On the 13th September this year, the Federal, Assault Weapons ban, bought in under the Clinton administration, was allowed to lapse by the incumbent Bush regime. The federal assault weapons ban prohibited the manufacture and sale of specific models of military-style firearms and accessories in the USA.

Despite the ban, many gun manufacturers evaded the law by making minor modifications to banned weapons - the Bushmaster XM-15 used by the Washington DC-area snipers is one example of an assault weapon that remained legal, even under the ban.

The civilian need for military-style weaponry in the USA is unclear, with the only apparent argument from the pro-guns camp being that the right to bear arms is constitutional, and that the sale of assault weapons will not have any bearing on crime figures, because criminals steal all of their guns. Obviously. Although they may have missed the small, but relatively pertinent point, that these weapons have to be stolen from somewhere – possibly even shops and licensed owners.

Still that’s all ok because the USA needs more guns to protect itself from all the people with guns. If your enemy has a weapon, you need a bigger, more powerful one - something that could obliterate a room full of people - not just a lone assailant. The lapsing of the AWB will allow the general public exactly that luxury.

This must come as a great relief for thirty thousand-odd families who loose a member each year to firearms in the US.Over a period of three years, award-winning British photographer Zed Nelson documented America's gun culture. In his work entitled, Gun Nation, he avoids the stereotypical groups that are often conveniently portrayed as the reason behind the "problem." There are, significantly, no images of gang-members posturing with their weapons, and no fringe-element extremists in camouflage fatigues. Instead, Nelson focused on so-called 'ordinary' law-abiding citizens, at gun shops and NRA conventions, in living rooms, emergency rooms and schoolyards. "I wanted to show how guns pervade all areas of society," says Nelson.

These compelling images explore the paradox of why America's most potent symbol of freedom is also one of its greatest killers - resulting in an annual death toll of over 30,000 American citizens.

Zed Nelson does not shy away from conflict, controversy or crisis. Gun Nation is one of his most important projects to date, and has been published in major magazines the world over, was screened on British television, and has won four prestigious photojournalism awards. It is regarded by many as the definitive body of work on the subject, and has recently been published as a book.

After a decade working as a photojournalist in some of the harshest and most lawless areas of the world, Zed Nelson has had more than the occasional opportunity to witness the devastating effectiveness of man's favourite deadly weapon of choice -the gun.

An abstraction to most, the terrifying reality of what guns can do became all too real for Nelson when, whilst documenting the war in Afghanistan in 1994, the car he was travelling in came under heavy machine-gun fire. Nelson's colleague and interpreter were both shot, and suffered horrendous injuries. This brutal reality check brought home the unglamorous reality of firearms, and planted the seeds of the idea that was later to become Gun Nation. "That incident ended my boyhood, Hollywood-inspired love affair with weapons," says Nelson. "I wanted to work on a story that stripped guns of their glamour, to show what they can do to the human body, and to reveal their real impact on society."

Zed Nelson began his study of American gun culture in the wake of a shocking and unusual British gun massacre in Dunblane, Scotland, where 16 children and their teacher were shot to death. The incident prompted a fierce backlash against guns in the UK, and calls for a ban on privately owned firearms. While gun-control measures were being debated in Britain, Nelson turned his focus on the United States, a nation where a centuries-old gun culture was clashing with the realities of modern life.