Update | 7:06 p.m.
On my way into the library here in Louisville, I was greeted by this sign.
Katharine Q. Seelye It was kind of startling for someone who lives in New York City, where the guns laws are much more restrictive and there is no need (or less of a perceived need) for such signs.
But here in Kentucky, the gun laws are among the least restrictive in the country, which makes possible an event like the one tomorrow night at the New Bethel Church, where people will be wearing and carrying their firearms into the sanctuary for a celebration.
You don’t need a license or permit to buy or carry rifles or shotguns in Kentucky, and you don’t need a permit to buy a handgun, though you do need a permit to carry a handgun. And you can get a license to conceal your firearms, if you meet certain requirements (are 21, pass a course, etc.).
Even with a license, there are some places where you can’t go: police department, jail, courthouse, school, daycare center or airport, to a meeting of a governing body or to a place that sells alcohol as a primarymain part of its business (that is, you can’t bring your gun into a bar but you can bring it into most restaurants).
But bringing a concealed weapon into church is perfectly legal.
Still, some places where guns are legal, like certain restaurants, say, or the library, don’t want them. In those cases, they have to post a sign saying specifically that concealed weapons are not allowed.
It’s all part of a gun culture that is long entwined with Kentucky history. I was chatting about this with James C. Klotter, Kentucky’s state historian and a history professor at Georgetown College, near Lexington. He said he worried that this gun culture gave outsiders a negative view of the state.
“Unfortunately, Kentucky has always had this image of a mountaineer with moonshine over one shoulder and a rifle over the other,” he said. Of the bring-your-gun-to-church day, he sighed. “This just feeds the image,” he said.
But, he added brightly, “Kentucky has many cultures.”
Update | 4:53 p.m.
Here’s something interesting that popped up when we were researching the surge in gun sales that occurred across the country after President Obama’s election in November.
As we noted before, the post-election surge may be tapering off. Of course, every surge tapers off, almost by definition. But what we saw here was a remarkably consistent cyclical pattern to the ebb and flow of gun sales.
These are the numbers of instant criminal background checks that take place when a gun is bought or transferred. It’s the closest gauge there is of actual gun sales, which the feds don’t track.
As you can see from the pattern, gun sales tend to start rising in the fall and reach their peak in December. Then they dip, dropping to their lowest levels in the summer.
We checked with the FBI about the pattern, and they confirmed our hunch: two things are going on here. One is that hunting seasons begin in the fall, so naturally there would be more sales then. The other is the holidays. People like to give guns as presents, or at least receive them.
So, was the spike after Mr. Obama’s election in November just part of a cyclical pattern? Was it a bit of hype by those with an interest in seeing gun sales rise?
Yes and no. The two durable factors of hunting season and the holidays were obviously still at play. But as you can see, this surge was a record, in raw numbers, and the peak lasted a little longer than it usually does. The same thing happened with the surge in late 2001 surge brought on by 9/11. You can see from the chart that the post-9/11 peak continued longer than usual.
In November 2008, there were 1,529,635 background checks — more than at any time since the instant check program began in 1998 — and a 42 percent jump over the previous November (there was no corresponding 42 percent rise in the population). The checks were off slightly in December, and more in January and February, then back up in March. They started to slide in April, as they typically do. But this April, they were still 30 percent above the previous April. They continued down in May, but again, that was still 15 percent above the previous May.
So it was fortuitous for those with an interest in promoting gun sales — gun sellers, of course, and lobbying groups like the National Rifle Association — that Mr. Obama’s election was in November. The numbers were going to rise anyway; the election was icing on the cake.
2:45 p.m.
I’m here in Louisville (where the temp is a blistering 92 degrees and it’s really humid) to follow the “bring-your-gun-to-church” celebration here on Saturday night.
Yesterday I wrote about Ken Pagano, the pastor of the New Bethel Church. He’s what some are calling the “pistol-packing pastor,” who has invited his parishioners to bring their weapons into the sanctuary, learn a bit about firearms safety, raffle off a gun and have a picnic.
Clergy from some other churches and peace activists are sponsoring an alternative event, called “Bring your peaceful heart, leave your gun at home,” and today I visited with the organizers.
The alternative is planned for the same time as the gun celebration, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church in Louisville’s east end, about a half-hour from New Bethel.
The executive director of the Interfaith Paths to Peace, Terry Taylor, one of the organizers, told me that he and 18 co-sponsors planned this event because they were “deeply troubled by the idea of wearing weapons into sacred space.”
He said they did not consider themselves “protesters,” per se, and did not want to be part of a demonstration at New Bethel. (Mr. Pagano told me he plans to set up a cordoned-off area for demonstrators outside his church.)
Katharine Q. Seelye Terry Taylor and Diana Fulner are coordinating the alternative event. “A protest is not the way we do things,” Mr. Taylor said. “We’re not against things, we’re for things. Going and carrying signs at that event would build unhappiness and could potentially be confrontational. They have the right to do what they want. We’re going to give people an alternative that we think is better.”
The co-sponsors include those from many faiths: Quakers, Episcopalians, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Unitarians and Tibetan Buddhists. Their event, also a picnic, will feature music, chalk-painting and readings about peace. Mr. Taylor said one Quaker planned to read from the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”
No one really knows how many people will show up at either event. Mr. Taylor said he expected the gun event would “bring people out in significant numbers because it’s so odd.”
“It’s attracting national and international attention,” he said, “but it’s not who we are.”
He said he told Mr. Pagano about their alternative event. “To his credit,” Mr. Taylor said, “he said he felt that that’s what America is all about — we’ll do our thing and he’ll do his. Then we’ll move forward. Two different worlds.”
@TheLede
