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Perspective: America's gun

Wikimedia, Pixabay

Aurora, Las Vegas, Orlando, Parkland, Sandy Hook, Uvalde. AR-15.

What do those names evoke in you?

As a non-fiction junkie, I search for books that show me all I don’t know and understand.

I recently finished “American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15,” published in 2023, a historical examination of America’s most well-known and infamous weapon. It was written by Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson, two investigative journalists with the Wall Street Journal who’ve covered violence, mass shootings and natural disasters. The book traces the AR-15 from its invention all the way to its role in so many headline-grabbing slaughters.

Its inventor, Eugene Stoner, was a quiet Marine and gun hobbyist from Indiana. First brought to market by the ArmaLite Corporation as its 15th weapon, the AR-15 became the M16, the standard rifle of the U.S. military and later a weapon of civilian destruction.

The AR-15 is lightweight, easy to fire, dependable, affordable, and seemingly everywhere—it’s estimated there are more than 23 million AR-15s owned by Americans.

It’s also devastating, as the authors illustrate the gruesome impact on a human body from being hit by a relatively small bullet fired at such high velocity.

Few issues in our country today seem as intractable as gun violence—my own mental gymnastics rarely yield an easy solution. Yet a book like this helps the reader understand the complex societal, political, and human issues at play.

As a political anomaly—I’m a Democrat who shoots guns regularly—I believe everyone should safely fire a gun at least once, if only to understand what they can and can’t do. Perhaps if more did, we might develop a society that fires them less.

I’m Wester Wuori and that’s my Perspective.

Wester Wuori is one of the original WNIJ Perspectives contributors. He lives in Rockford.