Annual symposium brings nuance to the conversation on gun culture

A recent Arizona State University symposium brought scholars from around the world together to address the often polarizing issue of gun culture in a collaborative way.

On Feb. 26–27, the Bringing Research and Innovation into the Debate on Guns In Society (BRIDGS) Initiative held its second annual Guns in Society Symposium at Arizona State University’s Downtown Phoenix campus.

The symposium's purpose is to unravel the dynamics of guns' roles in society through the lens of humanities and social science research.

Under the theme “The Gun Debate You Don’t Know: Hidden Stories of Guns in Society,” scholars presented their work in panels throughout the day, culminating in a keynote address by Wellesley College historian and Africana studies scholar Kellie Carter Jackson.

BRIDGS Founding Director Jennifer Carlson, a professor of sociology in the Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics, has been a leading researcher in gun culture for 15 years and was excited to bring scholars together for a discussion of gun culture that transcends the familiar binaries of the United States’ gun debate.

She emphasized that what united the participants was a commitment to recognizing how “multifaceted and contradictory” people’s experience with guns really is.

“We are here to understand … the reality that people in this country living with guns are grappling with,” Carlson said.

The symposium isn’t about arguing about whether guns are good or bad, Carslon added, but about making space for ideas that sit in tension with one another.

“The current state of gun politics very much compels us to have a lot of humility as academics,” Carlson said. “We are here to learn.” 

In panel after panel, researchers shared their work and engaged one another across fields.

Michelle Barnhart, a professor of marketing at Oregon State University, said she was happy to come back for her second BRIDGS symposium. She described the gathering as uniquely “cross-disciplinary” and said she values the opportunity to engage with others well-versed in the study of guns.

“When we're studying guns, we're not studying a niche group of people or even a particular subculture in the United States,” Barnhart said. “We're studying life in America.”

Barnhart also noted that this conference is “multi-dimensional” and focuses on how guns are incorporated into people’s everyday lives.

For Margaret Kelly, professor of sociology and American studies at the University of Kansas, being surrounded by gun scholars at this symposium — as a newcomer to gun research — was transformative and inspirational.

Another participant, DeAndre Augustus, an assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice science at Barton College, said the BRIDGS community has been invaluable for him since his time as a graduate student in justice studies at Arizona State University. Conversations at BRIDGS introduced him to Carter Jackson’s scholarship and book, which he later cited in his dissertation on Black Americans’ relationship to the Second Amendment. 

The culminating moment of the symposium was Carter Jackson’s keynote address, co-sponsored by ASU’s Humanities Institute and the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies.

Drawing from her book "We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance," she examined the role of firearms in Black liberation movements.

“Refusal is a halting hand or a pointed finger waving from side to side, or a powerful raised fist,” Carter Jackson said. “It is the barrier that prevents oppressed people from being consumed.”

Carter Jackson lectured on Black resistance to white supremacy and the differences between using nonviolent and violent tactics.

She also reflected on her own relationship to firearms, recounting her surprise at discovering, after her grandmother passed away, that she had owned a gun.

“My grandmother's gun ownership shocked me,” Carter Jackson said. “It really shouldn't have surprised me, if I thought about it a little longer.”

Her research led her to undertake firearms training, though she said she has not decided whether to own a gun herself.