She owns 18 and is “an anomaly, in this ultra-liberal area.” Most importantly, she has turned that fact into a cornerstone of her life. For 15 years she worked as an actress and TV-show host in California. It was there that she really got to know guns—to love them so much, in fact, that she became an NRA member and a firearms instructor. Now she teaches women how to shoot, not only for self-defence, but also just for fun. Her first piece of advice to her students is, “It’s much easier to use a long gun than a handgun. They’re more accurate and it’s easier to hit the target.” She still takes acting jobs sometimes, in TV and film, but she and her tips about guns have become a point of reference for a large social media following. “I always try to be genuine. I never talk about a gun if I don’t really like it. I don't take instructions from companies, even if I do have longstanding relationships with a few different ones.” What qualities does a gun need to have for her to like it? “I don’t look only at aesthetic qualities, although, as a woman, I do like pretty guns. What I want is for them to be practical, both for teaching others and for self-defense.” I often buy my guns online. I go shopping for guns on the Internet just like I do for clothes.

Charlie Ferer (doesn't wish to reveal his age) – Paradise Valley, Arizona Charlie Ferer has always had a nose for business. He studied economics and understood early on that, with a little luck, being an entrepreneur can be an excellent career, especially when combined with one’s own passions and with geopolitical needs. That’s why, 15 years after opening a business that manufactures artificial grass, he turned his attention to weapons. In 2012 he founded a company that manufactures munitions and provides training and intelligence solutions to US and non-US government clients. “We are professionals, quiet and reserved,” he says of his partners and colleagues, two traits that are key in a world of delicate equilibriums. However, one thing there’s no mystery about is his passion for firearms and his desire for there to be more of them around. “Headlines about mass shootings really sadden me, but they strengthen my conviction that the only solution is to get rid of laws banning people from taking guns into certain places. If there were armed professionals in schools to protect the students, the risk that someone could hurt them would be hugely reduced.” What’s more, as Charlie always says, “We do a great job with security checks here in America. We’re very good at making sure that, if you’re a patriot, you don't have a criminal history and you go through the proper procedures, you can have the firearms you wish.” To those affected by a mass shooting, I’d say it saddens me. It’s truly unfortunate, a little like what happens to the victims of drunk drivers.

Brandon Brown (35), with Ashtan (5) and Carson (3) – Harvest, Alabama Brandon Brown is a man of few words. If you ask him for his story in a nutshell, he says, “I’m 35 years old, I come from Huntsville and I love guns.” A single father of two, he still lives and works, as an analyst for the government, just outside of the town where he was born and raised. “I’m a family man. I love to spend time with my kids and I can't wait to introduce them to guns,” he tells us. His passion started back when he was in grade school. “I had a lot of friends in school who’d talk about their experiences out hunting with their fathers. I shot a gun for the first time when I was 12, and I have to say that it’s a tough experience to characterize. I liked it, but I thought, ‘Should I enjoy this?’ ” His answer must have been, “Yes,” considering that a few years later, as soon as he’d turned 18, he bought himself an AK-47, the gun most popular in the movies he’d always loved—and also given that, today, he thinks everyone (and that means everyone) should own guns and learn how to use them. “If I could talk to the victims of a mass shooting, I’d explain to them that guns save lives. I know of a lot of situations where firearms have been used for defense. That’s why I don't believe there should be any restrictions on their sale. Otherwise, the only people to have them would be criminals.” The first gun I ever fired was a .308 hunting rifle. I recommend that everyone try shooting, even people who have a stigma against guns or are afraid of them. If we're going to change opinions about firearms, people have to learn what it means to be responsible gun owners.

Collin Singletom (45) and James Prince (41) - Atlanta, Georgia James and Collin have a close friendship. They met five years ago at the firing range and have been inseparable since. James works in a factory and Collin is a truck driver. They both got to know guns through videogames and have been collecting ever since they could afford to. “I started liking them when I was really young. My fascination with them came from movies, videogames and TV. The first time I shot a gun, I was 16 years old. It was a friend’s handgun. I remember feeling so powerful. It was a great feeling,” says Collin. James’s father put a revolver into his son's hand at the age of 6 and taught him how to use it. Decades later, James honored the family tradition by doing the same with his children, 10 and 12 years old respectively. He has 18 pieces in his collection, not many in comparison with Collin’s 43. Indeed, all Collin’s savings go towards firearms. “Guns are an investment, first and foremost, and they’re a passion, something the whole family can enjoy together.” I believe that, in the name of the Second Amendment, there are no firearms that individuals should be prevented from owning (Collin Singleton).

