One of the books I am using in class this semester was published in 2014, which in the academic world is fairly recent. But in the world of concealed carry laws, it is ancient. The authors of my text observed that five states at the time did not require a permit to legally carry a … Continue reading
I have known for a couple of months but did not want to say anything until it was officially announced: I am giving the lunch presentation this year at the National Firearms Law Seminar in Indianapolis, April 26th. I will be using my own experience of becoming an armed American to shed light on the … Continue reading
As I noted yesterday, I was a guest recently on the Texas Public Radio live call-in program “The Source.” Throughout the show, the host David Martin Davies referred to “common sense” gun laws and fortunately, before the show ended, I was able to formulate a thought in response: If we want to build some consensus, … Continue reading
In my last post, I thought about the distinction between good guys with gun and bad guys with guns, and whether we can make that distinction only after someone has acted good or bad with a gun (“By their fruits ye shall know them”). The most recent incident spurring these thoughts is the mattress-in-dumpster shooting … Continue reading
Last year I was invited to serve as one of the “critics” in an “author-meets-critics” session at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Montreal. The author in question is someone whose work I admire, Jennifer Carlson, so I gladly accepted. Putting together my list of top books on guns in America, I … Continue reading
Earlier this week I recorded segments for a future episode of Dr. Celine Gounder’s “In Sickness and In Health” podcast. Her third season in production is on gun violence as a public health problem. I made clear to her that my scholarly expertise is on American gun culture not gun violence, and she welcomed me … Continue reading
I don’t re-blog much on this site, and I definitely try to stay out of politics (though sometimes I can’t help myself). Lately more than ever. To be perfectly honest, I have grown weary of the culture war rhetoric on both major sides of the debate over guns in American society. I don’t want to … Continue reading
