Guns Unpacked

One of the more unusual aspects of being a gun scholar is how frequently we are approached by folks outside the field with their gun stories, whether that means anecdotes about their connections to gun culture or their exposure to gun violence. In this episode, Jenny and Alex sit down to ask each other to reflect on their own stories about when they were first introduced to firearms, when they were first touched by gun violence, and how those early encounters shaped their approach to their scholarship. Their informal and personal conversation about their two very different paths toward gun scholarship ranges over questions of about guns in media, and the myriad ways differences in race, gender, class, and region shape our understanding of gun culture. Tune in if you’re curious about your hosts mutual obsession with OG Nintendo Duck Hunt or their very different introductions to self-defensive gun culture!

In this episode, Jacob Charles, Associate Professor and Strauss Research Professor at the Caruso School of Law at Pepperdine University, helps host Alex Young explore how two pivotal court cases on the Supreme Court's 2026 docket transformed Second Amendment Law. After a broad overview of how the court's understanding of the Second Amendment has changed since the 2008 Heller decision, Charles delves into United States v. Hemani and Wolford v. Lopez to illuminate how these decisions imagine the relationship between drug law and gun law, and property law and gun law, respectively. In the wide-ranging conversation that follows, Charles and Young take on topics ranging from the drinking habits of the founding fathers to the upcoming court challenge to state-level assault weapon bans.

On this episode of Guns Unpacked, we are joined by Dr. Noah Schwarz, professor of political science at Fraser Valley in British Columbia, Canada. Schwarz’s identity as a dual citizen gives him a unique perspective on gun conversation, allowing him to exist in two worlds. Dr. Schwarz’s first book, On Target: Gun Culture, Storytelling, and the NRA, places a spotlight on how the National Rifle Association uses its platform to engage the passions of gun enthusiasts. In our conversation, Schwarz discusses how his research allowed him to form connections with those immersed in gun culture to understand how narratives put forth by the National Rifle Association shape the attitudes and decisions of gun enthusiasts. Dr. Schwarz’s new book, Targeted: Citizenship, Advocacy, and Gun Control in Canada, redirects the conversation north, where Schwarz aims to close the literary gap on the pro-gun movement in Canada. More information on Noah Schwartz and his work can be found here. His book "Targeted" can be purchased here.

In this month’s episode, Alex Trimble Young interviews Brooklyn-based novelist Alexander Sammartino about his debut novel Last Acts (Simon & Schuster 2024). Set in Phoenix and centered on the misadventures of a father and son duo who own a gun store, Last Acts is a hilarious, dark, and touching exploration of the imbrication of US gun culture with masculinity, addiction, and Arizona history. Young and Sammartino discuss the novel, its relation to its author’s Arizona upbringing, and what it says about the future in this engaging and personal interview.

In this episode of Guns Unpacked, Alex Young interviews historian Kellie Carter Jackson, the Michael and Denise Kellen ’68 Associate Professor of Africana Studies at Wellesley College. Their discussion focuses on Dr. Carter Jackson’s award-winning 2024 book, We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance. The conversation ranges over topics including the role of firearms in the civil rights struggle, the relationship between Black refusal and resistance, and Black Americans’ complicated relationship to US gun culture at large.