David Yamane
@davidyamane.bsky.social
Sociologist at Wake Forest U. Gun Curious. A.k.a., the Bob Ross of Guns. davidyamane.com
https://linktr.ee/lightoverheat
https://linktr.ee/lightoverheat
Pinned
David Yamane
@davidyamane.bsky.social
· Oct 20
How I Fell for Guns - David Yamane, 2025
David Yamane on the 'serious leisure' of shooting.
journals.sagepub.com
To fully appreciate why people own guns, we need to understand the individual & communal pleasures associated with shooting. These are the pleasures that led me to fall for guns. New essay in @contexts.org by @sagepub.com and @asanews.bsky.social.
OPEN ACCESS: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
OPEN ACCESS: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
I don’t express gratitude often enough, so here is my somewhat rambling note of heartfelt thanks for all of the support I receive for my work and for the opportunities I have to do it.
youtu.be/MBOlRn-FwKg
youtu.be/MBOlRn-FwKg
Thanksgiving Gratitude -- A Heartfelt Thanks from Me to You (Light Over Heat #142)
YouTube video by Light Over Heat with Professor David Yamane
youtu.be
November 26, 2025 at 11:19 PM
I don’t express gratitude often enough, so here is my somewhat rambling note of heartfelt thanks for all of the support I receive for my work and for the opportunities I have to do it.
youtu.be/MBOlRn-FwKg
youtu.be/MBOlRn-FwKg
I think this is the first work to enlighten the causal black box linking LEGAL gun carry with CRIMINAL violence, since we're pretty certain it's not legal gun carriers doing the crime.
Congratulations to John J. Donohue and colleagues, whose paper, “Why do right to carry laws increase violence? Effects on gun theft and clearance rates,” was one of two selected for honorable mention by the 2025 Greenwald Award Independent Review Panel! sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Why do right to carry laws increase violence? Effects on gun theft and clearance rates
Since the 1970s most state restrictions on carrying handguns in public have been eased or eliminated. Several of the early impact evaluations of these…
sciencedirect.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:41 PM
I think this is the first work to enlighten the causal black box linking LEGAL gun carry with CRIMINAL violence, since we're pretty certain it's not legal gun carriers doing the crime.
Reposted by David Yamane
I also want to congratulate @clanfear.bsky.social, David Kirk and Rob Sampson, whose paper “Dual pathways of concealed gun carrying and use from adolescence to adulthood over a 25-year era of change” was one of two selected for honorable mention by the 2025 Greenwald Award Independent Review Panel!
November 26, 2025 at 1:33 PM
I also want to congratulate @clanfear.bsky.social, David Kirk and Rob Sampson, whose paper “Dual pathways of concealed gun carrying and use from adolescence to adulthood over a 25-year era of change” was one of two selected for honorable mention by the 2025 Greenwald Award Independent Review Panel!
Full disclosure.
November 25, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Full disclosure.
4 days at 2 academic conferences and sold 1 copy of GUN CURIOUS to a fellow liberal professor. No traction in that community. Oh, well. I hand-sold several to gun people in AZ and am mailing out some personally signed copies today. $25 signed, sealed & delivered. Hit me up.
November 25, 2025 at 4:28 PM
4 days at 2 academic conferences and sold 1 copy of GUN CURIOUS to a fellow liberal professor. No traction in that community. Oh, well. I hand-sold several to gun people in AZ and am mailing out some personally signed copies today. $25 signed, sealed & delivered. Hit me up.
Piedmont Triad NC People! Please come out and support local authors -- including me! -- at @bookmarksnc.bsky.social on December 3rd.
November 24, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Piedmont Triad NC People! Please come out and support local authors -- including me! -- at @bookmarksnc.bsky.social on December 3rd.
This is my "spicier"* take on what academia gets wrong about guns, from the "Shared Targets" symposium I attended sponsored by @asucsgs.bsky.social and @cuanschutz.bsky.social FIPI.
*Spicier for the Bob Ross of Guns, not actually spicy.
lightoverheat.substack.com/p/what-acade...
*Spicier for the Bob Ross of Guns, not actually spicy.
lightoverheat.substack.com/p/what-acade...
What Academia Gets Wrong About Guns (Spicier Take)
Part 3 of 3 of series on "What Academia Gets Right and Wrong about Guns"
lightoverheat.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:36 PM
This is my "spicier"* take on what academia gets wrong about guns, from the "Shared Targets" symposium I attended sponsored by @asucsgs.bsky.social and @cuanschutz.bsky.social FIPI.
*Spicier for the Bob Ross of Guns, not actually spicy.
lightoverheat.substack.com/p/what-acade...
*Spicier for the Bob Ross of Guns, not actually spicy.
lightoverheat.substack.com/p/what-acade...
My conventional take on what academia gets wrong about guns from a recent "Shared Targets" symposium sponsored by @asucsgs.bsky.social and @cuanschutz.bsky.social FIPI initiative.
lightoverheat.substack.com/p/what-acade...
lightoverheat.substack.com/p/what-acade...
