Different Core Writing Assignments in My Sociology of Guns Course

As I prepare to teach my Sociology of Guns course for the 9th consecutive academic year (dating back to 2015), I am revisiting my syllabus as I do annually. The biggest variables in the course are the assigned readings and the core writing assignment. Here I provide details of the different writing projects I have assigned in previous semesters.

Note that one constant has been and will continue to be our field trip to the gun range and the reflection students write on that experience. This is a highlight of the course so not going to mess with it.

This fall I am going to borrow an “Op-Ed Assignment” my Wake Forest sociology colleague Hana Brown uses in her political sociology class. The assignment will be to write a research-based opinion essay akin to those published in newspaper editorial pages.

I think this assignment will meet my course objective of having students reflect on their personal views of guns in dialogue with scholarly research on guns. This objective underlies each of the earlier writing assignments you will find below.

Sociology of Guns student presenting her paper to classmates at Wake Forest University. Photo by David Yamane

Collected Posts on Sociology of Guns Seminar (Updated 10/22)

In Fall 2022, I am teaching my “Sociology of Guns” seminar at Wake Forest University for the eighth consecutive academic year, dating back to the fall of 2015. A PDF of the course syllabus for Version 8.0 is available HERE.

Over the years, I have posted a number of times on this blog and my older Gun Culture 2.0 blog about this seminar. This entry collects those earlier posts — from both blogs — including many written by students in the class.

Visiting the National Gun Owners Association of Kenya Range in Kiambu

One of the students in my Sociology of Guns seminar last fall grew up in Nairobi, Kenya and still has family there. She is what I would call an open-minded critic of guns, or perhaps a gun skeptic, as reflected in her class range field trip reflection, “The Gun Felt More Like a Dangerous Tool Instead of the Killing Machine I Thought It Was.”

At the end of the semester, she said she was visiting family in Kenya over the break and was planning to visit the gun range with her Guka (Grandfather). I asked her to send me a report if she did and she did.

“Like Many Aspects of Life, You Actually Need to DO It” (Fall 2022 Student Range Visit Reflection #8)

This is the eighth of several student gun range field trip reflection essays from my fall 2022 Sociology of Guns seminar (see reflection #1 and reflection #2 and reflection #3 and reflection #4 and reflection #5 and reflection #6 and reflection #7). The assignment to which students are responding can be found here. I am grateful to these students for their willingness to have their thoughts shared publicly.

Sociology of Guns student at the range, Fall 2022. Photo by Sandra Stroud Yamane

By Connor Stanley

When I arrived at the gun range, I was oddly nervous for the next 45 minutes. Until this field trip, I had never touched a gun, let alone shot one. I watched all the training videos and took careful notes, but much like many aspects of life, you need to actually do it. I can watch as many videos as I want about gun safety, but actually shooting a gun is a very different experience.

“I Am Grateful for This Experience That Forced Me to Get Uncomfortable (Fall 2022 Student Range Visit Reflection #7)

This is the seventh of several student gun range field trip reflection essays from my fall 2022 Sociology of Guns seminar (see reflection #1 and reflection #2 and reflection #3 and reflection #4 and reflection #5 and reflection #6). The assignment to which students are responding can be found here. I am grateful to these students for their willingness to have their thoughts shared publicly.

Sociology of Guns students at range, Fall 2022. Photo by Sandra Stroud Yamane

By Hanna Vasconcello

Growing up with immigrant parents in a city full of people like me (Miami) meant I did not have many chances to see day-to-day manifestations of American culture like guns. My first idea of gun culture came around 2012 after the Sandy Hook shooting. Because I had never had an experience with a firearm before, my immediate response to guns was negative. The intensity of my disdain for guns constantly fluctuated, but my general attitude was discomfort with the idea of owning, using, or enjoying a firearm. To me, they represented the ugly parts of humanity, like violence and destruction.

It was not until about a year ago that my opinion toward guns started shifting. As I have had to live alone and be in situations where I felt helpless, I have come to terms with how helpful a gun can be in protecting oneself. I also have friends who own guns, which has made me reconsider my negative attitudes toward gun owners. Therefore, my understanding of firearms was more accepting by the time the gun range field trip came around. However, I did not plan to touch or shoot a gun during the trip, an out-of-character decision for my adrenaline-junkie personality. I had never held a gun in my life, and I never saw myself as a person who could shoot one. Maybe I was still carrying some negative assumptions, or perhaps I was terrified of something going wrong once the gun was in my hands.

“I Absolutely Loved It!” (Fall 2022 Student Range Visit Reflection #6)

This is the sixth of several student gun range field trip reflection essays from my fall 2022 Sociology of Guns seminar (see reflection #1 and reflection #2 and reflection #3 and reflection #4 and reflection #5). The assignment to which students are responding can be found here. I am grateful to these students for their willingness to have their thoughts shared publicly.

