Why [Blank] Love Their Guns

"Why Do East Tennesseans Love Their Guns?" asks an article in the Knoxville, Tenn.,Metro Pulse, an "alternative" newspaper.

Answer: Pretty much for the same reasons as Coloradans, New Mexicans, Vermonters, or any one else:

• Personal protection
• Hunting
• Recreational target shooting
• Competitive shooting
• Collecting

The article asks why "we" are "obsessed" with guns, but it does not really try to answer that question.  Given the venue, it is remarkably calm writing.

Via law-blogger Glenn Reynolds, who is quoted in the story.

Reynolds thinks the gun-control movement was partly driven by civic panic in the 1960s and ’70s in the wake of high-profile assassinations and mounting urban crime rates. As crime rates have fallen even while gun ownership continues to grow, he says, “Maybe we’re back to sort of a renormalization”—a society that is growing more comfortable with guns on its streets, in its office buildings, in its restaurants and movie theaters.

 The most-blogged gun shop in America (thanks to Tam) is prominently featured.