Citizen-protectors

Book excerpt: "In this in-depth and systematic look at gun carriers, Jennifer Carlson draws on her fieldwork attending guns shows and training courses, becoming an NRA certified instructor, and carrying a firearm to unpack the everyday politics of guns. Carlson argues that guns are taken up to address practical problems of policing and protection-in effect to manage social insecurities and suspicions surrounding state disinvestment and the efficacy of state institutions, especially law enforcement. In this context, guns carrying becomes a means of practicing good citizenship by producing social order amidst disorder. This understanding helps to clarify why Americans cling to their guns as both practical and symbolically charged tools of policing and protection, but it also sheds light on the NRA's hidden power as the primary organization that certifies Americans to carry guns. Rather than focus simply on how to handle a firearm responsibly, these training courses primarily cultivate the disposition, capacity, and desire to use guns in self-defense as well as teach the idea that carrying guns is a part of responsible citizenship"--