[Leica] Dog wrangling - guns, kids, and saying "cheese"

[neal at nairobisafari.com (Neal Friedenthal)]

>The only thing disturbing about the photos is that people who fear what they
>don't understand (in this case firearms) see gun owners as a crazy sort of
>people.  For those of you here who like to make photographs, you'd be
>pleasantly surprised how good you are at shooting a firearm.  The skills and
>training of your body that you use to make a photo are exactly the same as
>firing a gun.  
>I ask you WHAT EXACTLY is the disturbing part of the book?  You can't just
>say guns because that's sheer ignorance.  There were only two or three photo
>sessions in this project that were actually a little bit unnerving.  Not to
>worry though, because I handled the situation, making sure that safety was
>the first and foremost issue.  If you have a real issue with the photos
>contained in Armed America, you can do several things:
>Don't look at them
>Don't buy the book
>Come shooting with Kyle and I

>This project has never been tackled in the way that Kyle is doing it.  It's
>a study meant to bridge all political parties, showing that ownership of
>firearms is not a republican or libertarian issue, but an American one.  
>Philip 

Philip,

I have to agree with you on this, being a gun owner and collector I see 
nothing 
disturbing in Kyles photos. I find his cross section of gun owners and their 
firearms 
interesting.  He should come over to my place, I've got over 150 of em 
ranging 
from a .22 Sharps derringer to a 12 pounder Napoleon artillery piece.  I 
also have 
a wife, two grown kids and a small poodle. The pathological part of the 
whole 
thing seems to be the unnatural fear that some people have about firearms 
and 
that is based on ignorance.