Taking students to the range to learn about gun culture firsthand
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Monday, June 26, 2023
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Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching. Title of course: “Sociology of Guns”What prompted the idea for the course?For the past 10-plus years I have been deeply immersed in American gun culture both professionally and personally.
Key Points:
Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.
Title of course:
“Sociology of Guns”
What prompted the idea for the course?
- For the past 10-plus years I have been deeply immersed in American gun culture both professionally and personally.
- Wanting to convey this diversity to others prompted me to construct and teach this course for the first time in 2015.
What does the course explore?
- Rather than focusing exclusively on gun violence and politics, my course looks more broadly at guns in society.
- The class begins by literally putting firearms in students’ hands.
- Substantively, the course builds on the students’ firsthand experience of guns by exploring the multifaceted role they play in society.
Why is this course relevant now?
- It often feels as though the United States is being torn apart by cultural and political divisions over guns.
- These conversations should be built on a solid foundation of empirical knowledge about the role guns actually play in society - both positive and negative.
What’s a critical lesson from the course?
- The trip to the gun range stands out because it offers direct exposure to gunfire.
- In particular, those who were personally repulsed by guns prior to the field trip often come to see why guns can be attractive to others.
- And the few gun enthusiasts I get in my course do not just have their enthusiasm reinforced; they also understand why others see guns differently.
What materials does the course feature?
- “Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America_,” – Adam Winkler’s magnificent book on the historical and legal context of guns.
- “Gun Culture 2.0: The Evolution and Contours of Defensive Gun Ownership in America” – my comprehensive summary of the history and development of gun culture in the United States.
What will the course prepare students to do?
- This knowledge then helps students better understand their own personal beliefs about and relationship to guns.
- Taken together, these lessons prepare students to make informed choices for the rest of their lives about being involved with guns – or not – as well as the place of guns in the communities in which they will live.