2021 Top 10 Most Viewed Posts on Gun Curious

I launched this blog in February 2019 because my Gun Culture 2.0 blog has come to be read almost exclusively by people who are invested in gun culture. Although they are an important audience for my work, I also want to translate what I am learning about guns to the gun curious — those interested in but unsure about guns. People in the middle. Those who are not already 100% convinced of their views.

Although I am not yet convinced that I am reaching such an audience, I remain committed to posting here about issues relating to guns for people across the political and gun ownership spectra.

Unlike the Gun Culture 2.0 blog, which saw a dramatic decline in readership, in 2021 Gun Curious received almost exactly the same number of visitors and page views as it did in 2020.

You can see the Top 10 most viewed posts on Gun Culture 2.0 to get a sense of how the content differs.

Unlike on Gun Culture 2.0, the Top 10 most viewed posts of 2021 on Gun Curious were, with one exception, posted in 2021:

[1] Why Are There So Few Violent Insurrectionist Gun Owners? It’s hard to believe that the storming of the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6th was in 2021. It seems so long ago. In any event, sometimes changing the perspective on things is as easy as changing the question being asked. I’m glad this perspective-shifting post resonated with so many people.

[2] Gun Culture 3.0? I Don’t Think So (Not Yet): Everyone is trying to get beyond Gun Culture 2.0, but we can’t do that until my book on Gun Culture 2.0 is published. Then people can race ahead as fast as they want. But, seriously, I do not believe we have shifted to a new iteration of American gun culture. I have seen some interesting developments among sub-cultures of American culture, but nothing that looks to be shifting the core of the culture in a new direction.

[3] I Came Into This Experience with a Very Negative View of Guns (Fall 2021 Student Range Visit Reflection #6): I love featuring my Sociology of Guns seminar students’ thinking about guns after their field trip to the range. This one was written by one of my best students this semester, so I am glad she got people’s attention.

[4] Why Surveys Underestimate Gun Ownership Rates in the U.S.: This is the one non-2021 post in the Top 10 list. It’s nearly 3 years old, but remains an important corrective to simplistic takes on gun ownership rates.

[5] I’m Surprised This Trip and Class is Allowed (Fall 2021 Student Range Visit Reflection #1): Most years in my Sociology of Guns class, I get one or two students who are bona fide gun people. This year, Caleb was that guy.

[6] Mixed Emotions and Complicated Views (Fall 2021 Student Range Visit Reflection #2): Cognitive dissonance is one of the most common reactions to our Sociology of Guns class field trip to the range for students who have pre-existing negative views of guns. This student reflection from last fall is an example.

[7] Sociology of Guns Seminar Student Final Reflection #1: Forced to Look at Other Sections of the Gun Community: It’s appropriate that Caleb’s Sociology of Guns final reflection essay would make the top 10, since his field trip reflection paper made the list also (#5). Reading any of these pairs of reflection papers is quite interesting to see the distance people travel (or don’t) over the course of the semester.

[8] Was the Storming of the U.S. Capitol Building an “Insurrection”? Written a couple of weeks after my 2021 #1 most read post, this one considers the use of the language of “insurrection” to characterize the events of January 6, 2021. As more evidence becomes available and the criminal cases work their way through the courts, it might be worth updating this post.

[9] Gun Culture 2.0 and the Great Gun Buying Spree of 2020: Links to the essay I published in Discourse, the online magazine of George Mason University’s Mercatus Center. I’m happy this received a good amount of attention as it was one of the most important things I wrote last year.

[10] Guns Don’t Kill People, Systemic Inequality Does: I tried to publish this as an opinion essay in a few newspapers, but no one took it. I’m glad some readers of this blog found it worth reading. It’s a well-known story that bears repeating frequently.

As with 2021, my main goal for 2022 is to make serious progress in writing my book on American gun culture. I don’t know what effect that will have on my blogging, but I appreciate everyone’s continued interest in and support of my work here.