CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT

Words by Carrie Stetler | Images by David Mager

Whenever there’s a mass murder or high profile killing involving guns, statistics are dusted off and updated. In 2011, there were 9,146 gun-related homicides in the U.S, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

By comparison, the gun death rate for the U.K., which bans handguns, was 173 (or .3 deaths per 100,000 people. In the U.S., a much larger country, the figure was 3 per 100,000). The U.S. has the highest number of gun owners in the world. A 2011 Gallup Poll revealed that 47 percent of Americans reported having guns.

For those who oppose guns, it can be hard to comprehend the impulse to own a firearm, let alone use it. Photographer David Mager, of Parsippany, New Jersey, wanted to learn more. So he began a photo essay on middle class gun owners at home with their weapons. “I’m fascinated by them,” says Mager, who teaches photography at the New York Film Academy. “I’ve always been strongly against guns. But after talking to the people in these photos, I'm not sure how I feel anymore. Owning a gun is a very secretive thing. In New Jersey, at least, it’s not like you boast, ‘I’m a gun owner;’ a lot of people are critical. Getting into their spaces was like being let in on the secret. It revealed a lot about the people and how they feel.”

Mager’s subjects have had little real life experience with gun violence. They live in suburbia, and more than half of all gun-related deaths in America occur in urban areas, according to federal statistics. Yet many bought guns for self-protection. Some are collectors and most enjoy visiting the shooting range with friends. Many have encountered suspicion from anti-gun acquaintances who view them as fanatical and paranoid, but Mager—who likes to work with artificial light in ordinary settings—discovered something else. "I saw pride, strength, intelligence and an ability to really talk about the reasons why they should be allowed to own firearms. I don't think any of them had an attitude of, ‘if you don't agree with me you’re wrong.’ Most of them were like, ‘you’re entitled to your opinion,’’’ says Mager.

Brad, who opened a shooting range in Morris County this year—and posed for Mager with his family—shares his feelings about guns, the Constitution, and what he perceives as the “stigma” surrounding gun ownership:

When people hear that I have guns and own a gun shop, they’re surprised. Everyone comes in and says, "oh are you a cop?" I’m a video editor. I’m a normal guy with a passion for firearms. But they have such a bad reputation you almost feel like you’re dirty, like there’s something wrong with you. Truthfully, there is a culture. Some people call it a gun culture. I call it a culture of people who have a common belief and understanding. You feel like you’re part of a family where something so taboo, like guns, can be both something fun or something you use to protect yourself. We want to feel like it’s ok to shoot. It’s alright, there’s nothing bad about you. I think some people live in a condition where they think the odds are so low of something happening that they don’t think it’s worth it to own a gun.

I think there’s a beauty to that belief. But bad things happen all the time. Someone could come in and want to kill you and rape your wife. The reality is no matter how many laws you put out there, the only people following the law are the people who aren’t criminals. Those laws aren’t going to stop criminals from getting guns. The only people they can stop from getting guns are lawful citizens. Just because you put a gun in someone’s hand doesn’t make you a vigilante or a killer. When they look at someone like George Zimmerman, this one instance creates this idea that all gun guys are just waiting for these opportunities to use our firearms and may even artificially create an opportunity. I think for most, if not all the people I have met, that’s not true. I hope we never have to use our firearms for anything other than the paper targets at the range. But I’m not giving someone else the power. I’m taking the power back. At the end of the day, it’s a constitutional amendment. You can’t pick and choose your favorite amendments—it is what it is. It’s a part of what America’s about.