Usually, he never parts with it. He sleeps with it, shops with it, drives with it, will vote with it. Today it’s a little different. “No entry with a loaded weapon!” » warns a sign. David Wright is dismayed but complies and removes the magazine from his Canik 9 mm, a Turkish pistol which he ends up putting, reluctantly, in the trunk. Welcome to the Gun & Knife Show in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, one of those traveling fairs celebrating the 2nd Amendment, where you can freely buy or trade firearms and ammunition. Admission: $10 for adults, free for children under 12. Soda fountains, corn dogs and American flags are part of the party.
“It’s crazy that in places like this we have to do this! Walking around with a weapon without a magazine is completely stupid too”whispers this 51-year-old man, dressed in a faded tank top inscribed “Molon labe” (“Come and take” in Greek, a replica of King Leonidas of Sparta, which in the United States has become one of the mottos of supporters of this right constitutional). This Texan, based in Kentucky “for a woman but also because it is a gun-friendly state”is an absolutist defender of weapons.
Former leader of an anti-Islam militia which made headlines a few years ago in Texas, David dissolved his organization after the January 6 assault: many of its members were “sheep incapable of thinking for themselveshe said, blindly obeying Trump”. Criticism of the Republican candidate, “not the best pro-guns we could have had”David will still vote for him on November 5, “because he is still better on the subject than Kamala”.
The Democratic candidate nevertheless surprised during her debate against Trump by confessing to owning a weapon. In front of presenter Oprah Winfrey, Kamala Harris added a layer: “If someone broke into my house, I would shoot them!” » A strong nod to white men – a segment of the electorate where she is lagging far behind – to tell them that their right to own a weapon will not be called into question under her possible presidency. Unless… if it is “an assault weapon”a very imprecise term in the United States which mainly aims to ban a semi-automatic rifle very popular across the Atlantic, the AR-15, star of gun shows but also, unfortunately, mass killings. Twenty-seven million AR-15s are in circulation in the United States, mainly among hunters.
“What does an assault weapon mean?” Nothing, absolutely nothing! It means “something that looks scary”explains, dismayed, Jerry Quiggins, one of the gunsmiths at the show, who does not believe for a moment that a Harris government will dare to ban anything: “There are ten guns per American. Impossible to grasp… And that would be very bad news for our industry, one of the last to still hold on. » David Wright becomes more educational, picking up a bottle of water and pretending to hit us with it: “There you go, I present to you another assault weapon. I could have done it with a spoon. Or, as in France, with a knife… It’s apparently in vogue here. » A classic argument among the defenders of the carrying of weapons who see in the Old Continent a space where we cannot defend ourselves… We cite France and, in general, the United Kingdom, which we always complain of not not be able to resist “hordes of migrants”. When you want to speak to the press: “No reporter and no French, sorry!” » blurted out a young man as skinny as the AK-47 hanging on his back.
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“A gun is not a weapon, it’s a tool”
In 2023, the number of firearm homicides was 40,000 victims, including 597 deaths and 2,380 injuries in “mass killings” which the FBI defines as “an event in which one or more shooters are engaged in the murder or attempted murder of persons located in a populated area”. Relative to the number of inhabitants, it is five times higher than in France.
“It’s stupid to imagine that we could solve this problem by banning guns. A gun is not a weapon, it is a tool to feed yourself and defend your family. The weapon is the person who holds it”says Tom Shawver, a 60-year-old grandfather who has several thousand of them spread across six rooms in his home and who teaches his 8-year-old grandson how to use them. What if Democrats removed this right? “I will fight!” » Everywhere, the same refrain: to touch the 2nd amendment is to attack the spirit of the Founding Fathers.
« It’s a God-given right (“a God’s given right”)this David… and there can be no exception or interpretation. » Above all, everyone blames the absence of a real public mental health care policy. “It’s always the same profile. Young people harassed at school or people who haven’t taken their medication”says Ray Caulk, 38, who walks the aisles with a Sporter SKS, a sort of AK-47 in semi-automatic version. Josh and Drew, father and son, join the conversation: “There are still some controls in Kentucky. You must answer 25 questions before leaving with your purchase. » But no one to check the veracity of the answers.
Everywhere, the same refrain: to touch the 2nd amendment is to attack the spirit of the Founding Fathers
“A child can use it”
400 kilometers away, in Charleston, capital of West Virginia, another gun show stands. More family-friendly… More relaxed and, oddly enough, more feminine. Sarah Bellamy runs a stall; AR-15 type 22 long rifles are sold there, less powerful than the 5.56 used by Thomas Crooks, the shooter at the Butler meeting. “There is less hindsight. A child can use it »explains Sarah. A responsible young mother, Sarah gave her 4-year-old son his first gun, then trained him to shoot from the age of 5, “to acquire the discipline of relaxation”she says while miming the action of clicking on the safety of her pistol, which she carries on her thigh. Behind her computer, she checked the buyers’ identity documents all day long.
“The sale was only refused once”relates Sarah. But nothing prevents another buyer from legally obtaining the weapon and reselling it, without documentation. It’s legal in West Virginia. At the same stand, Bryden Syders makes a comparison: “Here, we’re not in California or Chicago. That’s right, in West Virginia you can get a revolver or rifle in minutes. In some liberal states, it takes several days of verification to own a gun. This is not in the spirit of the Constitution. And, honestly, is Chicago known for being particularly safe? » And to use this old slogan that we owe to the American writer Louis L’Amour, author of westerns and great friend of Reagan: “When you make guns outlawed, then only the outlaws are armed. »
