{"id":16701,"date":"2019-06-07T02:01:15","date_gmt":"2019-06-07T02:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=16701"},"modified":"2019-06-08T04:40:10","modified_gmt":"2019-06-08T04:40:10","slug":"how-the-good-guy-with-a-gun-became-a-deadly-american-fantasy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/how-the-good-guy-with-a-gun-became-a-deadly-american-fantasy\/","title":{"rendered":"How the ‘good guy with a gun’ became a deadly American fantasy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Susanna Lee<\/a>, Georgetown University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

At the end of May, it happened again. A mass shooter killed 12 people, this time at a municipal center in Virginia Beach<\/a>. Employees had been forbidden to carry guns at work<\/a>, and some lamented that this policy had prevented \u201cgood guys\u201d from taking out the shooter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This trope \u2013 \u201cthe good guy with a gun\u201d \u2013 has become commonplace among gun rights activists.<\/p>\n

Where did it come from?<\/p>\n

On Dec. 21, 2012 \u2013 one week after Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School<\/a> in Newtown, Connecticut \u2013 National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre announced<\/a> during a press conference that \u201cthe only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ever since then, in response to each mass shooting, pro-gun pundits, politicians and social media users parrot some version of the slogan, followed by calls to arm the teachers, arm the churchgoers or arm the office workers. And whenever an armed citizen takes out a criminal, conservative media outlets pounce on the story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But \u201cthe good guy with the gun\u201d archetype dates to long before LaPierre\u2019s 2012 press conference.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a reason his words resonated so deeply. He had tapped into a uniquely American archetype, one whose origins I trace back to American pulp crime fiction in my book \u201cHard-Boiled Crime Fiction and the Decline of Moral Authority<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other cultures have their detective fiction. But it was specifically in America that the \u201cgood guy with a gun\u201d became a heroic figure and a cultural fantasy.<\/p>\n

\u2018When I fire, there ain\u2019t no guessing\u2019<\/h2>\n

Beginning in the 1920s, a certain type of protagonist started appearing in American crime fiction. He often wore a trench coat and smoked cigarettes. He didn\u2019t talk much. He was honorable, individualistic \u2013 and armed.<\/p>\n

These characters were dubbed \u201chard-boiled,\u201d a term that originated in the late 19th century<\/a> to describe \u201chard, shrewd, keen men who neither asked nor expected sympathy nor gave any, who could not be imposed upon.\u201d The word didn\u2019t describe someone who was simply tough; it communicated a persona, an attitude, an entire way of being.<\/p>\n

Most scholars credit Carroll John Daly<\/a> with writing the first hard-boiled detective story. Titled \u201cThree Gun Terry<\/a>,\u201d it was published in Black Mask<\/a> magazine in May 1923.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The May 1934 issue of Black Mask features Carroll John Daly\u2019s character Race Williams on the cover.<\/span>
\nAbe Books<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cShow me the man,\u201d the protagonist, Terry Mack, announces, \u201cand if he\u2019s drawing on me and is a man what really needs a good killing, why, I\u2019m the boy to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Terry also lets the reader know that he\u2019s a sure shot: \u201cWhen I fire, there ain\u2019t no guessing contest as to where the bullet is going.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the start, the gun was a crucial accessory. Since the detective only shot at bad guys and because he never missed, there was nothing to fear.<\/p>\n

Part of the popularity of this character type had to do with the times. In an era of Prohibition<\/a>, organized crime<\/a>, government corruption<\/a> and rising populism<\/a>, the public was drawn to the idea of a well-armed, well-meaning maverick \u2013 someone who could heroically come to the defense of regular people. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, stories that featured these characters became wildly popular.<\/p>\n

Taking the baton from Daly, authors like Dashiell Hammett<\/a> and Raymond Chandler<\/a> became titans of the genre.<\/p>\n

Their stories\u2019 plots differed, but their protagonists were mostly the same: tough-talking, straight-shooting private detectives.<\/p>\n

In an early Hammett story<\/a>, the detective shoots a gun out of a man\u2019s hand and then quips he\u2019s a \u201cfair shot \u2013 no more, no less.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a 1945 article<\/a>, Raymond Chandler attempted to define this type of protagonist:<\/p>\n

