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More than ever, it feels like cultural and political divisions over firearms are tearing the United States apart. Guns are an undeniable and contradictory presence in America, both widely owned and controversial. This book does something remarkable: it promotes insight over animosity in understanding the complex reality of guns in America. It challenges firearms skeptics, entertains enthusiasts, and informs the uncommitted by taking readers on a surprising journey inside gun culture.
A lifelong liberal from the San Francisco Bay Area, David Yamane became a new gun owner as a 42-year-old and embarked on an immersive twelve-year study of American gun culture. Weaving together his personal experiences and sociological observations to explain why guns make sense to those who own them, he illuminates defensive gun ownership, the risk of negative outcomes associated with firearms, and what responsible gun ownership looks like in the twenty-first century. This book lowers the heat on America's inflamed arguments about firearms and models the civil discussions we desperately need.
List of contents
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Glossary of Gun Terminology xiii
Preface
Introduction: How a Liberal Professor Became a Gun Owner
1.¿Guns Are Normal and Normal People Use Guns
2.¿Top Shot and the Human-Weapon Relationship
3.¿Becoming a Gun Super-Owner
4.¿Living with AR-15s
5.¿Swept Up in the Concealed Carry Revolution
6.¿Pascal's Wager and Firearms
7.¿Guns as Risk Factors for Negative Outcomes
8.¿Being Responsibly Armed
Conclusion: What the Professor Learned
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
