Sociology of Guns Update from Professor Yamane

I find the Professor's posts about his seminar very interesting. I'm continually amazed that a university lets him run it every year, including a trip to a gun range. Light Over Heat with Professor David Yamane has the latest update. Illuminations #11. Seminars, Shooting, and Stringing (Tennis Rackets)

has the latest update.

Central to my Sociology of Guns seminar is the class field trip to the gun range. Students are required to go to the range but not to shoot, though every year since 2020, all of the students have at least tried each gun. This included 10 of the 16 students who had never fired a gun before.

Some, though not all, of his students usually grant him permission to publish their essays/reflections on the range trip. It has always produced some interesting perspectives.

As for the tennis rackets:

Some of you know that being a tennis racquet technician was a hobby that turned into a side hustle that turned into an insane adventure over the past 18 years.

Part of that insanity is spending 10 days every August since 2011 (excluding the COVID year 2020) stringing at Winston-Salem’s ATP 250 event. This year, because of age and the overlapping of the tournament with the first week of classes at Wake Forest, I moved from being one of the three main stringers to working the “front of house.”

There is more on both the field trip to the range, and tennis, and more, including a bit on Jordan Salinas, and stopping a mass shooting.