I got into gun culture, personally and professionally, not long before Sandy Hook. Hence, not long before Wayne LaPierre’s post-Sandy Hook sound bite, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun” (all italics in the original text). Ignoring the appropriately criticized “only,” I have often … Continue reading
Although the entire premise of this blog and my research on Gun Culture 2.0 more generally is that self-defense and concealed carry have been become the core of American gun culture, I do recognize that self-defense and concealed carry have always been a part of American gun culture. Even in the late 18th and early … Continue reading
I had the opportunity recently to review historian Clayton Cramer’s new book, Lock, stock, and barrel: The origins of American gun culture (Praeger, 2018), for CHOICE, a monthly publication of the Association of College & Research Libraries designed to help librarians decide which books to add to their collections. My overall evaluation is that this … Continue reading
Although I have been on a bit of a writing hiatus this summer, owing to my racket stringing side hustle and moving to a new house, I have continued my travels through American gun culture. On a sojourn to Texas in August, I spoke to the director of training at a large gun range. At … Continue reading
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
