No place has been defined more by guns than the American West, with its legacy of John Wayne, westerns, and the wide frontier. Working with BuzzFeed News, photographer Jesse Rieser has criss-crossed the region, visiting Arizona, Missouri, New Mexico, and Oklahoma to explore the prevalence of gun culture. Rieser photographed gun ranges and neighborhoods wracked by gun violence and spoke with activists, politicians, and gun owners. His project examines the mythology around guns and its origins, illustrating the multifaceted viewpoints around firearms and seeking to challenge the idea that gun enthusiasts fit a certain profile.
Rieser, who grew up on a farm outside of Springfield, Missouri, has a nuanced relationship with guns. “As a child, my father owned a .22 to protect their chicken coops from skunks and foxes,” he said. “My brothers and I were not allowed to have squirt guns and GI Joes. My parents felt the gamification of gunfights was damaging for developing minds, [and] this idea seemed radical in the ‘80s.”
