Overview

Exploring the growing phenomenon of women gun owners in middle America, this book challenges the conventional narratives that often dominate discussions of gun culture. By applying a feminist and critical cultural framework, A Gun of Her Own: The Everyday Lives of Women Who Shoot argues that, for many women, guns are not merely tools for protection but powerful symbols of agency and autonomy. This book examines how women navigate gun culture, revealing a unique ethic of care and responsibility that shapes their experiences. Rather than focusing on policy or gun violence, this study explores the everyday realities of women who own and use firearms at the intersection of gender, identity, and gun ownership. It is a book about how women come to guns, learn about them, think about them, and shoot with them.

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9781041015277

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Reviews

“This new book gives voice to underrepresented populations on an issue of high social and cultural importance with an apparent understanding of the complexities of pursuing this task with multiple, intersecting identities. Women and minoritized populations are dramatically understudied in this space and this is a book the field desperately needs.” Amy Cooter, co-founder of Institute for Countering Digital Extremism, and author of Nostalgia, Nationalism, and the US Militia Movement (Routledge, 2024) “Gun studies focuses so obsessively and singularly on white male gun owners that we know preciously little about anyone who decenters them. In this new book, Kelley tells a different story about gun ownership and gun culture, one which places women at the center – one that gives them ‘a gun of their own’ – and about this I am very excited. The field also focuses obsessively and singularly on the personal and social pathologies associated with guns and gun owners. Kelley’s book may help in this crucial reorientation and for that I welcome it.” David Yamane, Professor of Sociology, Wake Forest College ""Using a groundbreaking method – what Kelley terms “front-porch ethnography” – this book offers a rigorous, nuanced, and necessary rethinking of women’s identity, safety, and politics in American gun culture. Kelley's commanding counter-narrative to masculine tropes will reshape how the firearms industry approaches its consumers, how policymakers craft regulation and outreach, and how scholars understand women gun owners."" Aimee Huff, Associate Professor, Oregon State University

Author Information

Margaret S. Kelley is a Professor and interdisciplinary scholar whose work explores the intersections of gender, culture, and firearm ownership in the United States. Professor Kelley holds a faculty appointment in the Department of American Studies at the University of Kansas and affiliations in the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and the Sociology departments. Her research focuses on the moral frameworks, everyday practices, and lived experiences of women who own guns. A Gun of Her Own draws on years of ethnographic fieldwork and public engagement as part of Kelley’s efforts to formulate a fresh, care‑centered perspective on guns in American life.

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