There are times in life when you simply want to look good. And then there are times when you want to look good while being protected from a hail of bullets shot at you by the Medellín cartel.

Kyle Cassidy travelled 15,000 miles over two years photographing Americans in their homes and asking one question:

"Why do you own a gun?"

Armed America: Portraits of Gun Owners in their Homes is a 208 page hardback book by the photographer Kyle Cassidy and ranked in Amazon.com's 100 best books of 2007.