I have said it before, on this blog and in scholarly publications (also here), but I will say it again: It is no exaggeration to say that sociologists are only interested in guns and gun culture to the extent that they are related to crime, violence, and social inequality. Now, to be fair, sociologists are …
Most podcasts on which I appear are streamed and recorded live. Celine Gounder’s podcast, by contrast, is more highly produced. She interviewed me in early April for the new season of “In Sickness and In Health” which focuses on gun violence. When she reached out to me, I made clear that my scholarly expertise is …
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 …
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, …
I like data. I am a social scientist after all. I am also very impressed by some of the new developments in data visualization which did not exist when I was being trained. The gun violence newsadvocacy organization The Trace recently used data from the Gun Violence Archive to create an interesting “atlas” of American … Continue reading
UPDATE: A Facebook follower commented that this Charleston Rifle Club is a rifle club in name only. There is no shooting facility on the site. It is essentially a social club. Although this doesn’t make its rejection of an African American member any more palatable to me, it does mean this event doesn’t tell us … Continue reading
How did I miss the publication of this book? I spend a good part of every day wandering around American gun culture, locally and nationally through social media. And it took someone from the outside to tell me about it. That is unfortunate. Let it Bang: A Young Black Man’s Reluctant Odyssey into Guns is … Continue reading
I was recently typing up some field notes from too long ago when I found a reference to an NRA gun safety video from 1946 from Karl Rehn of KR Training. I spent an enjoyable 20 minutes watching “Trigger Happy Harry” this morning. Thanks Karl! How much better is this than the culture war fighting … Continue reading
At the start of most classes, I have my students listen to and discuss the lessons about learning that can be gleaned from Alanis Morissette’s song, “You Learn,” from which her breakout album Jagged Little Pill takes its title. You live you learn, you love you learn You cry you learn, you lose you learn … Continue reading
Early in his D5 Disruptive Science Handgun course, Travis Haley asks his students, “Is anyone here OK living in a world of good enough?” He is not just referring to shooting. Every gun training course I observe makes me want to be a better and more thoughtful armed citizen. Travis Haley’s D5 Disruptive Science Handgun … Continue reading
The motto of Haley Strategic Train – “Thinkers before Shooters” – is very attractive to me. Thinking is a big part of my job as a professor after all. Observing a recent D5 Disruptive Science Handgun course in North Carolina allowed me to see this motto in action. D5 does not refer to the level … Continue reading
