When a national craving meets an irresistible object, it’s time to duck

Nov 1 2007 by David Williamson, Western Mail

THE secret of journalism has been distilled to this: “Dog bites man – not a story. Man bites dog – story!”

But a dog in Iowa triumphantly succeeded in making the news this week when it shot its owner.

Thirty-seven James Harris was enjoying the first day of the pheasant-hunting season when his dog stepped on his shotgun and sent the pellets shooting into his calf.

In Britain hunting no longer ranks alongside experiments with facial hair as a quintessential stage in the emergence into manhood.

It is easy for European commentators to mock our transatlantic cousins for their affection for firearms but Britain is a nation with its own absurdities. Members of our ruling class enjoy a place in parliament by merit of their DNA, and more than a few of the same chaps relax by galloping after hounds intent on shredding foxes.

Yet the United States is a deeply troubled society. According to the Violence Policy Centre, 29,569 Americans died by gunfire in 2004. When there is no war going on such a statistic is evidence that something is deeply wrong.

Against such a backdrop of catastrophe it is easy to portray gun-owners and their favourite politicians as priests in a cult of death. But a crude caricature takes us nowhere near understanding why firearms remain so dear to so many.

Last week I read the introduction to The Fireside Book of Guns by Larry Koller (1959).

It begins: “For most men a gun is an irresistible object. Whatever its age or condition, it calls forth an almost instinctive response. It must be picked up, hefted, balanced and cocked. A rifle must be raised to the shoulder and sighted, a handgun gripped and aimed...

“This response, it can be said with certainty, is world-wide, although in other countries only a select group, comprising the sporting upper classes and the professional soldier, is likely to have the background to support its enthusiasm. In America it has always been otherwise.”

To such men the gun is an icon of the contract between the government and free citizens and the hunter and nature. Many Americans firmly believe they have a constitutional duty to overthrow the state if it becomes a tyranny; similarly, the act of hunting reminds generations that meat does not appear on shelves by magic but comes at the cost of a life.

If a British Prime Minister was found to have a cupboard full of guns in Downing Street he could be arrested, but for an aspiring president it is almost a prerequisite for office.

This may change if Hillary Clinton wins the election and recalibrates the concept of the presidency but the gun will remain a regrettably destructive but enduring symbol of a nation’s otherwise admirable romance with liberty.