“Good Guys”: The Ethical Lives of Gun Owners

Abstract

Gun rights activists in the United States have been incredibly successful in opposing state regulation and restrictions on firearms. Activists argue that violence in the U.S. will subside not through firearm restrictions but by allowing “good” people to continue to buy, possess, and carry guns who will then be able to stop “bad” people from committing violence. Based on participant-observation with a grass-roots, gun rights organization in the state of Georgia, this thesis critically examines what it means to be a “good” gun owner. I argue that gun owners cultivate themselves ethically by learning new skills which disproportionately prioritize anonymous human attacks as the most concerning threat to one’s physical and social integrity. I further show the implications of such a worldview as being enacted in gun owners’ everyday lives.