Civil gun debate requires understanding, respecting other views

In the past year or so, I’ve gotten into the sport of shooting. I purchased my first gun, a Marlin Model 250N .22 long rifle, about a year ago at the ripe age of 47, and got myself a 10-session card to the Blacks Creek Public Shooting Range. I’ve made new shooting friends, who have given me an opportunity to shoot an M1 Garand, a Sharps buffalo rifle, a Remington Model 700, even a Taurus .454 Casull revolver, among others, and other friends have taken me to shoot clays with a semi-auto shotgun.

Many, if not most, of my friends here in Idaho own guns. They own .22s, shotguns, handguns and hunting rifles. Most own multiple guns because of the different uses, whether it’s for plinking, hunting game or hunting birds. I’m not certain, but I don’t think any of my friends owns a military-style rifle, such as an AR-15.

It’s an odd place to find myself, someone who grew up never having fired a gun until I was in my 20s and didn’t fire one again until I was in my 40s. Shooting guns was never even remotely of interest to me until a year or so ago.

But when I did get interested in guns, I got a little obsessed, an experience I’m sure most gun lovers and shooters can appreciate and understand.

One of the best places to learn about guns is YouTube, where you can find no end of videos on guns. Personally, my favorite is Hickok45, an older gentleman who explains and shoots guns at his personal shooting range among the bucolic hills of Tennessee. I’m not alone in being a fan. He has 4.3 million subscribers, and his videos typically have 100,000 to 500,000 views each. YouTubers like Hickok45 tend to be relatively apolitical; they’re just into guns. They like talking about guns, reviewing them, giving the history of certain guns and, of course, shooting them.

The thing about YouTube, though, like all social media, is that the algorithm takes hold. “Ah, I see you like guns,” the algorithm overlord says. “Most of my other viewers who like to watch gun videos also like to watch these videos….” and then I’m served up a recommended video of a guy talking about some gun like a Lee Enfield from World War II. Then he starts talking about fighting for our right to own these guns. Then he starts talking about how “the Left” are trying to “grab your guns” because they want to subjugate the masses and be able to round up the people and put them in concentration camps and, all of a sudden, I’m watching archival footage of Jews being led to Auschwitz. Whoa, what just happened? I just wanted to watch a video about a Lee Enfield.

I close the video, ready to move on, but now my recommended feed is filled with other videos with titles like, “Why socialists want to destroy America!” From there, you quickly get conspiracy videos about Jeffrey Epstein, the Deep State and child trafficking rings in pizza joints.

The speed with which crazy gets spread on YouTube is stunning.

Social media is more than just an echo chamber; it’s an echo chamber with an amp, and it goes up to 11.

In this environment, much like our national political climate, it isn’t possible to like guns and still think there’s sensible gun control legislation. It has to be all or nothing — and the opposing side is the villain. If you like to shoot guns, you’re a crazy redneck gun nut. If you want to do something about mass shootings, you’re a communist gun grabber.

But if we’re to have civil discourse about guns, we’re going to have to listen to each other, and we’re going to have to stop vilifying each other.

We’re going to have to humanize those who like to shoot guns and those who want to stop mass shootings of innocent people. We’re going to have do more listening, more understanding and we’re going to have to do more explaining — in a civil manner (not, “It’s a magazine, not a clip, you moron”).

So I’d like to invite reasonable people on both sides not only to share their views but to hear the views of people on the other side of the debate. The issue of guns isn’t going away. It’s much better if we have an open dialogue about it.

Scott McIntosh

Opinion Contributor,

Idaho Statesman

208-377-6202

Scott McIntosh is the Idaho Statesman opinion editor. A graduate of Syracuse University, he joined the Statesman in August 2019. He previously was editor of the Idaho Press and the Argus Observer and was the owner and editor of the Kuna Melba News. He has been honored for his editorials and columns as well as his education, business and local government watchdog reporting by the Idaho Press Club and the National Newspaper Association. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, The Idaho Way. Support my work with a digital subscription