By Connie Hassett-Walker

Chicago Tribune

It was an ordinary day in 2011 when I found myself watching a YouTube video of a gun owner making a semiautomatic rifle discharge bullets rapidly, as if it were an automatic weapon.

My gun-owning husband watches firearms videos like this one, however, I had never seen one. Intrigued, I sat down on the couch to absorb the imagery.

Hooking his thumb through the belt loop of his pants, the YouTuber demonstrated how pushing the gun forward, rather than pulling the trigger, allowed the gun’s recoil to “keep the gun going.”

In other words, he was bump firing his rifle.

I’m a criminal justice researcher. At the time, a flurry of thoughts popped into my mind. Aren’t citizens forbidden to own automatic weapons? Is it legal to make a video of a semiautomatic rifle performing like an automatic firearm? What about the 1930’s machine gun ban — is there a YouTube loophole of some sort?

This was 2011, six years before a gunman at a country music festival in Las Vegas used a bump stock to make his alleged shooting spree more effective and deadly, killing 58 people and injuring 851,including 422 by gunfire.

Watching that initial YouTube video led me to spend the next five years exploring online gun videos and gun-owner communities. It also led to a moderation of my views on gun-related issues.

That first video, and the many videos I would subsequently view, showed me how gun owners could legally share content that, in the case of bump stocks, could effectively render a particular gun control law moot.

This realization led to the question — is it worth it to pass a law, as Florida recently did, banning the sale of bump-stock devices, when people can just make and upload a how-to video of bump firing without the device?

I felt like I had accidentally stumbled onto a secret hiding in plain sight.

I also realized that despite being married to a gun owner, I knew very little about gun subculture, either in real life or online. But I could learn.

For all the noise around gun control versus gun rights, there was a story that was missed by nongun owners like me: how much these guns mean to those who own them.

Delving online into gun subculture can provide a perspective that may be, for nongun owners, very different.

Americans live in a time of political polarization on a variety of social issues, gun rights among them. Both gun control and gun rights supporters would benefit from understanding how those with opposing political and social views see their identity and culture.

Recent data from Pew Research Center illuminates the extent of a gun owner’s use of the internet and social media. Thirty-five percent of gun owners responding to the Pew survey indicated that they often or sometimes visit websites focused on hunting, shooting sports or guns. Ten percent participate in online gun forums.

Culture and its smaller subcultures comprise the values and behaviors that define a group of people. A related idea is homophily, that is, the desire to connect with others with similar characteristics, experiences and interests. Gun owners engage in this in real life — for example, by attending gun shows or joining shooting clubs — as well as online. Gun owners join Facebook groups through word searches like “freedom,” “liberty,” “oath keepers,” and “duck hunters.” They also join online groups devoted to survival skills, love of the outdoors, hunting and fishing, and they post comments on gun-related blogs.

I learned that gun owners share ideas, images of firearms and videos, signaling to others the accepted norms, values and activities of gun subculture. They use hashtags like #freedom or #2A, for the Second Amendment. They post key words and phrases such as “take our rights away,” “patriot class,” and “lock ‘n’ load.” One gun owner shares tactical advice on what to do if you ever encounter zombies. Others showcase their rapid-fire skills with semiautomatic guns; explain how to clean a firearm; complain about political parties and gun control organizations; and compare gun types, such as a “Glock 17 vs. Ruger SR9.”

I’ve observed that gun-owning YouTubers have a lot of fun filming themselves and their friends shooting all kinds of things — targets, “zombies” and computers.

Previously, I had thought about guns as mostly dangerous, unnecessary and likely to lead to a homicide or suicide.

Not any more.

I am now attached to certain YouTube videos. And, having peered into several gun owners’ YouTube worlds, I feel a sense of familiarity with them, despite not knowing any of them personally.

This gave me an idea. If I felt a connection to particular YouTubers or videos, would others experience something similar?

Recent research suggests that individuals can form attachments to media personalities even though they do not know them in real life.

If feelings of connectedness could be deliberately cultivated among gun-control advocates and gun owners, might it be possible to parlay that into better understanding of the perspectives of those on the other side of the gun controversy? Could this lead to a productive conversation about gun rights and gun control in the U.S.?

Some research suggests that it is possible to shift people’s opinions, even strongly held ones, and enhance empathy for others who hold very different viewpoints.

Other scholarship has connected familiarity with reduced prejudice. So while a total opinion change isn’t likely when trying to bring opposing positions closer, small movement on a seemingly intractable issue might be possible.

Through the process of watching hundreds of videos made by and for gun owners, I find that my views on guns shifted from unquestioning support for gun control toward a more neutral, even gun-friendly, perspective.

I’m also much more aware of what I don’t know, including the particulars of all things gun-related (parts, accessories).

The deadlock between proponents of gun rights and gun control is frustrating. To that end, I propose that gun control and gun rights supporters watch 100 YouTube videos featuring content from the opposing camp.

Viewers should approach their watching with an open mind. They will see a slice of the other’s life in the context of their world.

Could this video exchange work?

Take the challenge and find out.

Connie Hassett-Walker is an associate professor of criminal justice at Kean University. Her forthcoming book, “Guns on the Internet: Online Gun Communities, First Amendment Protections, and the Search for Common Ground on Gun Control,” will be released in August.