Guns don’t kill people…: good guys and the legitimization of gun violence

Abstract Building on literatures that examine why firearms are appealing and to whom and employing Weber’s concept of “legitimate violence”, this paper utilizes an online concealed carry forum to critically analyze how firearm proliferation is rationalized in the U.S. The analysis focuses on three s...

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Main Author: Angela Stroud
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer Nature 2020-12-01
Series:Humanities & Social Sciences Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-00673-x
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spelling doaj-32a1e4bef6ce4ece91ba008118a3f85e2020-12-13T12:04:16ZengSpringer NatureHumanities & Social Sciences Communications2662-99922020-12-01711710.1057/s41599-020-00673-xGuns don’t kill people…: good guys and the legitimization of gun violenceAngela Stroud0Northland CollegeAbstract Building on literatures that examine why firearms are appealing and to whom and employing Weber’s concept of “legitimate violence”, this paper utilizes an online concealed carry forum to critically analyze how firearm proliferation is rationalized in the U.S. The analysis focuses on three specific examples of violence—the Parkland, Florida, and Philando Castile shootings, and stories of children who find guns and shoot themselves and/or others. This work is a critical examination of the social construction of “legitimate violence” that deconstructs the discourses embedded in the “pro-gun” notion that the answer to gun violence is more guns.https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-00673-x
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Angela Stroud
spellingShingle Angela Stroud
Guns don’t kill people…: good guys and the legitimization of gun violence
Humanities & Social Sciences Communications
author_facet Angela Stroud
author_sort Angela Stroud
title Guns don’t kill people…: good guys and the legitimization of gun violence
title_short Guns don’t kill people…: good guys and the legitimization of gun violence
title_full Guns don’t kill people…: good guys and the legitimization of gun violence
title_fullStr Guns don’t kill people…: good guys and the legitimization of gun violence
title_full_unstemmed Guns don’t kill people…: good guys and the legitimization of gun violence
title_sort guns don’t kill people…: good guys and the legitimization of gun violence
publisher Springer Nature
series Humanities & Social Sciences Communications
issn 2662-9992
publishDate 2020-12-01
description Abstract Building on literatures that examine why firearms are appealing and to whom and employing Weber’s concept of “legitimate violence”, this paper utilizes an online concealed carry forum to critically analyze how firearm proliferation is rationalized in the U.S. The analysis focuses on three specific examples of violence—the Parkland, Florida, and Philando Castile shootings, and stories of children who find guns and shoot themselves and/or others. This work is a critical examination of the social construction of “legitimate violence” that deconstructs the discourses embedded in the “pro-gun” notion that the answer to gun violence is more guns.
url https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-00673-x
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