Gun control: How a US liberal learned to love guns
Freelance writer Dan Baum is a self-described gun guy. But even though he has 15 firearms locked in a cabinet in his garage and loves an outing at the shooting range, he does not exactly fit the stereotype.
"I am a Jewish, liberal Democrat and a gun guy," he says, "which in the US is a very weird hybrid."
The writer, who grew up in New Jersey and now lives in Colorado, says he is representative of millions of ordinary gun-owning Americans.
He wants both sides of the gun control debate - the politicians who want background checks as well as the National Rifle Association, which opposes new regulations - to listen to what these "average gun guys" want.
For his new book Gun Guys: A Road Trip, Mr Baum travelled across the US and met a variety of gun owners, from those blasting automatic weapons in the desert to a school teacher hunting pigs.
He talked to the BBC about his attempt to explain his own and Americans' fascination with firearms.
Produced by Anna Bressanin, Images by Ilya Shnitser
05 Apr 2013
- From the section Magazine