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
In my Introduction to Sociology class we usually read an excerpt from the late, great Peter Berger’s book, Invitation to Sociology. I literally do a call and response with the students to highlight Berger’s fundamental view of the sociological perspective. Me (quoting Berger): “It can be said that the first wisdom of sociology is this–“ … Continue reading
I had a difficult but illuminating interaction recently with a scholar who I like and whose work I appreciate. He posted a comment on Twitter in the wake of the Parkland, Florida school shooting that I didn’t think reflected his best sociological imagination with respect to guns and violence. I responded by saying so. He … Continue reading
In my last post-Las Vegas massacre post, I distinguished between mass public killings (e.g., the Pulse Night Club shooting, the Nice truck attack, the Manchester concert bombing), mass murders (all of the above plus, e.g., Charles Manson, Richard Speck, Joel Smith, Jason Dej-Odoum), and mass shootings (all of the above plus, e.g., the drive by … Continue reading
For those who don’t want to read 1,000+ words on the issue, here is the bottom Line: In my considered opinion, it makes sense to use the following terms to describe different events, from most specific to most general: Mass public killing: Event in which a large number of people (mass) in a public or … Continue reading
A while back, Professor Adam Lankford (Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, University of Alabama) sent me an open letter to the media and asked if I would sign my name to it. I, along with 146 other scholars, agreed. The letter (reprinted in full below) asks the media “to take a principled stand in … Continue reading
My wife Sandy woke me up shortly after 5:00am yesterday morning with a text about a mass murder in Las Vegas: 20 dead in Vegas shooting Used auto weapon For 30 minutes I scanned Twitter for breaking news, then went into my a self-imposed 24 hour social media blackout. Emerging now from my self-imposed exile … Continue reading