Sociology of Guns student at range field trip, Fall 2022. Photo by Sandra Stroud Yamane

By Liana Hutton

Approximately half a year ago, when I signed the form to participate in this course, it discussed how we were required to go on a field trip to the gun range. My first thoughts were how interesting this would be because of my background. I grew up in Hilton Head, South Carolina – a place that loves guns – but in a family that grew up in New York and does not like guns. Growing up in a very socially liberal household in a socially conservative area gave me an interesting perspective. Not only did I develop my own beliefs about guns in general, but I also developed a sense of what others believed, and why. In high school, I was part of the Young Democrats club, which came together when mass shootings happened to hold an entire school activity to remember those lost in the Parkland shooting specifically. I remember that day, the members of the Young Republicans club passed around stickers to students that said, “I support the second amendment.”

To sum it up, I lived in a place that loved the second amendment, where lots of teenagers went hunting with their parents growing up, and lived in households that had multiple kinds of guns. I grew up in a family that believed, and still does, that we need gun control, and that some types of guns should be banned.

“My Previous Beliefs about Guns in the US Were Amplified” (Fall 2022 Student Range Visit Reflection #5)

This is the fifth of several student gun range field trip reflection essays from my fall 2022 Sociology of Guns seminar (see reflection #1 and reflection #2 and reflection #3 and reflection #4). The assignment to which students are responding can be found here. I am grateful to these students for their willingness to have their thoughts shared publicly.

Sociology of Guns student at range field trip, Fall 2022. Photo by Sandra Stroud Yamane

By Jayden Brown

After attending the range, I think that my previous beliefs about guns in the US were amplified. When I was holding the guns, it felt like I was handling too much power; it made me very nervous. It made me think about how some people can pull the trigger so easily, especially when it is aimed at another person. I think that television shows have also desensitized us from the truth surrounding guns. On TV, especially on cop shows, the police officers and perpetrators fire guns at each other like it is nothing. They make it look a lot easier than it actually is.  

“The Gun Felt More Like a Dangerous Tool Instead of the Killing Machine I Thought It Was” (Fall 2022 Student Range Visit Reflection #4)

This is the fourth of several student gun range field trip reflection essays from my fall 2022 Sociology of Guns seminar (see reflection #1 and reflection #2 and reflection #3). The assignment to which students are responding can be found here. I am grateful to these students for their willingness to have their thoughts shared publicly.

Sociology of Guns students at range field trip, Fall 2022. Photo by Sandra Stroud Yamane

By Elisabeth Kuguru

My experience shooting a gun for the first time today mostly fits with my prior understanding of guns in the US. In recent years, I have become a lot more open to shooting at gun ranges, but I could never picture myself picking up a gun and shooting. Growing up in Nairobi, Kenya, guns were always meant to be feared. They are completely illegal in Kenya, however guards and police are permitted to carry them. When living there, I knew that if a gun was involved it could only mean danger. Although I did not have to be fearful of school shootings in Nairobi, I was wary of terrorist attacks. These were my first impressions of guns, so I was shocked to come to North Carolina to see people open carrying in Costco and at parties.

A Singular Word to Describe My Experience at the Gun Range: Liberating (Fall 2022 Student Range Visit Reflection #3)

This is the third of several student gun range field trip reflection essays from my fall 2022 Sociology of Guns seminar (see reflection #1 and reflection #2). The assignment to which students are responding can be found here. I am grateful to these students for their willingness to have their thoughts shared publicly.

Sociology of Guns student at range field trip, Fall 2022. Photo by Sandra Stroud Yamane

By Mansi Patel

To use a singular word to describe my experience at the gun range, I would choose liberating. As a young liberal woman who grew up in Georgia, guns tended to be a very polarizing topic and still are. As mass shootings continued to increase throughout the country, public displays of protest on both sides of the issue also began to increase. Especially after the school shooting in Parkland, I began to not only educate myself on politics, but also notice the very obvious divide between the two parties– pro-gun and anti-gun. I quickly politicized the issue like the rest of society, but visiting the gun range reminded me that your views do not need to align perfectly with the narrative of either CNN or FOX. The only entity they need to align with is yourself. 

“I Surprised Myself with My Openness and Enjoyment of the Activity” (Fall 2022 Student Range Visit Reflection #2)

This is the second of several student gun range field trip reflection essays from my fall 2022 Sociology of Guns seminar (see reflection #1). The assignment to which students are responding can be found here. I am grateful to these students for their willingness to have their thoughts shared publicly.

Sociology of Guns student at the range, Fall 2022. Photo by Sandra Stroud Yamane

By Audrey Dorfman

Prior to the field trip to Veterans Range, I would classify my view of guns in the US as predominantly negative. As I had previously never directly interacted with a gun before, I only associated the use of guns with the violence seen in the media in horrific crimes like mass shootings. I did not understand the need or desire to be a gun owner. However, the experience at the range definitely altered my prior understanding of guns in the US as I surprised myself with my openness and enjoyment of the activity.