Updated: 8/4/26
I taught my Sociology of Guns seminar at Wake Forest for ten years in a row, from 2015 to 2024. In year ten, I still enjoyed it but was not quite as excited as I was in year one. So, I took 2025 off. This fall I’m back teaching the course for the 11th time and my excitement has returned.
I am posting about the class on my (still free) Light Over Heat Substack now, rather than on this blog, but I will be posting links here so I can keep this repository alive. It includes all of my posts about the seminar, as well as the very popular gun range field trip reflections written by students in the class.
Until I am able to post the Version 11.0 syllabus, you can find a PDF of the course syllabus for Version 10.0 in 2024 HERE.
For an overview of the course, please see an article in The Conversation, a website dedicated to helping scholars reach broader audiences, where I explain my “Sociology of Guns” class in their UNCOMMON COURSES series.
Fall 2026
Fall 2024
Fall 2023
Fall 2022
Fall 2021
- Sociology of Guns Seminar Student Final Reflection #8: I Just Could Never Understand This Great Excitement about Guns
- Sociology of Guns Seminar Student Final Reflection #7: There is Still More that I Would Like to Know to Make Informed Choices
- Sociology of Guns Seminar Student Final Reflection #6: Gun Culture is Much More Complex Than It Seems
- Sociology of Guns Seminar Student Final Reflection #5: My Mindset of Gun Reform Shifted from Legislative to More Conversational
- Sociology of Guns Seminar Student Final Reflection #4: Opinions About Guns Have Not Changed But Knowledge Has Increased
- Sociology of Guns Seminar Student Final Reflection #3: My Naivety Epitomizes Why Courses Like This are Necessary
- Sociology of Guns Seminar Student Final Reflection #2: I Have Expanded My Understanding of Guns
- Sociology of Guns Seminar Student Final Reflection #1: Forced to Look at Other Sections of the Gun Community
- Sociology of Guns Ver. 7.0 Is In The Books, Student Final Reflections Coming
- Permission of Instructor Information for Sociology of Guns Seminar
- Student Research Topics for Sociology of Guns (Fall 2021)
- I Am Glad I Shot the Guns But Am Not Eager to Do It Again (Fall 2021 Student Range Visit Reflection #8)
- It Was a Positive Experience to Experiment with Firearms in a Safe and Controlled Environment (Fall 2021 Student Range Visit Reflection #7)
- I Came Into This Experience with a Very Negative View of Guns (Fall 2021 Student Range Visit Reflection #6)
- I Find It Disturbing that Guns are So Accessible (Fall 2021 Student Range Visit Reflection #5)
- Guns Can Be Understood and Respected as Dangerous, Useful, and Recreational (Fall 2021 Student Range Visit Reflection #4)
- Exhilarating Normalcy (Fall 2021 Student Range Visit Reflection #3)
- Mixed Emotions and Complicated Views (Fall 2021 Student Range Visit Reflection #2)
- I’m Surprised This Trip and Class is Allowed (Fall 2021 Student Range Visit Reflection #1)
- Student Gun Range Field Trip Reflection Essays for Fall 2021 Forthcoming
- Sociology of Guns Field Trip to Gun Range, September 2021
- Sociology of Guns, Version 7.0 (Fall 2021)
- Sociology of Guns Module 11: Guns and Liberalism
- Sociology of Guns Module 10: Police Use of Force
- Sociology of Guns Module 9: Criminal Homicide and Injury
- Sociology of Guns Module 8: Gun Injuries, Suicide, Rights and Responsibilities
- Sociology of Guns Module 7: Gender, Sexuality, and Guns
- Sociology of Guns Module 5: Race and Guns
- Sociology of Guns Module 4: The Concealed Carry Revolution
- Sociology of Guns Module 3: Gun Culture 2.0, the Great Gun Buying Spree of 2020+, and the Changing Face of Gun Owners
- Sociology of Guns Module 2: Guns Are Normal, Normal People Use Guns
- Sociology of Guns Module 1: Field Trip to Gun Range
- Prepping for Sociology of Guns Ver 7.0
Fall 2020
Spring 2019
Spring 2018
Spring 2017
Fall 2016
Fall 2015
Read the full article here
