Yesterday, I met The American Dream in East Texas. (Not Dusty Rhodes, RIP). I met a man in East Texas during a focus group interview on safety and security in houses of worship. This story is about the man, not safety and security, not guns or gun culture. But it is a story I very … Continue reading
Over 7 years and nearly 700 posts on this blog, I have gotten deeper and deeper into American gun culture. I began blogging in 2012 as a complete outsider, but traveling to the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s SHOT Show last month, I realized that I have “gone native,” as anthropologists say. (At the SHOT Show, … Continue reading
I don’t talk about, much less “review,” much hardware on this blog. But because I carry a Glock 43, I made a point of stopping by the Glock bay at the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s SHOT Show Industry Day at the Range to check out the new G48 and G43X slimline 9mm pistols. It is … Continue reading
As I noted in concluding my last post, many companies had “brand ambassadors” at their booths and bays during the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s SHOT Show Industry Day at the Range. Some of them I even recognized. I am a well-known Top Shot nerd, so of course I stopped by the Colt bay when I … Continue reading
Much of my attention for the past two years has been on the “software” side of gun culture – mindset and training. Attending the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s annual Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show draws my attention back to “hardware,” the material dimension of gun culture. Thanks to my friend and SHOT Show … Continue reading
Before I sneak off to SHOT Show next week, I will be starting the spring semester at Wake Forest University. As I have for the past four academic years, I will be teaching my Sociology of Guns seminar. A copy of this year’s syllabus is available HERE. One modification I made in Version 5.0 was … 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
