Guns An Age-Old Part Of Family Culture In Appalachia

The first thing Karla Schmutzler did after shooting her first deer was text message her friend, Todd Sutherland, who was in his Kingsport gun store with a customer at the time.

“I got hooked. Big time,” Schmutzler said. “You know, all the guys would go hunting, and it never really occurred to me to ask to go along. Because, you know, it’s a guy thing.”

But then she went with them.

In Appalachia, guns are an age-old part of family culture. “Down here, we’re mostly pro-gun. It’s part of who we are,” said Sutherland, who owns the Gunslingers store on East Stone Drive in Kingsport.
“There is nothing more fun than going to the range on a Saturday morning and plinking away with your kids,” he said. “It’s good clean fun.”

Bill Miller, a local National Rifle Association board member and gun club president, estimates that 85 percent of folks in Appalachia are in some way involved in a firearms sport. And, he said, Schmutzler represents the fastest-growing demographic: women.

By the handfuls, women are joining one of the oldest, richest and most cohesive communities in the region. “Women are saying, ‘We’re gonna take care of ourselves,’ ” Miller said.

In recent months, the thriving community of gun enthusiasts has been rattled by the election of President-elect Barack Obama and what it might mean for their favorite pastimes. Gun enthusiasts across the nation are stocking up on ammunition and guns, citing concerns about higher taxes and fearing future bans on some of their favorite weapons.

On the second full weekend after the election, more than 4,000 people attended a gun show at the Meadowview Conference Resort & Convention Center in Kingsport.

“We had an extremely large crowd compared to normal,” said Jeremy Pearson, manager of the RK gun show held Nov. 15-16. “It was the best one we’ve had here this year.”

And on Tuesday of that week, a group of old friends sat together in the clubhouse at the Kettlefoot Rod and Gun Club, sipping Styrofoam cups of coffee and exhaling laughter in toasty puffs of air. At the mention of Obama, one said: “Don’t even get me started.”

Perhaps most frustrating to local enthusiasts isn’t the upcoming threat, but that the frenzy is a mere symptom of the deep-seated frustration gun lovers have felt for decades of what they call a lack of understanding and prejudice from anti-gun camps.

“All through history, people have been afraid of what they don’t understand,” Sutherland said. “Taking guns away from us, all you effectively do is disarm honest people, because the criminal isn’t going to turn in his gun.”

At the Kettlefoot club, friends Wayne Wills and Terry Lovins, both lifelong members, talked about their club and the role it plays in their lives. Wills carried a manila envelope holding printouts of his favorite Thomas Jefferson quotes on the Second Amendment. He also brought National Security Council statistics that ranked hunting as one of the safest sports around.
“See, you’re more likely to get injured playing basketball,” he said.

Kettlefoot is the area’s largest gun club, stretching over 400 acres of wooded, mountain land in Washington County, Va. The club has about 800 members, 100 of whom have been there more than 20 years. The club boasts facilities for practically every avenue of the sport – a virtual playland for archers, hunters and competitive shooters, to name a few. Once a month, the club hosts a shooting event where families gather over warm meals and friendly competition.

“You come out here and you say, ‘I’m gonna shoot skeet today.’ And there’s four or five guys out there with you. One of them is a businessman, like me – we both run body shops,” Wills said. “And the other guy is a brain surgeon.

“Shooters are just people,” Wills said. “They’re just people with their hobby.”

At Sutherland’s Kingsport store, the owner is trying to keep up with increased business that has nearly tripled in recent weeks. He’s enjoying the profits, he said, but not the reason behind them.

“It’s good now, but it could hurt later,” he said.

“We’ve got regular guys who come in here often, and they don’t buy something every time,” Sutherland said. “It’s a community. They like coming here because they’re part of something. And everybody likes to feel a part of something. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Schmutzler and her husband took a hunting trip to Texas to celebrate their wedding anniversary this year. Not only does she enjoy the sport with her husband, but it’s a family affair. Between them, they have eight children – girls and boys – and all of them hunt, she said. All but one of their kids have grown up and moved away.

“We go with our teenage son, and we laugh at all the weird stuff the animals do,” she said. “Half the fun is just calling the animals and seeing them. It’s not just about shooting.”

Yet across the board, the overriding sentiment is not that a hobby is under attack, but what the hobby means to the people who love it. The Second Amendment is part of American heritage and freedom, many said. When folks attack guns, they attack a way of life.

“Every freedom we have today was won by someone who knew how to use a firearm,” Sutherland said. “The Second Amendment is the one that stands when all the others fail.”

ahunter@bristolnews.com | (276) 245-2531