Description

A shocking encounter with American gun culture that reveals the devastating effects of how people are training their minds and bodies for violence.

‘Utterly brilliant . . . deeply researched and thoughtful’ – Justin Webb, former BBC North America editor

Every day, at firearms schools across the country, ordinary Americans are learning how to use a gun. Who are their teachers? What are they being taught, and for what purpose?

Harel Shapira, a sociologist at the University of Texas, has spent ten years immersed in the world of gun-training. Throughout the dozens of classes he has taken, he has been taught that the world is filled with ‘bad guys’ who can only be stopped by the self-styled ‘good guys’. He has learned that he must be prepared to kill or be killed.

Basic Pistol reveals how these schools are going far beyond teaching the mechanics of gun safety. They are teaching a way of living in the world rooted in racist fears, aggressive masculinity and an entitlement to violence. It will explain why the risk of widespread gun ownership is not simply the possibility of more gun violence and mass shootings. The risk is to the very foundations of democracy itself.

‘A must read’ – Heather Ann Thompson
‘Groundbreaking’ – Adam Winkler
‘Fascinating, disturbing, necessary’ – Eric Klinenberg

Publisher Review

Utterly brilliant. So much more than the usual diatribe about guns: it is deeply researched and thoughtful. It tells a story about a culture without inviting us to dislike any of the people involved — Justin Webb, former North America Editor for the BBC At once page-turning and deeply disquieting . . . a must read for anyone who wants to understand not just why gun violence is so devastatingly prevalent in the US, but also, and as importantly, how gun ownership has become so normalized, so passionately defended, and so much a part of how countless people now measure their sense of safety as well as connect to their community. — Heather Ann Thompson, author of Pulitzer Prize-winning Blood in the Water Masterfully crafted . . . penetrates the heart of American gun culture and, somehow, renders it both deeply human and utterly monstrous . . . A fascinating, disturbing and necessary book about the violence of everyday life in the United States — Eric Klinenberg, author of Palaces for the People With analytic rigor, literary skill, and a deep understanding of his subjects, Shapira takes us into the culture of gun ownership and the far-right with a skill that surpasses most journalism on the subject — Nicholas Lemann, author of The Transaction Man Groundbreaking ethnography . . . [A] fascinating deep dive into America’s obsession with guns — Adam Winkler, author of Gunfight