Katie (41 years old) – Central Texas Everybody dreams of going to California. Katie, however, longed to escape—not from the sun and beaches of popular imagination, but from the same liberal culture that has made it a mecca for others. “The government is becoming oppressive. There are always more gun control laws, dozens of petty restrictions telling you what you can and can't do. It’s impossible to feel at ease.” Katie comes from a family of hunters, has been shooting since she was 10 and is a member of the Ladies Shooting League. For her, that level of control was unbearable. “My husband and I came to Texas, and the fundamental difference is the freedom here.” To tell it to the world, Katie opened a business that makes home decor with quotations from the Second Amendment and the Constitution. It’s no coincidence that her company is called is ‘The Good Patriot’. She never goes out unarmed, for reasons of defence. “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. A place that’s full of unarmed people is a godsend for someone who wants to go in and commit a massacre,” she explains, but it's also “to show my faith in freedom and in the Second Amendment.” Freedom is my passion and I think that guns are necessary to defend it.

Graham Michael Remhart (24) – Tampa, Florida If he hadn't grown up watching the History Channel, maybe today Graham Michael Remhart would be working as a criminologist, putting his university degree to use. That would have made his mother—a woman so against guns that, when he was a boy, she would take them out of his Lego sets—very happy. Instead, after years of binging on documentaries about the two World Wars, and later books and movies on the same topic, Graham decided that the best way to get in touch with history was to become a collector of militaria. For years, having put his degree in a drawer, he’s been working in a gun shop and investing everything he can save in rare and antique items. “I like to put myself in the shoes of those who came before me, walk in their footsteps through the pieces I buy. The first time I walked into a munitions store I was looking for a Glock, but then I saw this really old Lee Enfield rifle on the wall and I thought it was just the coolest thing on Earth. It took me two months to decide whether to buy it or to opt for a simple tool for self-defense. In the end, I chose history.” Every item in his collection is in perfect working order. Graham uses long guns and handguns at the shooting range, where he often takes his friends to introduce them to firearms, particularly historical ones. “I love the mechanics of these tools. Each of these weapons works in a different way. Their inventors all thought of different ways of making them do the same thing. Looking at their details is truly fascinating.” My favorite is a Russian rifle from the Second World War, an SVT40 that was found in Finland.

Kitija Shiroma (29 years old) – Honolulu, Hawaii Kitija Shiroma, Mae to her friends, owns the biggest firing range in the Hawaiian Islands. She owns it with her stepfather, a former military man whom she thinks of as her dad. It was he who instilled in her a passion for firearms. She was 10 at the time and had just moved to Honolulu from her birthplace, Thailand. “I used to watch Hollywood movies. Like any kid, I wanted to learn more about what I saw, so my father would take me hunting with him, up in the mountains. People hunt a lot around here. There are deer and pigs—it's a rich land. That’s when I started shooting.” Her stepfather has also made it possible for her to amass one of the largest collection of firearms on the island, consisting largely of antiques. He buys them for himself and, when he gets tired of them, he passes them on to her. “As for me, I could never get tired of having new guns,” she says. “I want to own all of the wonderful ones I see here at the firing range. If I’m lucky, in another ten years I’ll have at least 100 guns.” Kitija has two great passions, firearms and the ocean. She dreams of making scuba diving into a career, but also of becoming a markswoman at a competitive level. At the moment, however, her everyday commitment is to change the way people think, given that, where she lives, they’re especially sceptical about firearms. “The more we teach people about gun culture,” she tells us, “the greater the chance that they’ll change their opinions.” I have military-type firearms. They’re like Legos for grownups, very fun to use and you can customize them any way you like. My first gun was a gift from my dad for my 22nd birthday. It was a little pink Chiappa revolver, a .38 Special.

