A way of life in the Midwest

Mike Harden sits on his front porch steps at his house in Eau Claire, Wis. Harden will partake in his 56th deer hunt this Fall. Jessica Boehm

By Jessica Boehm

This year, Mike Harden of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, will partake in his 56th deer hunt. Though he’s battled pneumonia, nursed a broken arm and fallen out of trees through the years, he’s never let anything keep him from deer season.

“I haven’t missed an opening weekend yet and I hope not to,” Harden said.

He started hunting at 6 with his father and now takes his sons and grandson out for deer season. For Harden, it’s more about the tradition and camaraderie than the trophy buck.

In fact, Harden didn’t even shoot a deer in his favorite hunting story.

Several hunting seasons ago, Harden fell out of a tree at 9 a.m. Not knowing he broke his leg in the fall, he climbed back into the tree to continue hunting. That afternoon, it was raining and icy and he slipped and fell 18 feet from the tree again, this time landing on his back.

“I didn’t get a deer that day, but it kind of shows you how strange people can be,” Harden said. “You don’t want to leave the woods no matter what.”

Harden says he is the typical Wisconsinite. There were over 600,000 hunting licenses sold in the state last year.

A photo of Mike Harden and a deer that he shot during a deer season years ago. Jessica Boehm

“It’s an important part of our culture in Wisconsin,” Harden said. “It’s like Packer football. Everybody talks about it and it’s a shared experience for so many people.”

Although Harden owns multiple guns, he said that certain people should not have access to them. As a retired teacher, he was disturbed to see an uptick in school shootings.

“We live in a free society where everyone pretty much has a right to own guns unless they’re a felon,” Harden said. “With that right comes a lot of responsibility that not everyone subscribes to. So, yes, we have some problems in our society with guns.”

Coming up with a solution to that problem is another challenge. Harden said that he does not have faith that a compromise will be reached through political means. Harden used to be a member of the National Rifle Association, but said he no longer supports them because of their radicalized agenda.

“I think that they fail to yield at all, and I think that there is going to have to be some cooperation and compromise, and they fail to do that,” Harden said.

Jessica Boehm is a News21 Hearst Fellow.

Music minister purchases gun after being attacked

Music Minister Mathew Maglasang shows the target he used in his concealed carry test. Sydney Stavinoha

By Sydney Stavinoha

Mathew Maglasang, a music minister in Sugar Land, Texas, decided to purchase his first handgun nearly two years ago.

Maglasang was out shopping with his mother when a man wanting to fix the dents in his car approached them in a parking lot. He told the man, “No thank you,” and tried to leave. A second man pulled his car around to block Maglasang and his mother from leaving. The situation escalated, and the men demanded money from him for fixing the dents.

“Me being a Christian, I’m just like, OK, let’s just let this go, give them the money, and we’ll be on our way,” Maglasang said.

Maglasang offered the men some money, but it wasn’t enough for them.

One of the men pulled out a gun, and before he could pull the trigger, Maglasang grabbed it from him and threw it away from the scene.

A third man pulled up and got out of his car. He saw what was happening, and came to assist Maglasang. The other two men ended up getting in their cars and driving away but were later apprehended.

This incident made Maglasang consider his safety and how to protect himself in these types of situations.

“The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun would be a good guy with a gun,” Maglasang said.

This led him to purchase his first handgun and get his concealed carry license.

“I carry it around with me. My priest knows that I’m a carrier, but we don’t talk about it,” Maglasang said.

Sydney Stavinoha is an Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation News21 Fellow.

A Texas hunting tradition

Peter Garza, a hunter from Missouri City, TX, holds two of the many guns that he owns. Garza has been hunting since he was 9 years old. Sydney Stavinoha

By Sydney Stavinoha

Hunting has been a significant part of Texas gun culture for decades. Peter Garza, from Missouri City, Texas, comes from a large hunting family and has hunted since he was 9 years old.

“My dad always hunted, and my uncles, and I would always go hunting with them. That’s what got me into it. They’ve always hunted as long as I can remember,” Garza said.

He joked he had “buck fever” when he shot a gun for the first time.

Continuing on the family tradition, Garza taught his son and daughters how to hunt and safely handle firearms.

“To me it’s kind of just a family bonding thing, when you go out and go hunt. It’s the unity of hunting,” he said.

Garza hunts white tail deer, mule deer and his favorite, elk.

“I think everybody should have the right to have a gun, to protect their family or themselves,” Garza said.

When asked about the topic of gun control and what he would do if he wasn’t allowed to own guns anymore, Garza said, “I guess I’d have to be a bad guy and still have one, just like the rest of them.”

Sydney Stavinoha is an Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation News21 Fellow.

Guns: A history lesson

Bill Goodman, an antique firearms dealer, holds a .45-caliber buffalo gun in his backyard in Bozeman, Mont. Jessica Boehm

By Jessica Boehm

In Bill Goodman’s home in Bozeman, Montana, a hand-picked assortment of antique guns clutters the coffee table. One gun was used in the Zeigler polar expedition. Another was once aboard a Wells Fargo stagecoach.

As an antique firearms dealer for over 30 years, Goodman sees these historical guns as a window into the past.

One gun, a Winchester rifle from the 1880s, was likely used by Native Americans. Goodman considers the gun a link to a past culture and an insight into the hardships and struggles that the people endured.

“To me, it’s history,” Goodman said. “I don’t own these guns. I feel like I’m a caretaker of them.”

Goodman bought his first antique gun at 10 years old and became a dealer years later after reading books about gun collecting. Today, he deals and attends gun shows from “Maine to New Mexico and every place in between.”

In 1998, when former President Bill Clinton referred to gun shows as “illegal arms bazaars for criminals,” Goodman was at a gun show in Birmingham, Alabama.

“I looked around and, truthfully, it was just a bunch of middle-aged guys looking at rifles and shotguns and not exactly the criminal element,” Goodman said. “I think gun shows have been maligned that way.”

But Goodman says the gun control side and the media choose to focus on gun crime, as opposed to the other sides of gun culture, including gun collecting.

“This is a little more quiet, a little more cerebral,” Goodman said.

But the fear of gun control — especially under President Barack Obama’s administration — hasn’t been all bad for gun dealers. In fact, Goodman says he has Obama to thank for the recent success of the gun industry.

“That president has done more for gun ownership in America than all the others combined,” Goodman said. “He put the fear of confiscation — whether justified or not — into just about everyone’s mind. Suddenly guns flew off the shelves.”

Jessica Boehm is a News21 Hearst Fellow.

Spotlight on the Fellows: Amy Slanchik

Amy Slanchik reports in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. Photo by: David Ryan

Name: Amy Slanchik, Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation Fellow

School: University of Oklahoma

Style of reporting: Broadcast and multimedia

Previous internship or work experience: I have interned for The Washington Times, the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire and CBS News in Washington, D.C. While earning my degree in journalism I interned for KWTV News 9 in Oklahoma City, and reported for OU Nightly and Routes TV, productions of the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Favorite reporting experience: My favorite reporting experience was covering the Supreme Court case Tarrant Regional Water District v. Herrmann, which determined water rights of a portion of the Red River for Oklahoma and Texas. I sat in the courtroom for the oral arguments, and was at the court the day the decision came out.

Connect with me: @amyslanchik on Twitter and Instagram

Website: youtube.com/channel/UCMaOxnahRmgsriCB7iPUtZQ

Favorite app: Instagram

Favorite snack: Almonds