Hardly ‘elite,’ journalists depend on community

In the fall of 2019, I had the opportunity to go to the Crossroads of the West gun show when it returned to the Del Mar Fairgrounds after a nine-month hiatus. The experience proved illuminating.

I grew up in a family that wouldn’t allow even toy guns in the house. I had never been to a gun show or spent much time around gun culture period, despite spending my high school and college years in Arizona — a state with rather liberal gun laws.

During my stop at the show, which I was covering as a reporter, I got to talking with an Alpine resident and Army veteran named John who was with his 13-year-old grandson. After bonding a bit talking about football, he was willing to open up. He shared his perspective on the show and gun culture, telling me that although he liked to hunt and valued having a firearm for self-dense, his real interest in the show and guns existed because he enjoyed competitive shooting. Plus, it was a sport he could work on with his grandson, who excelled at it.

I greatly appreciated John taking the time to chat, especially because I know he was a bit uneasy and hadn’t spoken with a reporter before. He told me at one point that this wasn’t what he expected journalists to be like.

His perspective allowed me to cover the debate around the gun show and gun culture in a more nuanced way and, most importantly, helped me produce a better, more thorough story for readers.

That is why the experience stuck with me. Not because of what I learned about gun culture, but rather it reflected how even basic reporting assignments can be improved if you’re able to get people to share their perspective.