Journal Articles

Good Guys With Guns : Hegemonic Masculinity and Concealed Handguns

---

In most states in the U.S. it is legal to carry a concealed handgun in public, but little is known about why people want to do this. While the existing literature argues that guns symbolize masculinity, most research on the actual use of guns has focused on marginalized men. The issue of concealed handguns is interesting because they must remain concealed and because relatively privileged men are most likely to have a license to carry one. Using in-depth interviews with 20 men, this article explores how they draw on discourses of masculinity to explain their use of concealed handguns. These men claim that they are motivated by a desire to protect their wives and children, to compensate for lost strength as they age, and to defend themselves against people and places they perceive as dangerous, especially those involving racial/ethnic minority men. These findings suggest that part of the appeal of carrying a concealed firearm is that it allows men to identify with hegemonic masculinity through fantasies of violence and self-defense.

---

Availability

No copy data

Detail Information

Series Title

Gender & Society

Call Number

-

Publisher

Thousand Oak : sage publisher., 2012

Collation

-

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

08912432

Classification

-

Content Type

-

Media Type

-

Carrier Type

-

Edition

Vol. 26 no. 2, April 2012,pp. 216-238

Subject(s)

Gender
Race
violence
Men/masculinity
Good Guys With Guns

Specific Detail Info

-

Statement of Responsibility

-

Other version/related

File Attachment

Comments

---

You must be logged in to post a comment