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The Curious Listener: Debating Guns On Air, At Home & On The Range

NPR listener Paul Gwaltney contacted All Things Considered earlier this year with a challenge - go to a shooting range. He'd heard an interview with National Rifle Association President David Keene on our air, and thought the trip might allow a better understanding of the culture there.

NPR took him up on this offer, and the show asked him to do something in return, something that put listeners at the center of the conversation around this timely issue. Gwaltney found himself at his Virginia home hosting a roundtable discussion on the "ideological gulf between gun owners and non-gun owners." NPR Host Melissa Block joined Gwaltney for a visit to the shooting range, and sat down with his friends and colleagues who hold very different views on gun control.

The discussion, which you can hear online, is part of NPR's coverage of the continuing dialogue over arms in the series "Guns In America: A Loaded Relationship." This reporting is indicative of the wide spectrum of coverage NPR gives to various important issues, and something Brett, our latest Curious Listener, will want to check out.

His letter to NPR, inquiring about our coverage of the gun control debate, is another example of the feedback we sometimes hear from thoughtful listeners who take issue with how we've covered a topic or news event. We hope that this installment of the Curious Listener will inspire some clarity about our journalists' mission.

/ Katie Burk/NPR
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Katie Burk/NPR

Send your questions about the inner workings of NPR, something you heard during a program, or anything else NPR-related to NPR Listener Services. Your question and the answer might even end up on the This is NPR blog.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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George T. Gary III