Posed like a sniper from an elevated vantage point, I photographed members of the NRA attending the 2018 National Convention held in my hometown of Dallas. Forearmed with stereotypes about second amendment supporters, I was unexpectedly confronted with loving parents and affectionate couples. 

Through the gunsight of the camera's viewfinder, these captive escalator riders are metaphoric stand-ins for the 58 concertgoers on the Las Vegas Strip, the 5 police officers in downtown Dallas, the 9 congregants in Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the 22 shoppers at an El Paso Walmart and the 10 weekend revelers in Dayton, Ohio.

Through this contrived threat of violence, I explore questions of vulnerability and culpability. Here gun rights advocacy, issues of privacy and freedom of expression intersect in a minefield of ideological and emotional conflict. With both tenderness and aggression, I enter the divisive discourse on gun control, wondering if empathy might engender reconciliation.