Talking About Violence in the Asian American Community, Especially the Recent Half Moon Bay Mass Murder

RE-POSTING FROM MY GUN CULTURE 2.0 BLOG

I am Asian-American (half Japanese-American on my father’s side) and grew up in Half Moon Bay, California. The coincidence of this with the mass murder of 7 people in Half Moon Bay by an Asian man led to a conversation recently with Randy Miyan on the Liberal Gun Owners podcast.

My appearance was broken into two separate segments (S2G35 and S2G36) and followed two segments with fellow half-Japanese-American (but also half-Chinese American) Chris Cheng (S2G33 and S2G34).

Although I am not an expert in mass violence, I appreciate the opportunity to reflect on issues that hit very close to home and do so from a very personal perspective at times.

Of course, I typically turn to statistics before getting personal on these issues. The following is the documentation for some of the empirical claims I make during these episodes.

What If We Begin Discussions of Guns With Our Commonalities Rather Than Differences?

I wrote recently about the challenge of finding a publisher for my book on American gun culture, and my chagrin that some acquisition editors think there is not a market for a “calm, thoughtful approach to the charged topic of gun ownership” (to quote one rejection). Or, as another editor wrote, “it will be difficult to locate readers looking for a ‘tonic’-like approach such a heated issue.”

Although this is frustrating, I also had a number of experiences last year (2022) that convinced me of the possibility and importance of bringing “light over heat” to the issue of guns. I will post about each of these in turn.

Last fall I was invited to serve as a panelist for a discussion of gun violence organized by Deseret News as part of their “Elevate” initiative. The panel was held in conjunction with the publication of a symposium in Desert Magazine on “How to stop the next mass shooting” (which also looked at the issue of gun violence more broadly).

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.

“You Might Be The Last Person I Would Ever Expect to Do That” (Fall 2022 Student Range Visit Reflection #1)

This is the first of several student gun range field trip reflection essays from my fall 2021 Sociology of Guns seminar. 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 shooting during range field trip, Fall 2022. Photo by Sandra Stroud Yamane

By Amelia Baker

Before going on this trip, I mentioned it to a few of my friends and family. Most of them either didn’t believe me or thought I was joking. When I told them it was true and I was really going to a shooting range, I got a nearly identical response across the board; “You might be the last person I would ever expect to do that.”