Many people buy and use guns each year. Not only do they sell guns and their accessories, but also give their customers an enriching experience. This site is interested in seeing how many of its customers know that several famous literary figures have used firearms themselves. Yet did you know a good number of authors have used firearms? The most famous example is Ernest Hemingway, who often used a custom long range hunting rifle in the wilderness. And such experiences informed his writing for many years. As opposed to things completely made up out of thin air.
Scott Fitzgerald is another author of classical literature who owned a firearm. Whether his was store bought or if they were custom hunting rifles is anyone’s guess. He sometimes checked into The Grove Park Inn to over the entrance and see the cars pulling in. There is instance where he fired off a gun in the hotel back in 1936. For what reason he did this, no one knows. Yet he remains an interesting figure. Just as much as any of his characters in The Great Gatsby or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button have ever wished they could be.
William Faulkner is another gun owner who wrote great works of literature. In his native Mississippi, he helped found The Okatoba Hunting and Fishing Club. Guns were among his favorite topics. It was such a favorite pastime for Faulkner that he barely even talked about writing. His preferred subjects in conversation were horses, dogs, hunting, and flying. Such a far cry from the quiet and reserved perception people had of him. A man who wrote these delicate yet gothic works of Southern literature. Yet most also overlook the fact he and Hemingway were both drinkers in their time as well.
Rudyard Kipling, author of The Jungle Book, can be presumed to be a gun owner. As it was topic in a great deal of his writing. The old British screw gun may have been one of his favorites. He profiled it within his poem ”Screw Gun”. He also admired and respected The British Mountain Artillery. So much to the point where he met and later corresponded with Lieutenant W.H. Lewis. Kipling also congratulated him on getting posted to the No 5 Mountain Artillery. No doubt this author used a hunting rifle a time or two in his long, storied life.
It also would not be too surprising to learn hardboiled detective author Dashiell Hammett also owned and used gun. He had a real life background as a Pinkerton detective. He probably needed to carry one in the event of a threat or encountering someone dangerous. And, of course, there were many murder investigations in his body of work. As his background working as a detective gave him a lot of experience in such matters. Whether or any of these other authors had a custom built gun is, again, anyone’s guess. Yet their use of firearms is no secret by any means.