I haven’t had time to write this up yet, but an underlying theme in academic studies of guns is that carrying a concealed firearm (and in some cases even owning one) is not a rational decision for most Americans under most circumstances. “Rational” here understood in the classical economic sense of maximizing benefits and minimizing … Continue reading
Continuing on with my exploration of the Pew Research Center’s new report, America’s Complex Relationship with Guns, here I get closer to the heart of Gun Culture 2.0 — the new version of America’s historic gun culture, one now centered on armed self-defense and particularly concealed carry. As I told the Pew Research Center staff … Continue reading
In a comment on my recent post on the dawn of the era of permitless carry, reader Matthew Carberry makes the astute observation that calling permitless carry in states which issue carry permits “Vermont Carry” is a misnomer. The modern system of “permitless carry with permit for reciprocity,” therefore, is more properly called “Alaska Carry.” … Continue reading
When I began this blog nearly 5 years ago, I had no idea that I would be talking about the dawn of a new era of concealed carry in the United States. But developments in the past couple of years have forced my hand. Before highlighting those developments, I will review the broad pattern of … Continue reading
I randomly pulled a back issue of The American Rifleman from my stack earlier this week to do a little night time reading. This one was from 1967, which makes is close to 50 years old now. Like most things 50 years old, alot of interesting curiosities caught my eye, like this story about the … Continue reading
The Michael Bloomberg backed gun reporting source “The Trace” recently ran a story dramatically titled, “25 States Will Let You Carry a Concealed Gun Without Making Sure You Know How to Shoot One.” Researched and written by Jennifer Mascia, the story notes that only 24 states require range time or live fire in order to … Continue reading
Although I am certainly no expert on “gun violence” (recognizing the term itself it problematic, as I will discuss in my next post), I was asked to serve as a “discussant” for a panel on the topic at the recent meeting of the American Society of Criminology (see session #292 in the on-line program of … Continue reading
