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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 November 2020
This introduction lays out the research design of a project on the Texas state “Campus Carry” gun legislation (SB 11) that went into effect in 2016. The project's transdisciplinary and multi-methodological approach – based on team fieldwork, personal interviews, focus groups, testimonials, visual materials, and a survey – is used to offer an example of phenomenon-based American studies research that is contextualized beyond disciplinary boundaries. Public debates, personal experiences, and cultural analysis demonstrate the de facto ramifications of gun legislation on people's lives. Considering viewpoints both for and against Campus Carry, the discussion reveals deep-seated beliefs about guns as an intrinsic part of “Americanness.”
1 This work is supported by the Academy of Finland grant 310568. The research was approved by the IRB board of the University of Turku (40/2017). The Office of Research Support & Compliance at The University of Texas at Austin approved the University of Turku's clearance.
2 The research was conducted at the John Morton Center for North American Studies, the University of Turku, Finland. In the United States, the project was hosted by the Department of American Studies, The University of Texas at Austin. The team has also collaborated with St. Edward's University and Austin Community College. We would like to express particular thanks to Steven Hoelscher, Randy Lewis, Laura Hernandez-Ehrisman, and Georgia Xydes for hosting us. Thanks also to all the anonymous interviewees as well as the professors and collaborators who granted us permission to field the quantitative survey and collect written testimonials.
3 Carlson, Jennifer, Goss, Kristin A. and Shapira, Harel, eds., Gun Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Politics, Policy, and Practice (London and New York: Routledge, 2019)Google Scholar; Jones, Hannah E. and Horan, Sean M., “Guns on Campus: Campus Carry and Instructor–Student Communication,” Communication Education, 68, 4 (2019), 417–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Verrecchia, P. J. and Hendrix, Nicole, “College Students Perceptions toward Carrying Concealed Weapons on College Campuses,” Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 29, 1 (2018), 62–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Price, James H., Thompson, Amy, Khubchandani, Jagdish, Dake, Joseph, Payton, Erica, and Teeple, Karen, “Regarding the Carrying of Concealed Handguns on College Campuses,” Journal of American College Health, 62, 7 (2014), 461–69CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed.
4 Cornell, Saul, A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Haag, Paula, The Gunning of America: Business and the Making of American Gun Culture (New York: Basic Books, 2016)Google Scholar; Stroud, Angela, Good Guys with Guns: The Appeal and Consequences of Concealed Carry (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2016)Google Scholar; Taylor, Jimmy, American Gun Culture: Collectors, Shows, and the Story of the Gun (El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC, 2013)Google Scholar; and Melzer, Scott, Gun Crusaders: The NRA's Culture War (New York: New York University Press, 2009)Google Scholar.
5 Katherine Bennett, John R. Kraft and Deborah Grubb, “University Faculty Attitudes toward Guns on Campus,” Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 23, 3 (2012), 336‒55; Robert Birnbaum, “Ready, Fire, Aim: The College Campus Gun Fight,” Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 45, 5 (2013), 6‒14; Rhonda Lewis, Jamie Locurto, Kyrah Brown and David Stowell, “College Student Opinions on Gun Violence,” Community Health, 41, 3 (2016), 482–87.
6 Ralph K. M. Haurwitz, “Campus Carry Law Kept This Scholar from Pursuing a Deanship at UT,” Austin American-Statesman, 18 Feb. 2016, at http://highered.blog.statesman.com/2016/02/18/campus-carry-law-kept-this-scholar-from-pursuing-a-deanship-at-ut, accessed 14 May 2020.
7 The film, entitled Never Met Her – Short Film, was available for public circulation on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar1a878M98w but has subsequently been made private.
8 All of the participants were informed of the purpose of the project – and the use of the materials – and were asked for written consent to participate. The consent form, written in English and Spanish (per the policy of the state of Texas), included the premises of the contributions/interviews, with a copy provided to the participants and the researcher. The form states that the materials will be retained for future analysis and used for publications and presentations.
9 For legal perspectives for and against the SB 11 law see Short, Aric, “Sane Gun Policy from Texas: A Blueprint for Balanced State Campus Carry Laws,” Northeastern University Law Review 11, 2 (2019), 401–73Google Scholar; and Lewis, Shaundra K. and De Luna, Daniel Alejandro, “Symposium on ‘Texas Gun Law and the Future’: The Fatal Flaws in Texas's Campus Carry Law,” Thurgood Marshall Law Review 41, 2 (2015‒16), 135‒50Google Scholar.
10 Student Debate on the Second Amendment, University of Texas at Austin, 10 April 2018, notes in possession of author.