The value of keeping an open mind

By Simmi Aujla, CQS '08
Special to chipsquinn.org

Posted: March 5, 2009

Simmi Aujla

When my editor in Austin, Texas, mentioned that one of his friends thought local gun shops were busy because customers were worried about restrictive gun legislation under a new president, I was skeptical. It sounded too bizarre to be true.

I started my reporting by asking a few Austin gun store owners whether sales this year were unusual. Several prefaced their comments with, "Well, it is an election year" -- meaning they were expecting an increase in sales, especially because a strong Democratic candidate was running.

That didn't mean that most of our readers expected such an increase, or that they even thought about gun sales at all. I'm proud of this story because I was able to find unexpected information and relay it with hard work, patience and skill.

Delivering fresh information required keeping an open mind. Raised in a suburb of Baltimore, Md., and attending college in Providence, R.I., I don't have many opportunities to come into contact with gun owners. I, like many Americans, usually think about guns in the context of war, inner-city violence and school shootings.

But after hanging out in several gun shops and chatting with customers, I started to understand the demand for guns and the fear of restrictions. One man was buying a 22-caliber handgun for his 11-year-old daughter for her first shooting lesson. Another told me that his wife, who would never hurt a living thing, loved shooting in a range because she thought it was "empowering."

For these people, guns are part of a lifestyle. Restrictive legislation, passed during the Clinton administration and lifted during the Bush years, had been a nuisance to that lifestyle. The people I interviewed didn't want their lifestyle to be interrupted again.

I didn't learn this without working for it. I had to be willing to go to gun stores after work and to a gun show on a weekend and spend several hours talking to customers and sellers.

Persistence also helped as I tried to understand a culture known for disliking what it perceives to be liberal bias in many newspapers. After telling me he would not talk to me for my story, one store owner gave a long explanation of why he hated the "Austin American Communist Newspaper" while his employees chuckled and nodded their heads in support of his feisty comments.

The owner's tirade motivated me to act better than he expected me to. The result of my efforts was a fair, nuanced and well-written story that readers noticed.

In fact, a local author who was also a guest on "The Daily Show" the day my story ran mentioned the article in his conversation with Jon Stewart. The 10-second clip (and Stewart’s shock at the idea) made it all worth it.

This story reminded me to work hard and take a risk on a thought that may sound ridiculous.

When something that sounds weird to you and everyone you know seems perfectly normal to another group of people -- people you wouldn’t normally spend a Saturday afternoon with -- you’re being a good reporter.

Thoroughly reporting a story that’s outside one’s personal norm is not just solid journalism or something fun to do as a summer intern. Especially now, when it seems like fewer people are willing to pay for what we do, it’s important to show why we’re here in the first place: There are some stories only we can tell.

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