\u201cDown these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. \u2026 He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor, by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As movies became more popular, the archetype bled into the silver screen. Humphrey Bogart played Dashiell Hammett\u2019s Sam Spade<\/a> and Raymond Chandler\u2019s Philip Marlowe<\/a> to great acclaim.<\/p>\n

By the end of the 20th century, the fearless, gun-toting good guy had become a cultural hero. He had appeared on magazine covers<\/a>, movie posters<\/a>, in television credits<\/a> and in video games<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Selling a fantasy<\/h2>\n

Gun rights enthusiasts have embraced the idea of the \u201cgood guy\u201d as a model to emulate \u2013 a character role that just needed real people to step in and play it. The NRA store even sells T-shirts<\/a> with LaPierre\u2019s slogan, and encourages buyers to \u201cshow everyone that you\u2019re the \u2018good guy\u2019\u201d by buying the T-shirt.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The NRA sells shirts with LaPierre\u2019s quote.<\/span>
\nNRA Store<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The problem with this archetype is that it\u2019s just that: an archetype. A fictional fantasy.<\/p>\n

In pulp fiction, the detectives never miss. Their timing is precise and their motives are irreproachable. They never accidentally shoot themselves or an innocent bystander. Rarely are they mentally unstable or blinded by rage. When they clash with the police, it\u2019s often because they\u2019re doing the police\u2019s job better than the police can.<\/p>\n

Another aspect of the fantasy involves looking the part. The \u201cgood guy with a gun\u201d isn\u2019t just any guy \u2013 it\u2019s a white one.<\/p>\n

In \u201cThree Gun Terry,\u201d the detective apprehends the villain, Manual Sparo, with some tough words: \u201c\u2018Speak English,\u2019 I says. I\u2019m none too gentle because it won\u2019t do him any good now.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Daly\u2019s \u201cSnarl of the Beast<\/a>,\u201d the protagonist, Race Williams<\/a>, takes on a grunting, monstrous immigrant villain.<\/p>\n

Could this explain why, in 2018, when a black man with a gun tried to stop a shooting in a mall in Alabama \u2013 and the police shot and killed him<\/a> \u2013 the NRA, usually eager to champion good guys with guns, didn\u2019t comment<\/a>?<\/p>\n

A reality check<\/h2>\n

Most gun enthusiasts don\u2019t measure up to the fictional ideal of the steady, righteous and sure shot.<\/p>\n

In fact, research has shown that gun-toting independence unleashes much more chaos and carnage than heroism. A 2017 National Bureau of Economic Research study<\/a> revealed that right-to-carry laws increase, rather than decrease, violent crime. Higher rates of gun ownership is correlated with higher homicide rates<\/a>. Gun possession is correlated with increased road rage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There have been times when a civilian with a gun successfully intervened<\/a> in a shooting, but these instances are rare. Those who carry guns often have their own guns used against them<\/a>. And a civilian with a gun is more likely to be killed<\/a> than to kill an attacker<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even in instances where a person is paid to stand guard with a gun, there\u2019s no guarantee that he\u2019ll fulfill this duty<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hard-boiled novels have sold in the hundreds of millions<\/a>. The movies and television shows they inspired have reached millions more.<\/p>\n

What started as entertainment has turned into a durable American fantasy.<\/p>\n

Maintaining it has become a deadly American obsession.<\/p>\n

[ Like what you\u2019ve read? Want more?<\/em> Sign up for The Conversation\u2019s daily newsletter<\/a>. ]\"The<\/p>\n

Susanna Lee<\/a>, Professor of French and Comparative Literature, Georgetown University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Susanna Lee, Georgetown University At the end of May, it happened again. A mass shooter killed 12 people, this time at a municipal center in Virginia Beach. Employees had been forbidden to carry guns at work, and some lamented that this policy had prevented \u201cgood guys\u201d from taking out the shooter. This trope \u2013 \u201cthe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":16699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293],"tags":[966,6441,2143,372,2034,2419,3317,6442,4088],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16701"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16701"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16706,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16701\/revisions\/16706"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}