Will Renke (35) – Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Every two weeks, Will Renke buys a new firearm. How long he’s been doing this and how many guns he has, he prefers not to say. “My collection? It’s big. Really, really big.” Underneath the solid image of a bright young entrepreneur, it's clear that he’s moved when he thinks back on the time he first fired a gun, at the age of 10, and on the shotgun itself, a Fox Savage .410 that he keeps carefully preserved. “Nothing is more important, because I don't think of it simply as a gun. It’s a piece of history, something that was given to me by my grandfather and that I will want to give to my children.” His grandfather imparted another lesson, as well, about “the importance of safety and the knowledge that you never pull the trigger unless you know exactly what’s in front of you.” Most of Will's enormous collection is under lock and key and, although he keeps a handgun in his car, he doesn’t always carry one with him. “In a dangerous situation, what I need is my education, the way I was raised and my people skills—not necessarily a bullet.” He is firmly convinced that violence is intrinsically linked to human nature and to a decline in values, both family and otherwise. “People only care about their own interests, so, if hurting someone is in that interest, they won’t hesitate. The next generations will have a chance to improve things if they learn responsibility, if they know how to communicate with others, if they respect their families, their schools, and the President, too, even when they don't like him.” “Shooting for the first time was an amazing experience, because I knew there was so much respect and just so much involved in what I was holding in my hand, in being a part of Americana.”

Parker B. “Baret” (33), Jalyn (29), Parker Knox (6) and Kiercley (4) Fawbush – Poseville, Indiana Parker B. Fawbush, known to all simply as Baret, is the pastor of his community in Poseville, Indiana. His congregation is based out of Old Union Christian Church, whose members number around 150. When he is not ministering to his flock of faithful, Baret turns his attention to firearms. A shooting instructor, his social media accounts, where he reviews different firearms and teaches people how to use them, have large followings. His two activities often overlap. “I use my guns as tools to teach people things about life. My posts are always accompanied by passages from the Scriptures.” It was Baret's father who taught him everything he knows. “He raised me to have great respect for guns, because they are a tool that gives you the chance to look out for yourself.” Today, he is committed to doing the same with his kids. “I take them shooting every once in a while. They love it. Once they understand there’s nothing to worry about, they start enjoying themselves.” There are guns of all kinds in his collection, including military models. “I grew up playing videogames and that probably gives them a certain appeal. I don't know exactly what it is that attracts me, though. It’s like asking what my favorite cartoon is.” One thing’s for certain, though. Until Kingdom come, he’s not willing to give them up. “If the government were to ask me to turn in my guns, I’d tell them that’s illegal, that it violates the Constitution. As I priest, I believe there are no guns in Heaven. If there were, though, it would be a safe place to have them.” The first pistol I ever bought was a brand-new P226. It cost 500 dollars.

Jay Hong (36), Helen Hong (35) and Jayden Hong (7) – Detroit, Michigan When Jay arrived in Detroit from South Korea at age 7, he dove headlong into American culture as a way to overcome, at least in part, the other children’s mistrust. “I grew up in the ’80s, watching a ton of action movies. That’s where I got my fascination with guns.” It is a passion that no one else in his family has ever shared. “I could never have gone shooting when I was a kid. Everyone in my family is really against the idea.” He made up for it at 21, as soon he was of legal age. That first pistol he bought was an American classic, a Glock 9mm. His wife Helen’s family is also from South Korea and likewise strongly opposed to guns, but now she, too, enjoys outings to the shooting range. The Hong family owns a total of 28 firearms, including many military-type models, which they like because they’re “reliable.” Their son Jayden won’t have to wait to be an adult before he can have a gun. “He went shooting with me for the first time when he was 6, as soon as he was big enough to hold a pistol. I’d really like to think that he enjoyed it, though I must admit that the noise at the firing range was a little much for him.”

Miguel Farinas (35) and Diliet Farinas – Miami, Florida If it weren't for Jean-Claude Van Damme's motion-picture feats, Miguel Farinas might not be the owner of 61 firearms, a collection that grows at a pace of one per month. Miguel, who was born into a Cuban family in Miami and whose wife came to Florida from Cuba at age 7, lived and breathed action movies growing up. “It was the ’90s, I was a boy and I was always watching stuff like Van Damme or Rambo. I thought they were so cool.” He fired a gun for the first time at age 16. “It was a Winchester .22 caliber, like cowboys have in Westerns,” he tells us. He waited until he was 25, though, to give his passion free rein. “It took me a really long time to decide to buy my first gun, but now I can’t stop. Some I buy because they’re cool, because I saw them in movies when I was a kid and they stayed with me,” he says. “Some give me self-confidence. Others connect me with the USA's colonial past, when people would come here and build something out of nothing. Back then they used guns to get their food, and having an antique gun puts me in their shoes, two hundred years later.” Miguel never goes out unarmed. He’s an NRA-certified instructor, and under no circumstances would he be willing to give up his idea of history and freedom. “If the government made some of the weapons I’ve purchased legally illegal, even if they were willing to pay me for them, well, I’d still say no. If you want them, come and get them.” My favorite gun is my PS90. It’s one I always wanted. I saw it on Star Games, I think in season two or three, and I fell in love with it. I think that everyone should have the right to purchase firearms. Part of American culture is having the right to defend ourselves.

