NOTE: I recently unpacked my hodgepodge of notebooks about gun culture to begin thinking about writing another book in 2025. Seeing John McPhee’s Tabula Rasa in a local bookstore inspired me to empty those notebooks here. Be advised: These are truly notes and not composed ideas.
At the start of every semester, I have my introduction to sociology students listen to and reflect on Alanis Morissette’s song, “You Learn.”
You live, you learn
You love, you learn
You cry, you learn
You lose, you learn
You bleed, you learn
You scream, you learn
As we unpack the lyrics, I ask the students to reflect on the most developmental or educational moments in their lives. They often identify moments of failure. We observe that we rarely learn from success. We need to risk failure.
This was all well and good until I was the one failing. Failing time and again to get editors at major publishing houses to see the value of my work on gun culture. Thirty-three times failing, resulting in my superstar literary agent throwing up his hands and saying he’d done everything he could do. The fact that the book was published at all is serendipitous, as I’ve discussed many times.
What I’ve realized is that you may learn from failure, but it doesn’t feel good. Which explains the conservative approach my students often take to their work. Nothing ventured, nothing gained is a truism. But is nothing ventured, nothing lost also true?
As I get ready to embark on a two-week vacation, I also have hanging over my head the possibility that I will fail to reach one of the three hoped-for audiences for this book: gun skeptics.
I honestly believed that gun skeptics — who are largely my fellow liberals — would be open-minded enough to consider my work. Now I’m not so sure.
Gun Culture 2.0 
Dr. Yamane, I pray that you are incorrect and gun skeptics will read your book. But I also fear that this will not be the case. We have been so polarized in this nation over so many issues that most people apparently do not wish to leave their own echo chambers.
As for the Alanis Morissette quote, I agree that learning can be painful, but it is sometimes necessary to feel the pain to learn the lesson. As they say in the gym, “no pain, no gain.” Part of growing up (and I was a very late in growing up) is learning this lesson.
Have a great holiday and a Happy New Year.
Lee
LikeLiked by 1 person
I disagree with Lee’s comment a bit, although I generally agree that the level of polarization on this issue makes any real progress feel intractable.
Change always comes incrementally. The battleship will never do a U-turn in one fell swoop; it will always be done in increments. Your book is a finger on the scale in the right direction, and I think that’s already a remarkable accomplishment.
LikeLiked by 2 people
As I’ve said before, I have some personal experience with the intractable attitudes of the Left, and several subjects, but particularly on guns.
They aren’t “gun skeptics.” They are true believers in the proposition that guns are evil, guns cause people to be evil and do evil things, therefore all gun owners are evil.” It isn’t all of the Left, but it is probably a large majority.
The most recent manifestation is the ATF raid on Mark Choppa, for the serious crime of being a 2A advocate and being black at the same time. He must be evil. He must be a criminal.
(Spoiler alert: they didn’t find anything wrong or illegal, they didn’t arrest him. Of course the warrant is sealed, so no one, not even Mark or his family know why a SWAT team raided his home at 4 AM a few days before Thanksgiving.)
Now you can say “That is the government, and not the Left” and I would like to believe that is true, but someone – most likely on the Left – aimed the ATF at Mark in the absence of any facts. Why?
What is more telling is that the local government in Baltimore has been shutting down Mark Choppa’s seminars on responsible gun ownership and the second amendment, because the local government in Baltimore doesn’t want that information to get out, and definitely not in the Black Community. The ATF may be politically agnostic, but the powers-that-be in Baltimore are not.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I would also point to Gov. Kathy Hochul and her party’s reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rife & Pistol Assn. v. Bruen. (“We lost in the Supreme Court? Then let’s double down!”).
But I have hope in the fact that more than half the states now recognize some form of “constitutional carry” and 42 states appear to be either “permitless carry,” or “shall issue” states. I think it is too late for the hoplophobes to reverse this trend.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Large Minority”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Why do you consider “Gun Curious” a failure? It’s a great book. I’ve read it and I’m passing it along to a left-leaning friend.
LikeLiked by 1 person