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Wake Forest sociology professor David Yamane has a simple message for his fellow liberals: gun ownership is normal and normal people own guns. In his new book Gun Curious: A Liberal Professor’s Surprising Journey Inside America’s Gun Culture, Yamane details his own Second Amendment conversion story, and I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Yamane virtually to discuss his experiences and what he hopes the impact of his book will have on the gun control debate.
Yamane’sbookisprobablybestdescribedasamemoir,butthere’splentyofharddataincludedaswell.Infact,YamanesaysGunCurious wasoriginallygoingtobemuchmoreacademicinnature,butthescopeofthebooktookaturnduringthewritingprocess.
IstartedtheprojectjustasasociologistandthoughtIwasgoingtoinvestigatepeoplewhowerecarryingfirearmsconcealedandwhatthatwasallabout,andthenIrealizedthatpartofamuchbroaderculturethatwasgoingoninAmericansocietyunderthislabelofGunCulture2.0,whichIstolefromMichaelBane.AllalongIwasreallyjustimaginingittobeanacademicproject,sopublishingarticlesandbookchapter
