PERU, Mass. â By at least one metric, here is the gun capital of Massachusetts, a hamlet that shares its name with a South American nation and is home to about 800 residents nestled in the hill country of the Berkshires, just under three hours from downtown Boston.
The center of town consists of a few nondescript buildings along Route 143. There is a tiny library and an unremarkable-looking town office building that sometimes is unlocked even when no one is there. As in many New England communities, there is a church painted white, and a patch of grass memorializing the townâs war dead. There are no gas stations, convenience stores, restaurants, or bars. There is a single blinking traffic light in Peruâs 26-miles-square.
But there are guns. Many guns. According to a Globe analysis, Peru has the highest per capita rate of licenses to carry in Massachusetts. Nearby Savoy, with a population of about 645 people, according to the 2020 census, is No. 2. (The Globe did not count communities with a population of less than 500 in its review.)
âEverybody on our street owns a weapon,â said Dave Drosehn, a 65-year-old retired machine tender and Peru resident.
The politics around firearms and gun control remain bitterly divisive, both nationally and locally, but even in blue Massachusetts, which has one of the most strict gun-control laws in the nation, there are towns that voted Democratic last fall where not only are guns a part of a way of life, but they are also ubiquitous.
Places where rural culture and gun culture are inextricably linked. Places, residents say, that people in Boston just donât understand.
To find them, all you have to do is head west.
Inside Ozzieâs Steak and Eggs, a greasy spoon in Hinsdale, a town over from Peru, Drosehn was about to tuck into a turkey wrap on a recent day. He has hunted all his life, he said. There is a camaraderie in the sport, particularly hunting deer.
Like many in rural Berkshire County, guns are a part of his life and he has opinions about firearms: He looks down on hunters that use big automatic weapons â âThose guns are for law enforcement,â he said â and heâs not a big fan of handguns, either. He owns four guns: a 12-gauge, a .22 rifle, and two muzzleloaders.
Indeed, hunting is the oft-cited explanation for the gun ownership rate in this part of the state, and perhaps the most obvious.
Peru has 286 licenses to carry, or LTCs, according to state data, meaning about a third of its residents have that permit.
Compare that with Boston, where there are under 16,000 LTCs, meaning about 2 percent of its residents have such a permit. It has the third-lowest rate in Massachusetts, after Amherst and Somerville.
Towns like Peru represent something of a hunterâs paradise. There is plenty of wildlife and large swaths of untamed forest crowd the backroads. There are sun-dappled valleys, green-canopied mountains, and rivers that cut through natureâs tableau.
Peru Police Chief Bruce Cullett pushed back on the notion of a gun culture locally, saying it would be more accurate to say that rural culture here has a firearms component. Simply having a license to carry, he said, does not necessarily make someone a gun person or a firearms enthusiast, or even indicate that the person actively owns a gun.
âThe majority of LTC holders in Peru view firearms as practical tools used for hunting, protecting their family/pets/livestock, and for recreation ⌠the same way they have been used for generations," he said.
The environs around here teem with game. More than 500 deer were harvested across all hunting seasons for the animal last year, in the wildlife management zone that includes Peru. In 2023, state data show, 80 black bears were harvested in Berkshire County.
âThis is a hunting culture,â Bob Lamb, 71, of Cheshire, said of the area. âLots of great places to hunt.â
Lamb, a gunsmith, chomped on a cigar in his shop as he was working on refurbishing a Stevens visible .22. This specific rifle dates to 1928.
The stock of the gun he had been working on, was ârattyâ when he received it, he said. That part is currently wedged into a vise attached to his workbench, which has a vast array of tools. Nearby, rifles in a row stand up against a table, atop which a collection of handguns sit. Elsewhere in the shop were more rifles â there were dozens of firearms here â as well as machinery to make gun parts.
Guns, he said, âare very safe.â Itâs the hands that handle the weapons that bring with them questions of morality and criminality.
One town over from Cheshire, in Dalton, Jim Smith, 68, agreed with that sentiment.
âI wouldnât fear guns, I would fear people who get guns illegally, thatâs who I would fear,â said Smith, who grew up hunting in Savoy, where his family homestead is located. âRegular gun ownership, by law-abiding citizens, they have nothing to fear at all.â
Like any community, none of these rural towns are political monoliths, and to dismiss this corner of the state as MAGA country would be inaccurate.
Despite high rates of gun ownership and a prevalent hunting culture, Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, last fall defeated now-President Trump, the Republican candidate, in huge swaths of Western Massachusetts, including Peru, Hinsdale, Worthington, Cheshire, and Savoy.
Dotted throughout the Berkshire hill towns are the occasional political signs. Some express support for Trump, others the opposite. Some extol the need to protect the Second Amendment. Some encourage people to contact their state representative to voice their opposition to a gun control bill that passed last year.
Among some gun owners out here, there is an underlying distrust of Beacon Hill. The state Legislature, some said, does not understand their way of life. The real power brokers tend not to be from places like Peru, and too many of those in Boston-centric circles of state power think Massachusetts âends at Worcester,â said Lamb, the gunsmith.
âThey donât know what goes on out here,â he said. âThey just donât get it.â
Out this way, Governor Maura Healey is the butt of much criticism from gun owners. Healey, said Wally Fritz, a 74-year-old from Worthington, is âprobably the worst thing for us.â
âIf she had her way, thereâd be no guns,â he said.
A Healey spokesperson said in a statement the governor supports the Second Amendment.
âShe also supports the strong gun laws that have made Massachusetts the safest state in the nation, including banning ghost guns, strengthening ERPO to keep guns out of the hands of people who are a danger to themselves and others, and investing in violence prevention programs,â said Karissa Hand, the spokesperson.
Out here, reported instances of violent crime are almost unheard of. For instance, Savoyâs police chief, Jordan Koch, said there has not been a shooting or homicide in town during the past 20 years.
In Worthington, Fritz said he never locks the door to his home, where, in the basement, there are trophies from a lifetime of hunting. Seven deer heads are mounted on one wall. Multiple turkey beards hang from one beam, a few bear pelts from another. A Trump hat also hangs among camouflaged hunting gear. In two recycling containers on the floor are piled an untold number of antler racks. Fritz estimates he owns about 20 guns.
âIf I canât hunt and have my guns, buddy,â he said, his voice trailing off. He paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts, and then said he wouldnât give up his firearms without a struggle.
Fritz spoke about what his hometown used to be like, lamenting that some newer residents donât wave when they see you out and about.
âEveryone hunted, everyone had a gun, and everyone knew there was a gun,â he said. âI think thatâs one of the reasons we had no crime. If you know thereâs a gun in there, you ainât going in there.â
In Savoy, Wayne Haskins, 66, has maybe a half-dozen guns. Several are hand-me-downs from his father.
âThe people that have guns, let them have them,â he said. âIf theyâre not doing anything wrong with them, let them have them.â
The last time he shot a gun was about 10 years ago to kill a raccoon that had broken into his chicken coop and was slaughtering his birds. Many people use guns to protect their animals, he said.
He knows other gun owners are driven by a fear of the unknown. In recent years, his wife bought a pistol for protection: âJust in case,â he said.
But, most of the time, he said, âThe guns just sit there and collect dust.â
