“It’s my constitutional right to own a gun and protect my family.” Mike, father and gun owner. Dallas, Texas. © Zed Nelson
“This is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world... You’ve got to ask yourself, 'Do I feel lucky?’ Well do you, punk?" Clint Eastwood as maverick cop ‘Dirty Harry.’ Smith & Wesson .44 magnum with a six inch barrel. © Zed Nelson
Born-again Christians John and Kaywin Lenoue. "In the Ten Commandments the actual Hebrew is not 'Thou Shalt Not Kill.' It is in fact, 'Thou Shalt Not Murder.' So this, as far as we're concerned, is self defense." © Zed Nelson
The aftermath of a chest gunshot wound treated in Emergency Room 1 at the Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center in Memphis. Paramedic Patricia Artella, from the ambulance radio communications room, says, "Have you ever seen them crack a chest? It's like a hog slaughter; blood on the walls, blood on the ceiling, half inch thick on the floor..." © Zed Nelson
“I got a .410 shotgun from Santa Claus last year.” Sarah Read, 10, at her father’s gun store. © Zed Nelson
Ammunition for sale. Las Vegas, Nevada. © Zed Nelson
“We had a rash of men trying to blow their heads off with rifles. But what they didn’t account for was the kick of the gun, so when they fired, basically all it did was blow their faces off...” Gina Taylor, trauma nurse clinician. X-ray of a suicide victim. Gunshot to head. Dallas Parkland hospital. © Zed Nelson
Pro-gun bumper stickers. Las Vegas, Nevada. © Zed Nelson
Memphis housewives meet and compare recently purchased weapons. Memphis, Tennessee. © Zed Nelson
Local sign in response to the Columbine High School shooting massacre, where two teenage gunmen went on a shooting rampage, killing twelve fellow pupils and a teacher. Columbine, Colorado © Zed Nelson
“Tanner first fired a gun aged three. He now owns a .243 Ruger rifle, a Remington 58 and a 20-guage automatic shotgun. Andrew has a Browning Rifle, a Remington pump-action shotgun and a military rifle. I’ve got about 50 guns.” Jack Cone, 45, with sons Andrew, 10 and Tanner, 12. National Rifle Association (NRA) annual convention and gun show. Dallas, Texas. © Zed Nelson
Daniel Green, 21. Gunshot to thigh,11.50pm Saturday night. Dallas, Texas. © Zed Nelson
John Wayne sign. Las Vegas firing range and gun shop. © Zed Nelson
A selection of high-velocity assault rifles on display in Paladin Arms gun store in Longmont, Colo., shortly after the massacre at nearby Columbine High School. These are available, over-the-counter, to anyone over the age of 18, under Colorado state law. © Zed Nelson
Bullet hole. Car windshield. The owner of the vehicle saw two young men attempting to steal his car from his driveway. He opened fire on them from his living room window with a high-velocity deer-hunting rifle, killing one man and wounding the other. Police valued the car at $600. © Zed Nelson
“Women are a large part of our market. The guns are small, effective and easy to carry. This is the smallest functioning revolver that’s manufactured. It’s not necessarily a man-stopper, but I wouldn’t wanna be shot with it. I get a couple of letters a year from people who write to me describing how they unfortunately killed their assailant with one of our guns.” Miniature handgun, $150. © Zed Nelson
America’s best-selling ammunition: the ‘hollow-point’ bullet, designed to maximize damage by fragmenting and ‘mushrooming’ on impact. © Zed Nelson
B&B's gunstore. At a nearby bank robbery, LA police officers were outgunned by the heavily armed robbers. Some officers rushed from the siege to this gunstore, borrowing M-16 assault rifles and pump-action shotguns. During the televised shootout, 9 officers and 7 civilians were injured. Both bank robbers were shot dead using the unofficial firearms. Los Angeles, California. © Zed Nelson
Los Angeles family purchases an AR-15 high-velocity semi-automatic assault-style rifle for "home protection." The AR-15 is a modified version of the M-16 assault rifle, designed for combat use by the U.S. military. It was used to deadly effect in the Vietnam war. Los Angeles, California. © Zed Nelson
“We’ve seen just about everything: M-16 assault rifles, AR-15 semi-autos, hunting rifles with home-made silencers, even an Armalite 5.56mm NATO caliber assault rifle. These guns could have been used in robberies, domestics and homicides.” Sgt. Michael Rallins, Memphis Police Firearms Center, with weapons confiscated from Memphis streets and homes. © Zed Nelson
The body of a female gunshot victim in the cold storage room of Memphis City Morgue. A high proportion of women wounded or killed by gunfire are shot in their own homes during domestic arguments. © Zed Nelson
Charlton Heston, president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), addresses a crowd of 2,000 pro-gun members at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Denver, while outside 8,000 demonstrators encircle the hotel to protest the timing of the NRA's annual meeting in the area only ten days after the local Columbine High School shooting rampage. © Zed Nelson
