Alexander Sammartino On Masculinity, Marketing, and Arizona Gun Culture

Alexander Sammartino On Masculinity, Marketing, and Arizona Gun Culture

In this month’s episode, Alex Trimble Young interviews Brooklyn-based novelist Alexander Sammartino about his debut novel Last Acts (Simon & Schuster 2024). Set in Phoenix and centered on the misadventures of a father and son duo who own a gun store, Last Acts is a hilarious, dark, and touching exploration of the imbrication of US gun culture with masculinity, addiction, and Arizona history. Young and Sammartino discuss the novel, its relation to its author’s Arizona upbringing, and what it says about the future in this engaging and personal interview.

Dr. Kellie Carter Jackson On the Politics of Force in Black Resistance

In this episode of Guns Unpacked, Alex Young interviews historian Kellie Carter Jackson, the Michael and Denise Kellen ’68 Associate Professor of Africana Studies at Wellesley College. Their discussion focuses on Dr. Carter Jackson’s award-winning 2024 book, We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance. The conversation ranges over topics including the role of firearms in the civil rights struggle, the relationship between Black refusal and resistance, and Black Americans’ complicated relationship to US gun culture at large.

Dr. Nora Gross On Black Boys and the Hidden Toll of Gun Violence

In this episode of Guns Unpacked, Dr. Jennifer Carlson interviews Dr. Nora Gross, a sociologist, educator, documentary filmmaker, and assistant professor at Barnard College. They discuss Gross’s 2024 award-winning book, Brothers in Grief: The Hidden Toll of Firearm Violence on Black Boys and Their Schools, and examine how grief, rather than trauma, influences the education, emotional, and social experiences of Black boys in schools that have experienced repeated loss. This conversation is based on ethnographic research conducted at a Philadelphia high school. It examines how grief unfolds over time, how schools and systems respond to violence, and how youth create their own spaces for grief, care, and survival.

Dr. Toni Jensen On Indigenous Survival under US Gun Culture

On this week’s episode of Guns Unpacked, we are joined by Toni Jensen, who teaches in the MFA program at the University of Arkansas, Institute for American Indian Arts. Her memoir, Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land, was named a Dayton Literary Peace Prize Finalist and New York Times Editors' Choice book. In our conversation, Dr. Jensen details how her identity as a métis woman and firsthand experiences with violence have shaped how she perceives gun identity in America. Dr. Jensen explores the shift in gun identity from hunting to self-defense during the Reagan years and discusses how modern sensationalism associated with mass shootings leads people to overlook the role “we” play in gun violence. Dr. Jensen’s most recent book can be found here [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/608247/carry-by-toni-jensen/]. More information on Dr. Jensen can be found here. [https://www.tonijensen.com/]

Dr. Payne, Dr. Hitchens, and Darryl Chambers On Gun Violence in Wilmington, Delaware and Participatory Gun Violence Research

In this special episode of Guns Unpacked, we feature a live recording of the closing panel address at the BRIDGS Initiative’s first ever Guns in Society symposium hosted from January 30-31st, 2025. Dr. Alex Trimble Young opens the closing session by recognizing the many cosponsors, collaborators, and contributors to this symposium who made this event possible, which highlights the importance of scholarly collaboration in shaping the national conversation on guns and gun violence that currently grips the United States of America, and the critical role that the production of scholarly research plays in guiding the development and implementation of sustainable interventions and practices for the future. This event featured a presentation by Yasser Arafat Payne, Brooklynn K. Hitchens, and Darryl L. Chambers who discuss their 2023 hit book, Murder Town, USA : Homicide, Structural Violence, and Activism in Wilmington and how poor investment and structural violence create the perfect conditions for gun violence and the way in which communities and everyday Americans choose to respond.