Criminals and Gun Nuts: Narratives of Danger and Threat, Power and Protection

• In Event: 476 - Section on Sociology of Culture Paper Session. Culture and (In)security in the 21st Century

Abstract

Research on gun owners and their motivations for gun ownership typically employs either criminological approaches to studying illegal gun use by convicted criminals or cultural approaches to studying legal gun use by recreational gun enthusiasts. But this bifurcation simultaneously obfuscates the rich variation within these two groups and the unifying characteristics between them. By conducting ethnographic participant observation in recreational gun venues and interviews with inmates convicted of gun crimes we offer a unique understanding of both the variation within and unity between “criminal” and “gun nut” cultures. We find that despite their different artifacts, demographics, and activities “criminals” and “gun nuts” both define power, safety, and protection in similar ways and are motivated by similar perceptions of threat and danger.

Author

• Eulalie Jean Laschever, University of California-Irvine