Piece Comment

Review of Owning Guns


Too many writers feel the need to bash audiences over the head with their message. They pose dilemmas and promply offer solutions. The best part about Jay Allison's "Owning Guns" are the questions left unanswered. In this essay, he talks about his desire to buy a gun after his divorce, not for bad intentions, but for a sense of ... we don't know exactly. He doesn't say. He hints the handgun purchases might offer a sense of emotional safety, not physical safety. (The writer fired guns as a youth.) And he's smart enough to check in with his kids about it. His daughter advises him against it: "It's not you, Dad." He goes ahead anyway, buying a couple of handguns that he later fools around with while watching TV. We hear the click-click-click of the empty chamber as we imagine Jay watching TV, allowing the numbness of the media to wash over him as he ponders his uncertain future. There are other great audio snippets: A gun shop owner matter-of-factly describing his wares, the interaction with his kids and the bang-bang-bang of the gun on the firing range. This piece already aired on ATC, but it's worth another listen.