Time and Place: Stoddard’s Shooting Range
I guess it all depends on how you look at the statistics
Last week’s Time and Place photo was taken at 10:57 a.m., June 12, 2012, at 5840 Bankhead Highway, Douglasville at Stoddard’s Range and Guns.
I chose this picture for Time and Place because I was struck by the juxtaposition of the clown zombie target behind the person firing the gun. I’ve shot at gun ranges before and I always find some of the target options a little creepy. At the last range I visited you could bring pictures in of whomever you wanted and they would make a target from it for you to shoot.
This photograph is of Keisha Brown. Keisha came to Stoddard’s with her daughter. She says she comes to the range to become familiar with her gun should she ever need to use it for her own protection.
Ken Baye, one of Stoddard’s owners, said in an email that he and his friend decided to open a gun store and range after his buddy Michael had a bad experience purchasing a gun, which he bought “for self-protection when he walks his Great Dane in Piedmont Park.”
Being for tighter gun control myself, especially in large metropolitan areas, I asked Ken if he thought liberal gun laws made society safer. He replied that studies found that countries with stronger gun-control laws have more violence. Citing an article published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, he wrote: “Luxembourg, where handguns are totally banned and ownership of any kind of gun is minimal, had a murder rate nine times higher than Germany where are (sic) handguns are commonly owned.” While this might be true, according to Gunpolicy.org, Luxembourg has seven times less gun homicides than the United States, the country with the the most privately owned guns in the world. So I guess it all depends on how you look at the statistics.
More photos from Stoddard’s after the break