Gabriele Galimberti, The Ameriguns, 2022

Of all the firearms in the world owned by private citizens for non-military purposes, half are in the United States of America. In numbers they exceed the country’s population: 393 million guns for 328 million people. This is not a coincidence, nor is it a market issue: rather, it is a matter of tradition and constitutional guarantee. It is the story of the Second Amendment, ratified in 1791 to reassure the inhabitants of the newly independent territories that their federal government could not one day abuse its authority over them. Two hundred and fifty years later, the Second Amendment is still ingrained in all aspects of American life, and this book frames its current state through what are seen as four core American values: Family, Liberty, Passion, and Style.

Photographer Gabriele Galimberti has traveled to every corner of the United States, from New York City to Honolulu, to meet proud gun owners and view their firearms collections. He photographed people and guns in their homes and neighborhoods, even in places where no one would expect to find such collections. These often disturbing portraits, along with the accompanying stories of the owners and their firearms, based on interviews, provide an unexpected and uncommon view of what the institution of the Second Amendment really represents today.