Lamar Cooke and John Cooke – Chinle (Navajo Nation), Arizona The Navajo Nation, in the Arizona desert, comprises a part of what remains to Native Americans of their ancient and unspoiled lands. To defend these from intruders, whether animal or human, the Navajos have learned to value those same weapons that were used to massacre their own people two centuries ago. “There are a couple of guns in every home here on the reservation. We need them to defend our way of life,” explains Lamar Cooke. Together, he and his brother John share a collection of 35 firearms and some very clear ideas on how and why to use them. “The first time I shot a gun, one of our sheep was running away because a coyote had bitten it. My grandfather handed me a rifle and said, ‘Go and shoot at those dogs. We have to protect the livestock,’ ” John recalls. Both he and Lamar always go out armed. “It's necessary, to defend our lives.” Nonetheless, shooting has also become a recreational activity for them both, whether they’re hunting coyotes in the desert or traveling to the firing range to participate in competitions. They’re both strongly opposed to gun control laws and highly skeptical when it comes to the media. “When I hear news about mass shootings, I think about 1864. Back then, there were a lot more of them than now, but they weren’t publicized. They happened in the United States and elsewhere in the world. I’m a Navajo, an indigenous person, so I know perfectly well that there have been more mass massacres in our history than have ever been told,” says John. On the Navajo reservation there are no gun laws. It’s still the old Wild West.

Stephen F. Wagner (66 years old) – State College, Pennsylvania Until the age of 50, Stephen just wished. He dreamed, assessed, studied history and models. He’s been fascinated with guns since childhood. When he was 8, his grandfather put a revolver in his hand and explained the basics. Decades later, Stephen would use that same handgun to teach his own children to shoot. It was a Smith & Wesson, and today it still holds a place of honour in the collection he’s spent the last 15 years building, starting when he left his job as a FedEx delivery man to go to work part time in a gun shop and also as an NRA-certified shooting instructor. Since then, Stephen has collected about 70 firearms. He favours rare and antique pieces. “I’m fascinated by the idea of being a part of history through the guns I own,” he explains. Those that date from the Spanish-American War are among the most valuable, but he is particularly proud of his American-made firearms and his collection of pieces from the 1970s. “I keep on buying them. They’re a good investment and they’ll be a marvelous legacy to pass on to my children.” Every one of his guns has been used at least once. However, as is true of any collection worthy of the name, the joy comes from ownership. “We Americans are very lucky. It’s wonderful to have a bond of this sort with our country.” I think that revolvers are the quintessence of this nation. As an American citizen, I feel very fortunate to live in a country where we have the freedom to own firearms.

Tracy Whitsell (25) – Evansville, Indiana Mechanic during the week, fitness instructor and model for calendars and magazines on weekends, gun collector seven days a week. Tracy Whitsell is a girl with a multifaceted life. After she quit her criminology studies, she got a job repairing buses for the Evansville School Corporation. Her earnings she puts towards firearms, a passion she’s nurtured since childhood. Her father taught her how to shoot when she was 11. There were a lot of guns in the house and he wanted Tracy and her sister to be able to handle them safely. “I figured out what I enjoyed pretty quickly. In high school I started shooting competitively. It became a hobby.” Gun magazines often call her in to model for articles. When she’s not busy posing with one of her antique handguns (she has a modest collection, inherited in part from her family), she’s taking part in fitness competitions. She is opposed to any laws that would restrict gun rights. “I don't believe there are groups of people who shouldn’t have them. Neither do I believe that there are types of weapons that people shouldn’t be allowed to have. Every individual has to be responsible for their own guns, use them appropriately, and keep them secure. If they do that, then they can have whatever they want.”

