Center for the Study of Guns and Society to Host Annual Fall Conference

Guns are a pervasive, complex feature of modern life. All too often, however, the debate over firearms is reduced to simple, adversarial shouting matches.

“If we just think of [the subject of guns] as a tug of war between two groups, that reinforces artificial binarism and both-sides-ism,” says Jennifer Tucker, professor of History and the founding director of the Center for the Study of Guns and Society.

On Oct. 18 and 19, Wesleyan’s Center for the Study of Guns and Society (CSGS) will foster a broad, nuanced, and multidisciplinary discussion — encompassing both historical and contemporary perspectives on guns and society — at its third annual fall conference. A group of preeminent scholars and museum curators from around the country will gather for discussions of theory and practice around firearms research and scholarship. Undergraduate students will also have an opportunity to present their research to this distinguished group. All parts of the event are free and open to the public on a first-come basis.

“Historical perspectives are crucial to understanding today’s complex debates around guns,” says Tucker. “The range of interdisciplinary perspectives shared at the conference, essential to a liberal arts environment, will offer a chance to learn from one another’s methods.”

The CSGS is believed to be the first academic center in the United States dedicated to interdisciplinary study and teaching on the social and cultural history of firearms. Since the Center’s founding in April 2022, its emphasis on understanding the history of guns in society has become ever more relevant to contemporary debates.

“The [Supreme Court’s] Bruen decision in 2022 established a new standard for deciding gun law cases, and the new test of constitutionality puts the emphasis on history and tradition,” Tucker says. “That new constitutional test that’s used as the framework for deciding gun cases galvanized a whole host of court cases across the country at the state and local level, and challenges to gun laws that existed on the books.”

This week’s conference will feature a panel discussion of the gun cases currently working their way through the nation’s courthouses, moderated by Richard Galant, executive producer of the newsletter Now It’s History and former opinion editor at CNN. “This will be an exceptional opportunity to explore how the legal and political landscape of gun safety and gun rights is rapidly changing despite America’s partisan divide,” Galant says. “We’ll be hearing firsthand from people who are pursuing innovative approaches.”

Speakers at the conference include Josh Koskoff, the attorney representing families after the Sandy Hook school shooting, who sued Remington Arms, the company that manufactured the AR-15-style rifle used to kill 26 people, including 20 children; Kelly Sampson, director of Racial Justice for the Brady Foundation; Kelly Roskam, director of Law and Policy at John Hopkins University’s Center for Gun Violence Solutions; and Jack Rakove, Stanford historian and Pulitzer Prize winner; as well as student and faculty research from CSGS. Conference panels will closely examine gun history and the legal theory of originalism.

Following the Center’s previous conferences, the gun-related subject matter addresses a wide range of subjects — movies and popular culture, epidemiology, economics, and the impacts guns have on communities. “There are so many historical questions and research areas that we need to learn more about, beyond the Second Amendment and law,” Tucker says.

In “Gun Violence and Health: Epidemiology, Economics, and Community Perspectives,” experts will weigh in on the public health dimensions of firearms, while Rebecca Johnson, principal at the actuarial and consulting firm Milliman, will share her research on the costs associated with a demographic that often gets overlooked in discussions of gun violence: the survivors who frequently need additional medical care after suffering injury.

On the conference’s first day, Harry Lu — dubbed a “weapons master” and an armorer for Hollywood films like Terminator 2 and War of the Worlds — will field questions in a discussion on guns in film, facilitated by Tucker, Ryan Linkof, curator at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, and Michael Slowik, professor of Film Studies at Wesleyan.

“Since ideas about gun use often come not from history books, but from film, TV, anime, and video games, it’s important to talk to people in the industry about their craft and perspectives,” Tucker says. Asked for his view of the conference, Lu says that he “appreciates [the] hard efforts” of students studying guns and movies, adding, “I hope my speech will encourage their understanding of my crafts.”

The conference also showcases the Center’s research. Among the panelists, two of the Center’s postdoc researchers will present findings from their investigation into early gun regulations in five states, from Connecticut to Oklahoma, in an effort to better understand both the legal and cultural histories of historical firearms laws.

Elsewhere, students enrolled in a class taught by Tucker and Maryam Gooyabadi, assistant professor of the Practice in Quantitative Analysis, will share their work on a data analysis project looking at guns in advertising and movies, patents, and gun violence incidents.

Day two spotlights new and emerging historical research on firearm use from the Founding Era to the present day with over 20 historians and curators from the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Los Angeles, the Springfield Armory National Historic Site, and the Smithsonian Institution.

In keeping with the Center’s mission, the conference promises to offer valuable context to firearms discourse. And it is fitting for this group of scholars to convene here at Wesleyan in the Connecticut River Valley, one of the birthplaces of the weapons manufacturing industry in the United States, with its own history of tragic gun violence incidents.

Studying the history of guns in this region and around the country provides a valuable lens for understanding the complexities of this contentious issue. “Without a more comprehensive understanding of the subject, the conversation on guns risks staying on the surface, mired in oversimplified messaging,” says Tucker.

Learn more about the Center and the fall conference on the Center’s website.