2017 was a terrific year for my research on American gun culture. I didn’t accomplish everything I had hoped, but I did more than I could reasonably expect. Although I didn’t quite reach my goal of doubling this blog’s readership in 2017, I came pretty close. I have already written about my personal favorites and …
Last fall I was invited to contribute a short essay to the newsletter of the Medical Sociology section of the American Sociological Association. The editors asked me to write anything I wanted to about guns that would be helpful to medical sociologists studying the issue. While some sociologists call for a shift in the national …
I am very happy to report that my second academic article on gun culture was published today in the journal Sociology Compass (my first was on religion and gun ownership). Thanks to a generous grant from Wake Forest University’s ZSR Library and the Office of Research & Sponsored Programs, “The Sociology of U.S. Gun Culture” …
I love whisk(e)y. My love knows almost no boundaries. American, Canadian, Indian, Irish, Japanese, Scotch, Texas. Barley, corn, rye, wheat. Neat, rocks, mixed. To fuel my love I have been reading Reid Mitenbuler’s recent book, Bourbon Empire: The Past and Future of America’s Whiskey. Early on, Mitenbuler introduces the first alcohol distiller among the British …
I recently completed the Massad Ayoob Group’s MAG-40 course, “Armed Citizens’ Rules of Engagement,” co-sponsored by Derby Guns of Scottsdale (shout out to Kate and Jim Kreuger!). This is the course Ayoob used to teach under the auspices of the Lethal Force Institute in New Hampshire. (A review of the LFI course written in 1999 …
For the first 42 years of life, I had never even handled a real gun, much less shot one. My experience was limited to shooting BB guns as a teenagers. We would usually shoot at cans, but one day I took aim at a bird that was too far away to hit, pulled the trigger, …
Sociologists are “my people,” but when sociologists talk about guns and gun culture, I often feel a profound disconnect from my own experience with and understanding of the same. At a special session on religion and guns/gun culture today at the annual meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion in Philadelphia, one of … Continue reading
Quote from opening statement by Jonathan Metzl, organizer of a session on “Gun’s and Violence in Trump’s America” at annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Philadelphia. Sometimes social scientists studying guns (accidentally?) say what they really think. Continue reading
I had not heard the story of the Florida man (or is it another case of #FloridaMan?) who died in Queens recently after being punched in the head. At least not until his alleged assailant was identified as an assistant basketball coach at my school, Wake Forest University. Somehow in response to drunken Florida Man … Continue reading
The 14th Annual National Organization of Church Security and Safety Management National Church Security Conference is a wrap. Three of the four members of our church security collaborative inquiry team attended the conference at Grace Church in Frisco, Texas. I was invited into this project because of my long history of work in the sociology … Continue reading
I am preparing to depart for the Republic of Texas tomorrow to meet with my church security Collaborative Inquiry Team (another sociologist and two pastors) and attend a national conference on church security. Each of us on the team shared something we wrote to help the others understand where we are coming from as we … Continue reading
Earlier this year, I put out a call for resources on protecting houses of worship for a possible research project on church/congregational security. I received so many suggestions that I was able to create two lists: Training Organizations, Groups and Individuals Other Resources (conferences, books, DVDs, articles, etc.) I am happy to report that the … Continue reading
Reading The New Yorker magazine recently — or, rather, listening to it on Audible because I don’t have much time to read — I was interested to come across a story called “Active Shooter” by humorist David Sedaris. Half-listening, my ears perked up when I heard that he had flown to Greensboro, NC and was … Continue reading
