If you want to protect gun rights in this country, shoot a bow.
Due to my profession, I swim in waters populated by people who have considerably different perspectives than my own. As a result, I have a better understanding of my friends to the left and their worldviews, particularly when it comes to the outdoors and firearms. Sometimes in our conversations I get to remind them that I’m way more of a tree hugger than they’ll ever be, spending a solid four months of the year elevated and in direct contact with our pulpy brethren. More importantly, I get to talk about my archery-related pursuits, which often include taking an animal’s life, or home butchering. Over enough time, I think most of my coworkers have overcome the initial cognitive dissonance of my appearance as a sensible guy who also disassembles, then eats animals. (Or maybe they’ve just gotten really good at humoring me.)
But I’ve discovered something: Being primarily a bowhunter makes me a more effective advocate for the second amendment. In reality, bowhunting and gun hunting aren’t really that far apart, though there are some perceptions the public has that make bowhunters more like the Jedi Knights of the hunting world. As Obi-Wan made the distinction for Luke about lightsabers, “This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster; an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.” People have more respect for the bowhunter and less anxiety about them than they do the gun hunter, and it seems to boil down to the following reasons:
Pursuing an animal with a bow seems fairer
It’s certainly more challenging to hunt with a bow, but hunting with a gun isn’t exactly fish in a barrel. You still come home empty handed after spending hours in a freezing flooded cornfield because the ducks decided to wait until after shooting hours to land (and they always do). Animals startle, bullets deflect, shots get rushed, there are lots of ways to be unsuccessful hunting with a gun. There’s never a guarantee of success.
But the bowhunter earns a reputation of respecting his quarry by using “primitive” means. I put primitive in air quotes because I don’t think American Indians were manipulating then shooting carbon nanotubes. Nonetheless archers carry that credibility with them in the minds of people who are against firearms. This transference is likely not a conscious one, rather happening without the individual even realizing it.
We fear what we don’t understand
Ever hear a news story about a gun, “going off” like it’s an old box of firecrackers sitting on the dash of someone’s hot car? The media gives an impression that guns are unpredictable and no matter how safely you handle them, an unseen force will randomly cause them to fire a round.
Someone or something actuated the trigger, or in extreme cases, chambered a round then introduced a significant amount of energy to its frame. The nonshooting public is reinforced into losing their rationality about the safety of firearms because they don’t know how they work, only that they’re dangerously unpredictable.
A bow, on the other hand is much easier to understand how it works and how it fires a projectile. A bowhunter is seen as someone who uses a tool that is reasonable and appropriate. It may take some time, but as the bowhunter continues to use both methods, the gun simply becomes a tool chosen by a reasonable practitioner for a particular application.
Bows are involved in fewer crimes
We have to be candid about the fact that serious crimes are perpetrated with guns and as a result, they carry real baggage with people. Even more baggage if the firearms are all black with goodies mounted to them. Not so much with bows. They’re viewed as the “unscary” method of killing an animal, though a well placed shot with either tool results in the animal being just as dead.
Being a bowhunter (even if you own guns) insulates you from the stereotypical media linkage of crime and“gun culture” much in the same way Hugh Jackman can do musicals on Broadway but his manliness remain intact because he also stabs a lot of people as Wolverine. I’m not saying it’s logical, it’s just the way things are.
Finally, a troubling thing I’ve heard from a few of my archery-only friends: When ammo gets scarce or there’s talk of a ban on “assault” (whatever that means) weapons or limits on magazine capacities they’ll say, “Just leave my bow and arrow alone and I’m good.” That’s short-sighted and is a complacency that could lead to who-knows-what crazy legislation for archery equipment. Draw weight limits? Kinetic force maximums? Quiver capacity stipulations?
We’re in this together fellow projectilers. Liberty paves the way for liberty. Using your bowhunting credibility leverages a subconscious reverence in people who have been taught to fear guns, opening the door for them to reconsider their preconceptions. As archers we have a unique and nuanced position of influence to open minds about our second amendment rights. Don’t let it go to waste.
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