Show Don’t Tell – Preaching the Gospel of Gun Owner Normality

My life is so much better when I don’t have to engage the gun issue in America; I don’t know why I continue doing this to myself. Some days I think it is just the sunk costs of having spent 12 years of my life trying to bring light to an issue that seems more overheated every day. On other days, I am inspired by people I meet to press on trying to tell the story of American gun culture accurately and fairly. Last weekend I had such a day.

Since classes ended this spring, I have been in Northern California helping my newly-widowed mother and celebrating a landmark birthday for my oldest sister. I haven’t had too many free days in my schedule, but as luck has it, one of them coincided with a very interesting shooting event presented by a new organization, Open Source Shooting Sports (OS3).

I will have more to say about the APA x Mother’s Day event on my Gun Curious blog later. Today I want to focus on what I learned at the event about representing responsible gun owners and gun ownership.

As we were chatting near the end of the event, one of the attendees commented, “There’s a stigma that you have to overcome.” She was referring in particular to the stigma she felt as an African American woman and Democrat who enjoys shooting. “There’s so much that’s put onto shooting,” she continued. “We’re shooting targets. We’re not shooting people.”

A special guest attendee at the event was Chris Cheng, winner of Season 4 of The History Channel’s show “Top Shot.” I’ve written about the importance of Top Shot to my development, about the importance of Chris Cheng to gun culture, and my previous experience having a beer and empanadas with him.

So I was excited to see him again and took the opportunity to follow up on the stigma issue raised by the other attendee. How does Chris Cheng — San Francisco resident, Silicon Valley professional, LGBT and diversity advocate — manage the stigma of being a high-profile shooter in those communities?

His response was succinct and scalable.

Chris Cheng’s bottom line:

“Show don’t tell.”

As someone who tells for a living, this approach really struck me.

It immediately took me back to my days studying the Catholic Church and a phrase often (and apparently incorrectly) attributed to St. Francis of Assisi:

“Preach the Gospel always! When necessary, use words.”

Chris Cheng is a role model in the gun culture not just for his shooting skills, but for his embodying the ethic of responsible gun ownership. Not telling people why guns are normal but showing people that normal people use guns.

Especially for a new shooter coming to the range, Chris Cheng’s demeanor is much more welcoming than many of the crusty old shooters, gun store clerks, and range officers I encountered in my early days as a shooter. (And still do, though they don’t bother me as much anymore.)

Trish Sargentini has many of these same qualities. Her enthusiasm for destigmatizing guns and gun ownership by highlighting the fact that “shooting is fun” is infectious.

It was a great reminder to me as I slog through the ugly politics of guns in America.