“Gundamentalism”

Abstract

“They talk about gun rights. What about Chris's right to live?” —Richard Martinez, after his son Chris was killed in the 2014 Santa Barbara spree shootings “Your dead kids don't trump my Constitutional rights.” —Joe “the Plumber” Wurzlebacher, responding to Richard Martinez Firearms and ballistics are at the center of public debate in the United States today. They are technologies that are associated both with danger (in the form of gun violence) and safety (in the form of claims that firearms offer personal protection). This essay explores our understanding of the role of gun rights in American society through history: an issue which recent Supreme Court rulings have moved to the forefront of political debates in the face of efforts to regulate firearms and stem the tide of gun violence in the United States.