Review: Guns by Stephen King

Guns by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a short nonfiction piece by Stephen King about his views on gun control. He, himself owns guns, and grew up in a conservative part of the state of Maine, but he argues a point that comes straight down the center.

Stephen King's nonfiction is very different in tone from his fiction. He uses the same bad words, and can be just as graphic in his descriptions, but the tone is more conversational. He has no wasted words in his nonfiction, whereas his fiction can be rather more descriptive. This feels like sitting down to a conversation with Stephen King. You get the idea you really did voice some of the protests he addresses within this essay, and that he's answering you.

The solution he comes up with is nothing novel; it's the solution the vast majority of the US supports. It's the way he presents it, as a reasonable solution that one would be crazy not to agree with, that makes this a compelling essay. He calls for common sense and human decency, and who could make a stand against those principles?

I started out this essay agreeing with the principles Mr. King argues in favor of, but I think even those fighting for even stricter controls and even more freedom could see the wisdom in his words.


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