Overview

From gang- and drug-related shootings to mass shootings in schools, shopping centers, and movie theatres, reports of gun crimes fill the headlines of newspapers and nightly news programs. At the same time, a different kind of headline has captured public attention: a steady surge in pro-gun sentiment among Americans. In Citizen-Protectors, Jennifer Carlson offers a compelling portrait of gun carriers, shedding light on Americans' complex relationship with guns. Delving headlong into the world of guns, Carlson participated in firearms training classes, attending pro-gun events, and carried a firearm herself. Through these experiences, she explores the role guns play in the lives of Americans who carry them and shows how, against a backdrop of economic insecurity and social instability, gun carrying becomes a means of being a good citizen. A much-needed counterpoint to the rhetorical battles over gun control, Citizen-Protectors is a captivating and revealing look at gun culture in America, and a must-read for anyone with a stake in this heated debate.

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9780190902148

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Reviews

I recommend this book. Carlson serves to enhance this body of literature, pursuing the menacing and challenging questions central to the most relevant concerns and social issues today. This book is not just for academics. Anyone with a general interest in gun culture and related debates should find this book to be of value. It's a worthwhile read. * Jim D. Taylor, Ohio University Zanesville, American Journal of Sociology * ... a timely, well-written, jargon-free, nuanced book on why millions of Americans carry guns and view themselves as models of good citizenship... Gun supporters and gun opponents will be challenged by this sophisticated work. * CHOICE * In this riveting and reflexive ethnography, Jennifer Carlson locks, loads, and fires a nuanced argument about how guns are used to address problems of social, economic, and physical insecurities in the United States. The findings compel the reader to reflect on the ubiquitous and embodied American culture of self-reliance, racialized criminalization, and vigilantism. * Victor Rios, University of California, Santa Barbara and author of Punished * Carlson's study is the first to take gun carriers seriously as social subjects, a breakthrough in our national discussion of guns, law, and society. * Jonathan Simon, University of California, Berkeley * In this insightful, often eye-popping study, Jennifer Carlson describes how millions of Americans have come to view carrying of concealed guns in public as a civic obligation - and to regard killing in self-defense as a moral act. Whether you embrace these views or find them repugnant, the study will force you to grapple with uncomfortable questions about the role of the state vs. the individual in maintaining public order. * Kristin A. Goss, Duke University, and co-author of The Gun Debate: What Everyone Needs to Know (R) *

Author Information

Jennifer Carlson is Assistant Professor, School of Sociology and School of Government & Public Policy at the University of Arizona. Her work examines gun politics, policing and public law enforcement, the politics of race and gender, and violence.

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