David Kikukawa (25 years old) – Kailua, Hawaii If Hawaii is not like other places, that’s not just down to the beauty of its islands. It is, in fact, one of the few American states where buying and owning guns is neither particularly common nor well thought of—not even by David’s family. It’s no coincidence that he learned to shoot in Canada, at his uncle's ranch. After that, from the age of 8, he nursed a desire to own firearms, regardless of the collective hostility to the idea. He purchased his first revolver “without really having to think twice about it”, just after finishing high school and not long before enlisting in the army, where he would spend 4 years. Since returning to civilian life, he’s gone on to shoot in competitions, but he also collects guns to safeguard himself and his freedom. “I have military-type guns. In the beginning I liked having them for practice, but today I think they’re excellent for self defense.” Be that as it may, he has never been assaulted or been the victim of a crime, and in Hawaii it’s not legal to carry a gun. “One of my fears is finding myself in a dangerous situation, like a mass shooting, and not being able to do anything because I’m not armed.” The first gun I bought was a Remington 870. I got it when I finished high school, without really having to think twice about it. If I have to pick a favorite, I’d say an AR 9. It’s the gun I use in competitions and I shoot with it a couple of times a week. When I hear about a mass shooting, I feel the way I do when there's a serious traffic accident. It’s never the tool, never the gun. It’s the person. It makes no sense to blame guns.

James Han (37) and Seo Hyun Jung (27) – Detroit, Michigan James Han dreamed of being a successful golfer. What he became was a competitive marksman. It was a question of chance—a broken arm that put an end to his professional golfing aspirations. When he turned 34, a friend took him to the shooting range as a birthday present. Until that day, James, who works alongside his wife, Seo Hyun, as a wedding photographer, had never fired a gun. “I didn’t even know how to hold a gun, but he taught me. I emptied my first magazine and I thought, ‘This is my sport’. I learned to handle every sort of gun after that. Then I started shooting in competitions.” Today, he’s a member of the USPA (the United States Practical Shooting Association), America’s federation of shooting sports, and he’s become a collector. “My guns have to be perfect for me. That’s why I build them all myself. I order the parts online or from a gun shop and I assemble them at home.” James and his wife are South Korean by birth, but they came to the United States at ages 15 and 7, respectively. Neither of their families have a passion for firearms, although they don’t have anything against them. “Our parents don’t have many guns, but they belong to a different generation. At least half of my friends have firearms.”

Micah Harris (31) – Oxnard, California Since he was a boy, Micah Harris has had just one wish—to surround himself with the same guns he's seen in Hollywood movies. He would dream about them at night, first and foremost among them, “Bruce Willis’s Beretta from Die Hard. It's a legend.” However, surrounding oneself with firearms is no simple thing in California, and not well looked upon either. When he decided to buy his first rifle, a Remington 700, the bureaucratic hoops he had to jump through were so many and so complex that he decided to set up a YouTube channel, posting updates on his progress and sharing what he learned along the way. The channel garnered moderate success. Today, Micah knows all the rules and advises others on how to buy the firearms they want. He manages a gun shop that he founded with a friend, and he’s also a member of the NRA. Losing some friends in a mass shooting only strengthened his convictions about the importance of knowing how to defend oneself. “Shootings are a tragic way to use a tool that was never conceived for that purpose. If I could speak to the victims, I’d tell them I offer them all of my help and understanding, and that I’d be happy to teach them how to use guns, so that they could defend themselves in the future.” Choosing a favorite gun is kind of like choosing a favorite child. If I really had to, I’d say an Mk 12 Mod 1

Brickell Clark (26) – Key West, Florida Brickell Clark could list a whole lot of excellent reasons for purchasing a gun, but there are two that are particularly important to her—they’re chic and they’re a great equalizer. In their own way, they’re almost a new tool of feminism. AmericanGunChic is the nickname you can use to track her down on Instagram and YouTube. There, she shows people that a passion for guns isn’t something that’s suitable only to men. Most importantly, she lets them know that, “While everyone has a right to own guns, for a woman it’s also a way to be any man's equal.” Brickell was born in California, grew up in Colorado, and was working as a waitress in Florida when she shot a gun for the first time, at the age of 23. “I was really nervous and scared, because I didn't know how the gun would behave, but as soon as I pulled the trigger, I was relieved. It wasn't bad at all.” The photos she published on social media after that first time garnered so much attention that she decided to become an influencer. Today, she has nearly 20 thousand followers, a fact that makes her very proud. “They are very patriotic, faithful to the Constitution, respectful of the law. They're men and women from all over the world who love liberty, whose priorities are independence, the ability to defend themselves, and safety. The first gun I bought for myself was a Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380. I’m not a gun collector. I’m just a person who loves liberty.

