The discussion of gun control in the United States has been present since the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in the late sixties. After the shootings at Columbine in 1999, Virginia Tech in 2007, Aurora and Sandy Hook in 2012, and countless others in recent history, the issue of gun reform has moved beyond public demonstrations. It is now a social movement at a national level.

The movements of gun reform and expanded gun rights are in direct opposition to one another in a battle of David versus Goliath. The gun lobby has over five times the financial support of the gun reform movement. With this in mind, gun reformers have adopted a strategy of long-term progress by pursuing lawsuits against gun manufacturers and creating institutions to help spread awareness and galvanize support, like the Sandy Hook Promise and March for Our Lives. The movement is adaptive in strategy by framing the issues with universal public appeal, such as branding reform as child protection (Economist) and using its public clout against the gun lobby through boycotts that pressure big businesses to align themselves with reform objectives. This last tactic is essential because social movements gain much of their power from influencing adjacent areas, pressuring them to withdraw support from public authorities (Tilly 467.)

Charles Tilly at Columbia University defines a social movement as possessing the features of worthiness, unification, numbers, and commitment (Tilly 467). The worthiness and commitment of the gun reform movement are painfully evident when parents testify in front of Congressional officials holding photos of their murdered children. The movement's unification is shown in the composition of those who favor stricter gun laws; many different types of people and political affiliations, including teachers, students, public officials, and those directly affected, oppose the gun lobby. The numbers of the reform movement are proven in a recent Gallop poll: 54% of all Americans want stricter gun control measures (Jones).

Guns are a fundamental part of our nation's history and part of the identity of many Americans, and the anti-reform movement has significantly benefited from a weaponized sense of nationalism. Gun supporters are twice as likely to put pressure on their representatives and five times as likely to donate to their officials as those who support gun reform (Economist.) Gun enthusiasts are less concerned about their individual differences and more concerned about standing unified toward those perceived to be against their right to bear arms. "The identities they assert consist crucially of differences from and relations to others rather than actual internal solidarity" (Tilly 478.) In a recent poll in October 2023, 22% of Republicans want less strict gun laws, 93% oppose a ban on handguns, and 86% believe guns make a home safer (Jones.) Those who are profoundly pro-gun ownership believe their very identities are under threat from the gun-reforming Left. This sense of nationalism has also fueled other social movements like MAGA (Make America Great Again) and more extreme far-right groups, including the Proud Boys and QANON, with such identity politics often encouraging the right to bear arms.

It is essential to consider the perspective of gun rights advocates: they feel like victims of some twisted form of settler colonialism, where they are the natives being encroached upon by the neoliberal settlers (Gilio-Whitaker 108). To them, guns are their God-given right as Americans, protected under the Second Amendment, and essential for both personal safety and livelihood. Progressives who live in urban centers and are detached from ways of rural life have historically passed laws that exploit those in rural areas for economic gains felt primarily in urban ones. For these reasons, the pro-gun rights movement feels justified in retaining a watchful eye.

Works cited:

Gilio-Whitaker, Dina. "As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock." Beacon Press, 2019, pp. 91–110.

Jones, By Jeffrey M. "Majority in U.S. Continues to Favor Stricter Gun Laws." Gallup.com, 30 Nov. 2023, news.gallup.com/poll/513623/majority-continues-favor-stricter-gun-laws.aspx.

Tilly, Charles. "Social Movements and (All Sorts of) Other Political Interactions - Local, National, and International - Including Identities." Theory and Society, vol. 27, no. 4, 1998, pp. 453–80. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/657835. Accessed 3 Dec. 2023.

"Why Isn't America's Gun-Control Movement More Effective?" The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2022/06/11/why-isnt-americas-gun-control-movement-more-effective. Accessed 3 Dec. 2023.

Pictured above
Walker, Coire: Photograph of Father and Son at a Fair in Tennoji Park, Osaka, Japan. 12 Apr. 2023. Author's personal collection.