Woody Creek gun freak Hunter Thompson saved me from the Religious Right
When I was in high school, my Dad encouraged me to read Hunter S. Thompson, which, at first glance, might seem like a highly irresponsible action of any parent. If you consider the direction I was heading though, it was a brilliant move, on his part. As a child, my Mom had started taking me and my sister to an American Baptist church, which is evangelical, but without the dancing and snake-handling. By the time I was in high school, I was shouting the Good News of Jesus to anyone who would listen, including my Dad. The introduction to Hunter Thompson was my Dad's way of counter-balancing my hyper-religious mindset. And hey, I think it worked. Although I wrote this piece years ago, the nonstop rash of mass shootings in the United States led me to revisit Hunter's ideas about gun control and the NRA. It's unfortunate his work on this topic never came to light in a single article, at least not what he originally tried to publish. What would he say, if he were alive, today?
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| I purchased this official Hunter for Sheriff poster, in Aspen, in 1995 |
What did Thompson think about the NRA?
...One aspect that interests me is what the NRA does with all that money. Dues are $5 a year, and with 900,000 members, [2.8 million in 2003, each paying $35 for a one-year membership] that adds up... and all you get for your $5 is 12 issues of the American Rifleman, one of the dullest and least informative screeds in the history of printing. Members are also offered the opportunity to buy NRA tie-clips and Zippo lighters at retail-plus. I once bought a set of glasses from them at some brutally inflated price, and the NRA emblem flaked off the first time I put the glasses in hot water. Maybe a good angle would be something like “Why I Quit the NRA,” by A. Gunn Freake. the thrust of the thing could be that the NRA is a hype, that they’re using their 900,000 members, rather than representing them. I own about a dozen guns, but as far as I’m concerned the NRA is blowing my gig. That waterhead president doesn’t speak for me. So, speaking as a badlands gun freak, I have to wonder what they’re doing with my $5. I don’t read their magazine, I don’t have access to “military ammo,” I don’t get weapons at a discount... all I get is a lot of stupid grumbling about maintaining an armed militia, or something like that. Fuck them. .... There may or may not be a valid argument against nationwide gun registration, or even against guns. I’m not sure and I don’t really care, because I don’t think those are the issues. But I’ll admit it’s an interesting argument. My own position is hazy, mainly because I can’t make any sense of the “gun control” controversy.
When he says he doesn’t “think those are the issues,” then what were they? What are they, today, if not background checks, gun registration, the banning of handguns, high-capacity magazines and assault rifles? I think he’s talking about are the interests of the politicians, gun manufacturers and any other organized entity that stands to benefit from any perceived threat of government infringement on personal gun rights. One reason he can’t make sense of the gun controversy is because then, like today, gun-owners like he who were not republicans found it hard to support the NRA or anyone trying to convince him that all of the “tree-hugging liberals” were out to take his guns away. Sensing that the group is almost insurmountable in its influence and power, Gonzo thinks presenting an “insider’s” perspective could be a good starting point. “Given the current national atmosphere, I don’t see much sense in mounting another reasoned, liberal and humanistic attack on the NRA. That’s playing on their terms. They’ve spent the past 50 years designing bear-traps for liberal journalists . . . and most of the public evidence suggests that they’ve done pretty well.”
The first Gonzo Journalist was also a great writer
Unfortunately Hunter is often only remembered as a wild-eyed, drug-addled sports nut, a gun freak and political junkie who happened to be a pretty writer and the pioneer of “Gonzo Journalism,” a style of writing that others have emulated but none has duplicated. I always saw him as an important intellectual with his finger on the pulse of many different important American issues, and an ability to articulate the nuances of those issues in a way I’ve never seen anyone be able to do. His true feelings were often the exact opposite of the perceptions casual observers had of him. Or perhaps people who’ve only read Fear and Loathing. To left-leaning politicos he was a crazy gun nut, and would today be passed off as a Tea Party guy, at first glance. To right wing types he would have been considered a hippy loving pot-smoker who showed up at dinner parties in dresses and lipstick, never mind that he could and did talk sports with anyone from Richard Nixon and Pat Buchanan to Muhammad Ali.
Underneath the bedazzled braziers, behind the curtain of cannabis smoke was guy more reasonable than anybody wanted to give him credit for. As a reader of his letters, you get the feeling that his editors and associates struggled to balance Hunter’s brilliance with his madness. The attempt to imagine the storm of synaptic energy that might be occurring in his head becomes a laughable proposal, yet a taxing chore his editors are forced to deal with.
Of course, he had friends. And even some people, like Nixon--whom he truly hated, but loved to drink with--found ways to like and respect Hunter for the way his mind worked, that strange blend of curiosity, whit and sharpness with facts that transcended the fundamentals of pure journalism. He was a true writer in spite of his image and he was a good writer because he ventured deeper into a landscape of brutal honesty than few of us would would be crazy enough to dare.
Gun safety is an important part of gun ownership
Although he tended to mumble a lot, Hunter was always a great interview and talked guns with reporters on several occasions.
“I think George Washington owned guns,” he told the website thebookreport.com. “I've never seen any contradiction with that. I'm not a liberal, by the way. I think that's what's wrong with liberals. I believe I have every right to have guns. I just bought another huge weapon. A lot of people shouldn't own guns. I should. I have a safety record. Guns are a lot of fun out here.”
In his blunt way, Hunter emphasizes “safety,” as a critical requirement of the responsible gun-owner. He might agree that one of the things that’s “wrong with liberals,” is that they’re willing to acknowledge there are too many guns in our country while shielding their own children from contact with and understanding of firearms. This behavior is based partly in the fear that gun safety classes will somehow turn their kids into gun enthusiasts, and partly out of the common human tendency to shy away from things we think are dangerous but that we don’t really know much about.
Whether or not groups like the NRA, the gun companies and the hunting industry in general benefit from the promotion of gun safety is ancillary and irrelevant, when considering how many lives would be saved if more young people just knew first, to respect firearms and second, to understand how to properly handle different types of guns if they come across one. Finding agreement on the point that gun safety is paramount is simple enough. The problem is that sportsmen on the right -- which is most of them -- have come to interpret “gun safety,” as a code phrase for gun control, and they’ve done so with reason. The group, Americans For Gun Safety, was founded in the late nineties to promote responsible gun ownership, and the group was backed by a lot of Democrats’ money. Suddenly “safety” was as bad as saying “Hillary.”
A college friend of mine was shot through the upper thigh with a large caliber handgun because some guys were goofing around at a party. And there are countless accidents that occur when young kids find guns laying around who have never had it driven into them that guns are not toys. But young kids who have been to the shooting range quickly get the point that guns are not toys. With safety education comes a respect for guns, which is far better the the fear that goes along with ignorance. Accidents happen when basic details get overlooked, even with experienced shooters. I’ve had Wildlife Officers inspect my shotgun out in the marsh and hand the gun back to me loaded with the chamber closed. That just ain’t safe, Officer!