Christina L. Branum (left) and Abby Swink (right) – Virginia Beach, Virginia (also in the photo: Stephen Ness) Christina and Abby were already adults when they met and became best friends. After hours spent chatting at Abby’s hair salon, where Christina is a customer, they discovered their shared passion for guns. In both cases, it dates from childhood, from hunting trips with parents or whole-family affairs. “My father always tells me how, when I was six years old, he took me outside, handed me his .357 Smith & Wesson and helped me to aim. Then he felt me pull the trigger and I burst out laughing,” says Abby, who grew up in Ohio but moved to Virginia ten years ago. Since then, she’s dreamed of “always shopping for guns”, though for the moment she’s stopped at 13. She is never without her handgun. “I always carry it with me. I’ve found so many ways to ‘wear’ it—tucked into my belt, hanging from it, in my purse. Looking for new ones has become almost a game.” Christina works on a military base, so she can’t walk around armed, but that hasn’t stopped her from collecting a total of 15 firearms over the years.” Every once in a while, my husband and I sell off one of our guns to buy a bigger or more exciting one. Usually we’ll buy one, work on it a little to improve it, and resell it. Then we can afford something better.” That, too, is a family tradition, like the hunting trips when she was a girl. “There were a lot of woods where I grew up. We’d go out after deer or squirrels. We’ve also grown increasingly patriotic over time. When Abby and I discovered that we both liked guns, we formed a strong bond.” Shooting is a skill. When you grow up in the country, you love going hunting not only because you like the meat you’ll get to eat, but also because you love competition: Who’s going to come home with the best bag? (Christina)

Tracy Whitsell (25) – Evansville, Indiana Mechanic during the week, fitness instructor and model for calendars and magazines on weekends, gun collector seven days a week. Tracy Whitsell is a girl with a multifaceted life. After she quit her criminology studies, she got a job repairing buses for the Evansville School Corporation. Her earnings she puts towards firearms, a passion she’s nurtured since childhood. Her father taught her how to shoot when she was 11. There were a lot of guns in the house and he wanted Tracy and her sister to be able to handle them safely. “I figured out what I enjoyed pretty quickly. In high school I started shooting competitively. It became a hobby.” Gun magazines often call her in to model for articles. When she’s not busy posing with one of her antique handguns (she has a modest collection, inherited in part from her family), she’s taking part in fitness competitions. She is opposed to any laws that would restrict gun rights. “I don't believe there are groups of people who shouldn’t have them. Neither do I believe that there are types of weapons that people shouldn’t be allowed to have. Every individual has to be responsible for their own guns, use them appropriately, and keep them secure. If they do that, then they can have whatever they want.”

Lee A. Harris (52) and Candius Harris (40), with their children, Lee II (13) and Camille (6) Atlanta, Georgia If you ask Lee A. Harris about his earliest childhood memories, he might not be able to recall the exact scenes, but he’ll be sure of one thing: there were guns. A military man and the son of a military man, growing up in the midst of soldiers and drills, Lee was surrounded by guns of all sorts from the time he was a baby. “They were a familiar part of life and always have been. On top of that, I went hunting with my father from the time I was really young.” The first time Lee fired a gun, he was 10. He and his father were hunting squirrels. “I remember taking aim and pulling the trigger, then the flash of light and the incredible recoil—stronger than I’d expected. It was an adrenalin rush, but scary, too, in its own way.” Lee served as a sheriff after retiring from the Army, and now he runs a private company. His children are extremely careful around the twenty-two firearms their father keeps at home. “My 13-year-old son knows how to handle them safely. My daughter is only 6 and I probably won’t teach her to shoot until she’s 10, but she already knows not to touch them.” Lee and his wife Candius, who both go to the firing range at least once a month, are aware of the risks. “I believe there is a link between the number of accidents and deaths in the US and the number of firearms in this country. Children that don’t understand what guns are might play with them and point them at themselves or someone else. If there were no guns, that wouldn’t happen.”

