“So, I am a huge history nerd. I’ve been into guns since I was about 11-years-old, and I could tell you everything about this gun right here,” Chris Chen said, motioning to a 100-year-old Russian weapon hanging on the wall. “With the old guns, it’s like they all tell a story, and trying to figure that out is like your own kind of history project.”
Chen, 25, works in a small gun store nestled on a quiet block in Arlington, Virginia, only three miles from the White House. It has a door that opens with a handgun handle. Its website touts that it sells “high-end sporting and self defense arms and accessories.” Inside, the store bustles with activity only hours after the D.C. gun march. The diverse clientele strolling through the shop consists of women, whites, Hispanics and African-Americans.
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Chen is a graduate student studying National Security at Georgetown with hopes of one day working for the Department of Defense or Homeland Security, and he finds a particular interest in history as it pertains to guns and war.
He spoke heavily on the nomenclature used in the media to describe guns and weaponry and how it is often incorrect.
“I think a lot of journalists, you know and don’t take this personally,” said Chen. “But that’s just not what they specialize in, and it’s hard for them. A job in journalism means fair balance.”
He went on to explain the terms like semi versus fully automatic, assault weapons and explained that the textbook definition of an assault rifle is a Select fire weapon using an intermediate caliber so select fire basically means it can go from semi-automatic to fully automatic or some variant of fully automatic fire.
Chen had a lot of insight on the gun debate, partly because he spent his childhood bonding with his dad, who is a trauma surgeon in California, over target shooting and collecting guns.
“Where my dad was more interested in target guns, I just had an interest in older guns so I kind of had to cajole him over the years to switch over and be interested,” said Chen.
The gun debate sparks conversation about whether or not the Second Amendment is archaic.
“I understand how people think that way, but also the Constitution didn’t include social media, so if the Second Amendment only applies to muskets does that mean that the First Amendment only applies to print and how loud you can shout? Does that mean we all need to control social media or have government mandated accounts and ban assault accounts?” he laughed. “I know that that’s a gross generalization, but it’s the prospective that worries me. What concerns me is how many times until we say that could never happen here, and then it does.”
According to Chen, the average gun owner in Virginia does not necessarily fit a profile. He said that gun owners encompass men and women of all backgrounds including a spike in gun owners in the LGBTQ+ community after the Pulse Nightclub Shooting in Orlando, Florida in 2016. An organization called the Pink Pistols saw an increase in membership after fear of hate crimes.
“We do need to talk about guns, we need to talk about it. That’s how democracy works; we work to come to an agreement, to listen to each other,” said Chen. “You will find the anti-gun people talking with the anti-gun people and the pro-gun people are talking to the pro-gun people and everyone is upset, but if we talked about it, we might have a different result.”
Guns hold a special place in his life, as a bonding moment with his father and a tie to history.
“I’ve been shooting since I was 11 years old. I am really into guns, but the thing is, the worst thing is not, not knowing something, but thinking you know something you don’t. And not to be biased, but I think that it happens a lot with the anti-gun side, but the pro-gun people aren’t sharing that knowledge or that experience.”
Chen reflected heavily on both his relationship with guns as well as the gun issue. Chen while at work took time aside to educate and discuss the issue as an individual, separate from his place of work, to an extended degree and even extended his personal information to continue the conversation.
“What difference does it make if I post all over Facebook that I am pro-Second Amendment? People who know me know my stance, and it’s not worth the argument, but I am always excited to help educate people who are truly interested in my educated opinion and the knowledge I’ve acquired,” said Chen.