In the same year that the Arms Act came into force, Mr. Wetherby, a churchwarden, was born.
He recalled his childhood when his father half-jokingly told him, “I don’t care if you don’t like guns, it’s the law.”
“I was taught that if you’re a man, you should have a gun,” he said.
He is now 42 years old, and he first fired a gun at the age of 12.
“I almost dropped him because he scared me so much,” he said.
Mr Wetherby had more than 20 guns but now said he does not own any. Over the years, he sold them – including the one his father left him after he died in 2005 – to make ends meet.
“I needed gas more than guns,” he said.
One of the places he could go to sell his firearms is the Deercreek Gun Shop located on Main Street in Kennesaw.
James Rabun, 36, has worked at the gun shop since he graduated high school.
According to him, it is a family business started by his father and grandfather, both of whom can still be found there today; his dad in the back restoring a firearm, his grandfather in the front relaxing in a rocking chair.
For obvious reasons, Mr. Rabun is a supporter of the Kennesaw gun law. It’s good for business.
“The interesting thing about firearms,” he said with genuine enthusiasm, “is that people buy them for self-defense, but a lot of people like them like works of art or bitcoins, things of scarcity.”
Among the dozens and dozens of weapons displayed on the wall for sale are double-barreled black powder guns – similar to muskets – and several 1800s they-don’t-make-those-anymore Winchester rifles.
