This morning I went to the Fort Wayne Gun & Knife show at the coliseum. I collect knives and bayonets. The G&K show comes around every three months, but I’ve only gone twice–once in January 2005, and now today. My nephew, Benjamin, was going to come with me (he also collects knives), but ended up having to work. So I went alone.
I parked my truck amidst a forest of macho pickups and SUVs and headed toward the entrance behind a fellow wearing a camoflauge jacket and carrying a big rifle on a strap over his shoulder. Context is everything. I imagined if we were headed toward the entrance of a school. Or an airport.
I looked at a lot of the guns and thought, “It’s legal to buy that?” Perhaps some full-auto features are disabled, I don’t know. The place was a Jack Bauer paradise. It gave me some comfort knowing that if the US were invaded, lots of my neighbors are very heavily armed. Maybe I could borrow somebody’s AK-47 or set-up their 30-calibre machine gun on my rooftop amidst sandbags.
