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
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
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
Following my post on organizing my gun culture library, here are my top picks for books on guns in America. Some of these books are at the top of the list because they resonate with my personal and scholarly interests. They are not necessarily of interest to anyone and everyone. That said, these 9 books … Continue reading
I recently posted a picture to social media of the bookshelf in my office that I recently rearranged because it is (nearly) full of books on gun culture and related topics. It received more engagement than an average post of mine, including requests for an inventory of all the books and for a Top 5 … Continue reading
Facebook kindly reminded me yesterday morning that 8 years ago I was in Columbus, Georgia with my son for a tennis tournament. Passing time between matches by flipping through the channels on the TV, I made an important discovery. By dumb luck, I landed on a History Channel marathon showing back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back episodes of the inaugural … Continue reading
