Host Ira Glass reads an ad from American Handgunner.

Act One.

Sarah Vowell, her dad, and his cannon.

Act Two.

Geoffry Canada, author of the book Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America, talks about what it's like to carry a gun.

Act Three.

Bryn Magnus with a quintessential gun story from his childhood in Wisconsin.

Act Four.

Two people who've nearly died in gun battles — Mike Robbins, a Chicago police officer, and Susanna Gratia-Hupp, a Texas chiropractor — draw opposite conclusions from their near-death experiences.

Act Five.

Chicago writer Tori Marlan with a man who sold guns to criminals for two years.