His feet planted in the dirt, Zack Albanese set his eyes on his target.
The .22 rifle was a steady weight in his arms. His left hand cradled the forestock with his elbow tucked against his ribs. The butt of the gun nestled against his right shoulder, and his chin rested on the stock.
A few seconds of silence, then he switched the safety off with his index finger and moved it to the trigger. He took a deep breath in and let it out, squeezing as he did so.
Bang — he fired.
The sound of the bullet echoed through the trees. It faded out before he fired another shot, then another, and another. He never flinched. All four bullets hit within millimeters of each other.
Zack and his wife Hanna teach various firearms training courses offered through Tri-State Outfitters in Moscow. They said public interest in their classes has gone up since this summer, after the country saw a spike in the number of publicized mass shootings.
“It’s the American mentality,” Zack said. “You know, you tell somebody that you can’t have something, or you might not be able to have something, and they’ll want three.”
This response to the shootings and the national debates it caused spurred mixed reactions from the rest of the Moscow community.
Tess Fox | Blot Magazine
University of Idaho freshman Toliver Thompson said he didn’t notice much of a change in people’s attitudes about guns. If he saw any shift at all, he said it was that people felt more passionate about their right to bear arms more than ever, and he wasn’t surprised.
“I’ve gotten used to the idea of people just walking around with guns, and because I’ve gotten used to it I’ve actually become disgusted by it,” Thompson said.
Benjamin Barton, a criminology professor at UI, said he didn’t notice a dramatic transformation in Idahoans’ perspectives on guns either, but he didn’t think that was a bad thing. He said the mass shootings of this summer were outliers, and most people in the area know that the chances of them or a loved one being a victim of a mass shooting are still low.
Terressa Benz, a criminology professor at Oakland University, said the number of mass shootings didn’t actually go up this summer, but rather the publicity of the incidents increased dramatically. Gun violence has always been common, especially in low-income areas, she said.
“It’s not an epidemic,” Benz said.
Before moving to Detroit, Michigan, to teach at Oakland, Benz worked at UI. She said people who live in the state of Idaho hold a different philosophy about firearms compared to people in cities like Detroit.
Most people in Detroit don’t support guns, but they are a begrudging necessity due to the high murder rate in the area, she said. Idaho doesn’t have nearly as high of a crime rate, but people are more protective of their Second Amendment rights because the area is more conservative.
Barton said attitude is an important factor of responsible gun ownership — if not the most important factor — and quality gun training courses will assess the students’ attitude while handling firearms.
Gauging the attitude of gun users is something Zack and Hanna are no strangers to.
“Not to obviously hate on men, because I am one,” Zack said. “But men usually have that macho mentality, ‘Oh, I know this. Get out of my way. There’s nothing that you can teach me.’ And somebody that goes into it like that is generally the sort of person who is going to cause an issue.”
Zack said complacency is what leads to many accidents and injuries involving guns. When people who know how to handle them forget the basic rules, it increases the chance of someone getting hurt.
In his class, safety is Zack’s first priority. He said there are five rules that prevent gun accidents — treat every gun as if it were loaded; don’t point at anything you don’t intend to shoot; keep your finger straight and off the trigger until you intend to shoot; keep the gun on safe until you’re about to shoot; and always know your target and what’s beyond it.
“As long as you follow the rules and treat them with respect, no one will ever get hurt,” Zack said.
Guns are weapons in the same way as motor vehicles, Zack said, because they are dangerous if people don’t have the proper education on how to use them.
At Tri-State, citizens can enroll in courses to get basic and enhanced concealed carry permits. The basic permit requires a one-day class that takes about four hours, while the class for an enhanced permit takes two days. Zack and Hanna said they don’t think that is enough time for people to really learn how to handle firearms safely.
The couple doesn’t teach the classes people take to get a permit, but they said those courses don’t offer hands-on instruction about how to use guns, either. A lot of their business comes from people who got their permit and want to learn how to shoot, they said.
At UI, law enforcement officials and civilians with enhanced concealed carry permits are allowed to carry concealed weapons on campus. This was added to the university policy to comply with official state law enacted in 2014. Since then, Vice President for Infrastructure Dan Ewart said he is unaware of any gun-related incidents on campus.
But that doesn’t mean there was wide support for the firearms policy from the community when it was being discussed.
Benz worked at the university when the policy was passed and she said she observed no support from UI faculty, staff, students or administrators for the legislation. Even Moscow police officers didn’t back the policy, she said.
“It was voted for by people who do not live and work on campus,” Benz said.
After the legislation passed, employees altered their behavior on campus, Benz said. People who normally would leave their office doors open opted to close them. Faculty reduced the amount of time they remained on campus grounds.
She said firearm policies on campus can have a destructive effect on the relationship between faculty and students. As an instructor, she said she suddenly found herself considering her students’ capabilities for violence while she attempted to do her job.
“If I was going to fail a student, or even give them a ‘B,’ I had to first stop and think about guns and make sure that I didn’t consider them volatile,” Benz said. “And also if they wanted to come meet with me … I would let somebody else in the hall know they were coming.”
On the student side, Benz said most were not aware of the policy after it passed. Those who did were concerned about it, she said. They didn’t feel safer. In fact, she said many of them felt more vulnerable.
Thompson said he is used to the firearms policy on campus, the same way he is used to how others acted about guns while he grew up.
He spent his childhood in Idaho Falls — a more conservative part of Idaho than Moscow, he said. There, the culture is more gun-friendly, and he grew up hunting and maintaining firearms.
Thompson said the way he grew up broadened his perspective on guns. Many people in Idaho Falls owned firearms, but he didn’t feel safe being around them. He said certain individuals shouldn’t have the capability to access guns.
While the Moscow community may be less conservative than other areas of Idaho, Barton said UI and the rest of the town aren’t as against guns as some may believe. He has completed several research projects centered on firearms, and he said a small study he conducted within the Moscow community showed that most people in the area fall in the middle of the debate.
The subject of gun rights versus gun control is a touchy one, Barton said. Few individuals enjoy talking about their feelings on the subject. He said the topic of guns is normally regarded as a private matter, similar to money, so people avoid talking about it.
However, Thompson said it would be beneficial if more people felt comfortable expressing their opinions on the subject, regardless of which side they’re on.
“I just would encourage anyone who has strong beliefs on this subject — whether they be for or against guns — to not shut themselves out from a discussion or a debate,” Thompson said.