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Jennifer Carlson

Professor of Sociology and Founding Director, Center for the Study of Guns in Society, Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics, Arizona State University
Chapter Leader: Arizona SSN
Areas of Expertise:

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About Jennifer

Carlson's work examines the politics of guns in American life, including those who survive gun violence’s harrowing aftermath, police who enforce the country’s complex gun laws, gun sellers and retailers who are on the front lines of surges in gun purchasing, and the people who choose to own and carry guns. She is currently working on a book manuscript entitled Loaded Conversations: How We End the Gun Debate aimed at elevating public discourse about this divisive issue. Carlson is a 2022 MacArthur Fellow.

In the News

Guest on NBC News: Aspen Ideas Festival, June 28, 2023.
Opinion: "Five Myths About Guns," Jennifer Carlson, The Washington Post, April 2, 2021.
Opinion: "We’ve Spent Over a Decade Researching Guns in America. This Is What We Learned.," Jennifer Carlson (with Madison Armstrong), The New York Times, March 26, 2021.

Publications

"The Roots of Charity: How Gendered Racialization Shapes Crowdfunding for Women and Girls Murdered by Gun Violence" (with Catherine Burgess). Gender & Society 38, no. 4 (2024): 618-650.

Eplores an understudied aspect of gun violencehow survivors navigate its financial aftermath. Examines crowdfunding campaigns to understand how race and gender shape how gun violence survivors seek out financial support and how gun violence becomes framed as a social problem in the process.

"Merchants of the Right: Gun Sellers and the Crisis of American Democracy" (Princeton University Press, 2023).

Examines how gun sellers at the frontlines of the 2020 surge in gun purchasing navigated the multilayered crisis of 2020, including a global pandemic, anti-racist uprisings, and democratic instability.

"Policing the Second Amendment: Guns, Law Enforcement, and the Politics of Race" (Princeton University Press, 2020).

Draws on interviews with police and observations at gun licensing boards to unravel the relationship between gun politics, policing and race. Argues the politics of guns cannot be understood—or changed—without considering how the racial politics of crime affect attitudes surrounding guns.

"Speaking of Trauma: The Race Talk, the Gun Violence Talk, and the Racialization of Gun Trauma" (with Madison Armstrong). Palgrave Communications 5, no. 112 (2019).

Analyzes the intersection of race and gun violence by looking at anticipatory trauma. Explores how people, particularly parents, manage the anticipation of gun violence and its trauma, focusing on "the race talk" and the "gun violence talk".

"The Everyday Politics of Guns in an Age of Decline" (Oxford University Press, 2018).

Examines the politics of guns as reshaping citizenship from the bottom up, focusing on gun carriers in Metro Detroit. Shows how guns become meaningful to Americans, often in complex and counterintuitive ways.