IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v5y2019i1d10.1057_s41599-019-0240-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What guns mean: the symbolic lives of firearms

Author

Listed:
  • Jonathan M. Metzl

    (Vanderbilt University)

Abstract

This article presents an overview of the symbolic tensions underlying representations of firearms and gun-related violence. The essay frames central questions that deserve further interrogation: what larger social and political contexts surround guns? How do narrations of gun rights or gun trauma map onto larger scripts about matters such as identity, bias, racism, or nationalism? What meanings do guns accrue for people and communities when these guns are not shooting bullets or causing mortal wounds? The paper lays out disciplinary terrain required to address these questions, calling on expertize from the social sciences, humanities, and arts.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonathan M. Metzl, 2019. "What guns mean: the symbolic lives of firearms," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-5, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:5:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-019-0240-y
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-019-0240-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-019-0240-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-019-0240-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lott, Jr., John R., 2010. "More Guns, Less Crime," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 3, number 9780226493664.
    2. Metzl, J.M. & MacLeish, K.T., 2015. "Mental Illness, mass shootings, and the politics of American firearms," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 105(2), pages 240-249.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Priya Satia, 2019. "What guns meant in eighteenth-century Britain," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-6, December.
    2. Metzl, Jonathan M. & McKay, Tara & Piemonte, Jennifer L., 2021. "Structural competency and the future of firearm research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    3. Claire Boine & Michael Siegel & Craig Ross & Eric W. Fleegler & Ted Alcorn, 2020. "What is gun culture? Cultural variations and trends across the United States," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Joseph M. Pierre, 2019. "The psychology of guns: risk, fear, and motivated reasoning," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-7, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Durlauf, Steven N. & Navarro, Salvador & Rivers, David A., 2016. "Model uncertainty and the effect of shall-issue right-to-carry laws on crime," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 32-67.
    2. John J. Donohue & Abhay Aneja & Kyle D. Weber, 2019. "RTC Laws Increase Violent Crime: Moody and Marvell Have Missed the Target," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 16(1), pages 1-97–113, March.
    3. Zimmerman, Paul R., 2014. "The deterrence of crime through private security efforts: Theory and evidence," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 66-75.
    4. Cheng Cheng & Mark Hoekstra, 2013. "Does Strengthening Self-Defense Law Deter Crime or Escalate Violence?:Evidence from Expansions to Castle Doctrine," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(3), pages 821-854.
    5. Laura H Gunn & Enrique ter Horst & Talar W Markossian & German Molina, 2018. "Online interest regarding violent attacks, gun control, and gun purchase: A causal analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(11), pages 1-15, November.
    6. Matthew Lang, 2016. "State Firearm Sales and Criminal Activity: Evidence from Firearm Background Checks," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 83(1), pages 45-68, July.
    7. Michael R. Ulrich, 2022. "Balancing Rights and Responsibilities: The Role of Government and Citizens in Combatting Gun Violence," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 704(1), pages 292-309, November.
    8. Rakesh Banerjee & Tushar Bharati, 2020. "Mass shootings and Infant Health in the United States," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 20-16, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    9. James F. Anderson & Kellie Reinsmith-Jones & Tazinski Lee & Adam H. Langsam, 2019. "A Tri-state Investigation of Firearms Confiscation on Three Regional University Campuses," International Journal of Social Science Studies, Redfame publishing, vol. 7(5), pages 22-33, September.
    10. Huff, Aimee Dinnin & Barnhart, Michelle, 2022. "UNRAVEL-ing gnarly knots: A path for researching market-entangled wicked social problems," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 717-727.
    11. Abdul Munasib & Genti Kostandini & Jeffrey L. Jordan, 2018. "Impact of the Stand Your Ground law on gun deaths: evidence of a rural urban dichotomy," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 527-554, June.
    12. Dominik Wodarz & Natalia L Komarova, 2013. "Dependence of the Firearm-Related Homicide Rate on Gun Availability: A Mathematical Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(7), pages 1-13, July.
    13. John R. Lott, Jr. & Carlisle E. Moody, 2019. "Is the United States an Outlier in Public Mass Shootings? A Comment on Adam Lankford," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 16(1), pages 1-37–68, March.
    14. John J. Donohue & Abhay Aneja & Kyle D. Weber, 2019. "Right‐to‐Carry Laws and Violent Crime: A Comprehensive Assessment Using Panel Data and a State‐Level Synthetic Control Analysis," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(2), pages 198-247, June.
    15. Yongjin Choi & Ashley M. Fox, 2022. "Fact‐value framework for adjudicating public health policy debates," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 39(6), pages 820-844, November.
    16. Annie Dell’Aria, 2020. "Loaded objects: addressing gun violence through art in the gallery and beyond," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 6(1), pages 1-11, December.
    17. Carlisle E. Moody & Thomas B. Marvell, 2018. "The Impact of Right-to-Carry Laws: A Critique of the 2014 Version of Aneja, Donohue, and Zhang," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 15(1), pages 1-51–66, January.
    18. Abhay Aneja & John J. Donohue & Alexandria Zhang, 2013. "Substance vs. Sideshows in the More Guns, Less Crime Debate: A Comment on Moody, Lott, and Marvell," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 10(1), pages 32-39, January.
    19. John J. Donohue, 2022. "The Effect of Permissive Gun Laws on Crime," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 704(1), pages 92-117, November.
    20. Metzl, Jonathan M. & McKay, Tara & Piemonte, Jennifer L., 2021. "Structural competency and the future of firearm research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:5:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-019-0240-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.