Joanna Hernandez (left) and Tracy Lee (both 32) – Las Vegas, Nevada (in the background, Mila and Violet Hernandez, Joanna’s daughters) Joanna Hernandez and Tracy Lee are fast friends, and their strongest bond is their shared love of guns. Joanna is a painter and has a digital marketing company, while Tracy, known to all as Tracy Guns, is a professional photographer. She became interested in firearms as an indirect result of her work. At the time, she was traveling the country, following Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters. One of them taught her how to shoot. “I did so well that the girl who worked at the firing range came over to compliment me,” she recalls. She hasn't stopped since, and gun collecting has become her passion. Joanna, on the other hand, wanted to learn to shoot for self-defense, but it grew on her. “I was 21 years old and, to start teaching me, they gave me a Mossberg 500. I was pretty scared, because it’s a powerful gun, but I wanted it so I could learn to defend myself. These days, if I like a gun, I buy it right away.” Living in Las Vegas, they both have very vivid memories of the mass shooting that, in the summer of 2017, led to the deaths of 59 people, making it the deadliest in American history. “A lot of my friends were there. Afterwards, most of them wanted to learn how to use a gun for self-defense. The problem is never the gun, it’s the finger that pulls the trigger. If someone wants to kill, they’ll find a way to do it.” If the weapons I own were to become illegal tomorrow, I don't know how I’d react to that. I respect the law, but I want to be able to defend myself and I believe in the Second Amendment with all my heart. I don't think the police would follow their orders. They wouldn’t come to take them. (Tracy) It’s always devastating when you hear about a mass shooting. We use our guns the right way, and they use them to hurt people. (Joanna)

Steve (46) and Nicole (38) Downs – Jordan, Montana When Nicole married Steve Downs in 1999, he decided to give her a truly special gift, her first gun. He knew she'd like it, because his wife, who works in a feed store, started shooting with her parents when she was just a child. “Sometimes they’d let me shoot at the cows they’d decided to slaughter to provide meat for our family,” she tells us, as a testament to her passion. Steve, on the other hand, got his first gun at the age of 11, as a gift from an uncle. Today, he has handed that gun down to his son, as family tradition dictates. Steve is a highway patrolman. He has only had to shoot at a person once while on the job, but he practises a lot all the same. “I love going to the shooting range and hunting in the fields, too. I shoot at least five times a week.” Today, between the two of them, they have a thirty-five-piece collection, a passion matched only by their love of cats, which have been given the run of the house.

Mia Farinelli (15 years old) - Alexandria, Virginia The first time Mia Farinelli held ‘The Cricket’, it felt enormous. Mia was 7 years old at the time and had never shot a gun before. ‘The Cricket’ was her uncle’s affectionate nickname for his Bolt .22 rifle. It was on that visit, to a farm owned by relatives, that her father taught her how to aim and pull the trigger. “I was excited, because I hit the targets right off the bat,” she says. In fact, she was so good that her father sensed she had the potential to become a junior champion. Since that day, the 15-year-old has competed in dozens of different sorts of shooting competitions, working towards her dream of joining the army. “It would be amazing. I’d get to shoot every day.” While she has a modest collection of firearms (she’s sponsored by several local stores), Mia isn’t legally old enough to carry a gun of her own. Neither has she given much thought as to whether she will when she’s older. “The reason I love guns is for sports. I don't want to talk about politics, but I do support anyone who wants to own a gun.” I don't have a favorite gun. To me, they’re like children. You can't have a favorite.

Timmy Thomas Jr. (31) with his wife Dominique Heller (27) and their sons Timmy II and Taylor – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania What Timmy Thomas Heller Jr. remembers most about the first time he shot a gun is the headache it gave him. “I was 19 years old. My cousin and I were out by the woods, in North Carolina. He was older than me and had a collection of firearms. He handed me an AR-15 and I shot it. We didn't have anything to protect ourselves against the sound and it was so loud that afterwards I felt sick.” His father and that same older cousin, along with the movies and videogames he would binge on as a kid, are responsible for his passion for firearms, although his love for sneakers runs a close second. Timmy, who installs heating systems for a living, puts everything he can save into shoes and guns. He and his wife, Dominique, love to go to the firing range, and sometimes they take along their son, Timmy II, who already has excellent aim. “Our daughter’s still too young. I’ll have to wait until she turns at least 9 to teach her.” Even outside of the shooting range, Timmy is never without his handgun. “The only place I don't take it is to work. If I don't have it with me, I’m afraid I could be killed. We’re in Philadelphia, a city where the crime rate is really high.” My favorite gun is an AR-15, and I love it because I built it myself.