Professor Yamane and the Facts About Gun Culture 2.0

You can't have rational discussions with people in the absence of facts. Professor David Yamane has been studying the changes in gun ownership to provide those facts. From The Hill (by way of AOL): Opinion - Guns are not just for conservative white men

Gun owners as a whole are more diverse than people like to admit. Neither the Left nor the Right like to admit that the diversity is real for their own reasons. For my part, I believe the Left has more of a problem with that right now; it may be because of a variation of Jane's Law, given how the trajectory of gun laws have gone in the past few years.

Jane’s Law: The devotees of the party in power are smug and arrogant. The devotees of the party out of power are insane.

Gun ownership has become much more diverse than people believe. As self-defense became a primary concern in the past few decades, more women and minorities have become gun owners.

This longstanding diversity of gun owners has accelerated not just in response to President Trump’s election but as part of a broader shift in the center of gravity of U.S. gun culture, from its traditional focus on hunting, recreational shooting and collecting to its contemporary emphasis on self-defense. It’s an evolution from what I call Gun Culture 1.0 to Gun Culture 2.0, and its significance cannot be underestimated.

Gun Culture 2.0 is more diverse and inclusive than America’s historic gun culture because, unlike hunting, for example, security is a universal human concern. People will do what they can in response to feelings of uncertainty, insecurity or threat. Some will get a dog or buy a home security system; others will join Nextdoor or move to a gated community. And many perfectly normal people will respond by buying firearms.

You can't have a discussion in the absence of facts.

Guns are divisive enough in American society without the caricatures that frequently circulate. To build a better gun debate, we need to ground our arguments in the diverse reality of contemporary gun culture outlined here.

Click thru for the entire thing. And you should be reading Professor Yamane's work at Gun Culture 2.0 and watching his videos at Light Over Heat. You could also Buy his book, Gun Curious: A Liberal Professor’s Surprising Journey Inside America’s Gun Culture.

This article didn't come to my attention through any of those means; it came through my usual news feeds on the subject of self-defense.