Guns Unpacked

In this episode of Guns Unpacked, we are joined by Emily Farris and Mirya Holman, who address the unique role of sheriff within the American justice system and the influence they possess in the world of politics, and how that role shapes US gun culture.Farris is an associate professor in political science, and core faculty member in comparative race and ethnic studies” at Texas Christian University. Mirya is an associate professor at Hobby School of Public Affairs at The University of Houston. They are co-authors of "The Power of the Badge: Sheriffs and Inequality in the United States” with the University of Chicago Press (2024). This conversation focuses on the topics of the duty of sheriffs, accountability, local elections, white conservatism, gun control, red flag gun laws, and the possibility of future research. And the significance sheriffs’ hold in the debate on gun culture and local power within America.

In this episode of Guns Unpacked, host Alex Trimble Young welcomes Wall Street Journal reporters Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson, co-authors of American Gun: The True History of the AR-15 (2023). Their book traces the rifle’s invention by Eugene Stoner, its troubled military adoption, and its evolution into one of America’s most polarizing symbols. Today’s conversation explores the AR-15’s technological development, its transformation from a failed weapon of war into a cultural and political icon, and how both rights advocates and regulation activists have contributed to the mythology surrounding it. The guests also examine media coverage of mass shootings, the impact of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, and the future of regulation in a nation with more than 20 million AR-15s in circulation.

In today’s episode of Guns Unpacked, we welcome Dr. Michelle Phelps, a professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota. Phelps is an expert on probation, criminal justice reform, and the politics of policing. Her first book is titled Breaking the Pendulum: The Long Struggle Over Criminal Justice, which is co-authored by Philip Goodman and Joshua Paige and published by Oxford University Press in 2017. Phelps joins us today to discuss her book, The Minneapolis Reckoning: Race, Violence, and the Politics of Policing in America. Today’s conversation examines Phelps’s work, and how she ties her work involving the politics of policing in America into violence and police abolition. Phelps also provides insight into her research timing and process, detailing important moments from her work, as well as the real-world impact of police abolition policy. For more of Dr. Michelle Phelps, visit the links here and here for her background and writing.

This episode of Guns Unpacked features Jan Dizard, Professor Emeritus of American Studies at Amherst College, a pioneering thinker about hunting, gun culture, and the environment. Dizard authored groundbreaking works such as Going Wild, Mortal Stakes, and Hunting: A Cultural History (MIT Press, 2022, co-author Mary Zeiss Stange). The interview represents his work on hunting, his exploration of the cultural construction of nature, and the convergence of conservation and gun culture. Recorded in February, we believe this was Dizard's last public interview before passing away in June 2025.

In today’s episode of Guns Unpacked, we welcome Dr. Gerald D. Higgenbotham, an assistant professor of public policy and psychology at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. Dr. Higgenbotham examines contemporary cognitive policies and how they influence repressive history through racism and collective power. Today’s conversation dissects “Firearm Psychology,” a term frequently used by Higgenbotham to make sense of the nuance and intricacies of gun ownership. Higgenbotham also provides commentary on the racialization of gun rights, collective power, and perceptions of safety through the public eye. Higgenbotham also tackles these issues from a historical perspective, providing a framework of how this history impacts the world today. For more of Higgenbotham’s work and background, links to publications and distinctions can be found here.

Guns Unpacked season 2 launching September 8th!

Guns Unpacked Season 2 launches September 8th!

In this episode of Guns Unpacked, we are joined by Dr. Metzl, a psychiatrist and sociologist who examines gun violence and mental health. Dr. Metzl also serves as the Director of the Center for Medicine, Health, and Society at Vanderbilt University. We discuss his 2024 book, What We’ve Become, which examines the Waffle House mass shooting in Nashville, Tennessee in 2017. Our conversation takes us through the intricacies of the "Dickey Line," the shortcomings of public health responses to gun violence, and Dr. Metzl's own position in the gun debate.

You can purchase his book What We've Become from the ASU CSGS "Books for a Better Gun Debate" bookshelf on bookshop.org.

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Emine Fidan Elcioglu, a sociologist at the University of Toronto. Dr. Elcioglu talks to us about her in-depth ethnographic fieldwork studying the politics of migration in Arizona, focusing on anti-immigrant and pro-immigrant groups that mobilized at the border. Her work opens up new insights and new questions regarding the relationship between gun politics and the politics of migration.

You can purchase her book Divided by the Wall from the ASU CSGS "Books for a Better Gun Debate" bookshelf on bookshop.org.

Dr. Micheal Sierra-Arévalo is an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin Department of Sociology. From 2020 to 2023 served on the Public Safety Commission for the City of Austin. Today, we discuss Dr. Sierra-Arévalo's extensively researched The Danger Imperative: Violence, Death, and the Soul of Policing. Using in-depth interviews and rich ethnographic observations, Dr. Sierra-Arévalo breaks down how the danger imperative is driving police culture and violence within the United States.

You can purchase his book The Danger Imperative from the ASU CSGS "Books for a Better Gun Debate" bookshelf on bookshop.org.