Media Kit

Nearly 100 million American civilians own hundreds of millions of firearms. Why?

In 2011, Asian American and lifelong liberal professor David Yamane unexpectedly became a first-time gun owner. He then embarked on a surprising 12-year journey inside America’s gun culture to understand why guns make sense to those who own them. Gun Curious weaves together his personal experiences and sociological observations to illuminate controversial issues like AR-15s, concealed carry, the risk of negative outcomes associated with firearms, and what responsible gun ownership looks like in the twenty-first century.

In the process, Yamane shows there is more to guns than criminal violence, injury, and death; more to gun owners than straight white men; and more to gun culture than democracy-destroying right-wing politics.

Wide-ranging and readable, Gun Curious lowers the heat on America’s inflamed arguments about firearms and models the civil discussions we desperately need right now.

About the Author

David Yamane is a sociology professor at Wake Forest University. He is an internationally recognized scholarly authority on guns in America and a calming voice in our divisive national argument on the issue. An Asian American and lifelong liberal from the San Francisco Bay Area, Yamane became a first-time gun owner as a 42-year-old and began a 12-year journey into the complex world of firearms in America. Having one foot outside and one inside gun culture allows him to speak with compassion across our paralyzing differences.

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