Gunsmoke and Mirrors

The bad guy always got it at the end.  We all knew it and could often even predict how it would happen.

Mine was the generation of TV Westerns, first in black and white and later, magically, in color. I was recently surprised to hear friends admit that they watch reruns of Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Rifleman, Wagon Train, Rawhide, and many others. I had to admit that I also still enjoy them.  Black and white or color – it doesn’t matter. Heck, you can choose between Gunsmoke episodes on two channels at the same time – one is the old 30-minute black and white version with the meaner Matt Dillon and the other is the later, full hour color version.  But either way, all the men wear gun belts with holstered pistols and a bad guy (or many bad guys) get shot and die by the end of the show.  And Matt always outdraws everyone.

It’s part of America’s gun culture and underpinnings. To be sure, you often saw a good person or two get shot early in an episode, but what you didn’t see was someone walking into a church and shooting as many as possible or picking off people on the street from the Dodge House Hotel. That would be unacceptable, even for a bad guy. 

I grew up in a house with guns. They were used for target practice and hunting, not protection, although, what young boy didn’t dream of having to protect the family against communists invading our town?  My two older brothers got into hunting early on, not so much led by my father, but by friends and relatives.  Gun safety training was a rite of passage, so when it was my turn, I attended it as they had in the old VFW on Broad St. (part of the YMCA now). By then, though, I had endured the assassination of a president and the “Texas Tower Sniper”. Both events greatly affected my perception of guns. I couldn’t understand why someone would do that.

During my early teenage years, I had a hand-me-down .22 and later, a .410 shotgun. But I never really took to guns. They needed to be cleaned, bullets cost a lot for a kid, and I couldn’t hit anything. You also had to walk quietly through the cold woods, anticipating that two seconds you’d have to shoot a grouse you scared up. I had more fun shooting at pine cones with my old BB gun.  They didn’t fly away from you. Hunting takes patience and I have never had enough of that.

When I became eligible to join the deer hunting party, I declined. I just wasn’t interested. I thought a lot about it but just couldn’t bring myself to get engaged in it or any hunting for that matter. I was interested in other things. Maybe it was sibling rivalry. We all look for pursuits that help you stand out among your siblings and peers and for me hunting just was not going to be one of them. 

I could shoot a deer. It’s not a Bambi thing with me, but bragging rights over antler size is not important to me. I’m also concerned that I wouldn’t be engaged enough to avoid getting shot or shooting someone. And no one wants to hunt with someone like that. Just ask my brothers. I’d be about as successful at hunting as I was at drinking.

I don’t want a permit to carry. I have enough trouble carrying a wallet and cell phone. My current gun arsenal consists of a $20 pistol that shoots plastic pellets. It’s about as accurate as me throwing a strike.  I don’t even remember when I last used the gun.

I have nothing against owning guns and hunting with them. Guns are part of America. I’m reminded of them almost daily since I can hear the gun range from my house. I heard shooting at 6:30 one recent morning. That was probably duck hunters down in the river bottoms.

If you have guns, go ahead and have target practice. Go hunting. To me, that’s what they’re for. If you have extra venison, I’ll take some. I love venison.

But we have a serious problem with some gun owners that affects us all. Mass shootings seem to have become a contest to get the highest body count. And the smoke and mirrors used to minimize them (“this is just a rare instance of a crazy man”) continue.

What I hope is that everyone, especially gun owners who should want to help mitigate this, will get serious and figure out how we can go to church, school, or a movie without looking over our shoulders, how we can attend an outdoor concert without having to scan nearby tall buildings, and how we can simply lead our daily lives without the need to carry concealed weapons.

Matt Dillon would thank us.