Without directly engaging the issue of police bias or excessive use of force (about which I do not know enough to engage intelligently), I do want to address the issue of people being “unarmed” at the time of their encounters with law enforcement officers. People often declare “the victim was unarmed at the time” to … Continue reading
The June 27th issue of The New Yorker magazine includes a story by Evan Osnos called “Making a Killing: The Business and Politics of Selling Guns.” Although it is framed by the usual anti-gun biases, it also includes some material of interest to Gun Culture 2.0. Notably, it tells the stories of Gerald Ung and … Continue reading
The recent case of the Miami woman who shot and killed a home invader has gotten some thoughtful gun trainers thinking. I just posted about Greg Ellifritz’s thoughts on the foolishness of people saying, “I’m going to kill anyone who breaks into my house.” And now I see that gun self-defense author and instructor Grant … Continue reading
I met Greg Ellifritz at the Rangemaster Tactical Conference a couple of years ago, and read his Active Response Training blog regularly before that. Follow the link below for one of Greg’s best and most important posts. In the interest of less bluster and more thoughtful reflection, he gives a number of excellent examples of … Continue reading
A fellow sociologist asked the other day, “What’s the matter with Tulsa?” My immediate response was that Tulsa’s violent crime rate of 12.66 per 1,000 residents is 3 times the national average of 3.8 (and nearly 3 times Oklahoma’s rate of 4.41). According to Neighborhood Scout’s crime index, Tulsa is 3 out of 100 – … Continue reading
In light of several self-defense shootings in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I am going to review some points I’ve already made in a few posts, but obviously bear repeating. Despite the concern about a rising number of civilian justifiable homicides, and criticisms of “Stand Your Ground” laws as allowing people to “shoot first and ask questions later,” … Continue reading
The refusal of a grand jury to indict Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri has led to comparisons with the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin (e.g., Inquisitr and Think Progress). Of course, the cases are different in that Wilson was a sworn law enforcement officer acting in … Continue reading