What Academia Gets Wrong About Guns (Conventional Take)
Part 2 of 3 of series on "What Academia Gets Right and Wrong about Guns"
lightoverheat.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:38 PM
My conventional take on what academia gets wrong about guns from a recent "Shared Targets" symposium sponsored by @asucsgs.bsky.social and @cuanschutz.bsky.social FIPI initiative.
lightoverheat.substack.com/p/what-acade...
lightoverheat.substack.com/p/what-acade...
The academic field of gun studies has coalesced into a dominant paradigm. This ia a major accomplishment.
First of a 3 part series on "What Academia Gets Right and Wrong" about guns for @asucsgs.bsky.social and @cuanschutz.bsky.social FIPI symposium.
lightoverheat.substack.com/p/what-acade...
First of a 3 part series on "What Academia Gets Right and Wrong" about guns for @asucsgs.bsky.social and @cuanschutz.bsky.social FIPI symposium.
lightoverheat.substack.com/p/what-acade...
What Academia Gets Right and Wrong About Guns
Part 1 of 3: The Dominant Paradigm
lightoverheat.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:16 PM
The academic field of gun studies has coalesced into a dominant paradigm. This ia a major accomplishment.
First of a 3 part series on "What Academia Gets Right and Wrong" about guns for @asucsgs.bsky.social and @cuanschutz.bsky.social FIPI symposium.
lightoverheat.substack.com/p/what-acade...
First of a 3 part series on "What Academia Gets Right and Wrong" about guns for @asucsgs.bsky.social and @cuanschutz.bsky.social FIPI symposium.
lightoverheat.substack.com/p/what-acade...
Brought 20 copies of GUN CURIOUS with me. Moved 4 so far, all to gun people. Can I sell 16 more copies to the 600 firearms-related harms scholars, practitioners, advocates, and activists in attendance here over the next two days? Thanks to Walk the Talk America for the table space!
November 19, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Brought 20 copies of GUN CURIOUS with me. Moved 4 so far, all to gun people. Can I sell 16 more copies to the 600 firearms-related harms scholars, practitioners, advocates, and activists in attendance here over the next two days? Thanks to Walk the Talk America for the table space!
I had the great good fortune recently to attend a one-day, invitation-only symposium at Arizona State University to build some bridges between gun culture and gun scholars, co-sponsored by @asucsgs.bsky.social and @cuanschutz.bsky.social FIPI.
lightoverheat.substack.com/p/shared-tar...
lightoverheat.substack.com/p/shared-tar...
Shared Targets: Supporting Collaboration across Gun Experts and Firearms Researchers
A beacon of light in a sea of heat
lightoverheat.substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 4:10 PM
I had the great good fortune recently to attend a one-day, invitation-only symposium at Arizona State University to build some bridges between gun culture and gun scholars, co-sponsored by @asucsgs.bsky.social and @cuanschutz.bsky.social FIPI.
lightoverheat.substack.com/p/shared-tar...
lightoverheat.substack.com/p/shared-tar...
Heading to Portland (ME) then to Phoenix for back-to-back-to-back gun meetings. Bringing 20 copies of my book with me to sell. Hopefully bringing 0 home.
November 14, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Heading to Portland (ME) then to Phoenix for back-to-back-to-back gun meetings. Bringing 20 copies of my book with me to sell. Hopefully bringing 0 home.
I'm about to head to Portland (Maine) then Phoenix for back-to-back-to-back gun meetings. Unfortunately, that means I won't be able to attend this one, organized by the Wyoming Firearms Research Center & Springfield Armory National Historic Site. But you should!
www.eventbrite.com/e/firearms-r...
www.eventbrite.com/e/firearms-r...
November 13, 2025 at 12:38 PM
I'm about to head to Portland (Maine) then Phoenix for back-to-back-to-back gun meetings. Unfortunately, that means I won't be able to attend this one, organized by the Wyoming Firearms Research Center & Springfield Armory National Historic Site. But you should!
www.eventbrite.com/e/firearms-r...
www.eventbrite.com/e/firearms-r...
"I will show that the NRA's worldview is the modern expression of an ideological system that fused the classical republican citizen-soldier ideal--the foundation of democracy--with American White male supremacy." Join us for a discussion.
Info & register: tinyurl.com/yx87srw3
Info & register: tinyurl.com/yx87srw3
Virtual Book Club
Last year I decided to experiment with hosting an online book club to discuss recent books about guns and gun culture. It was a great success. We read four books in 2024 (see below), and plan to re…
tinyurl.com
November 12, 2025 at 12:49 PM
"I will show that the NRA's worldview is the modern expression of an ideological system that fused the classical republican citizen-soldier ideal--the foundation of democracy--with American White male supremacy." Join us for a discussion.
Info & register: tinyurl.com/yx87srw3
Info & register: tinyurl.com/yx87srw3
Much of this account of concealed carry permitting courses matches those I have attended or observed. The desire and need for people to get gun training runs up against a shortage of gun ranges, which I would guess NYC is limiting like many blue cities, though there is a shortage many places.
GUN CITY: there’s been a nearly ten-fold uptick in New Yorkers seeking concealed carry permits since 2022, per a new analysis of NYPD data. I tracked down the city’s most prolific instructor to see what it's all about. Today in @thecity.nyc& @thetrace.org. www.thecity.nyc/2025/11/12/n...
New Yorkers Fill Gun Classes as Concealed Carry Applications Surge
Would-be gun owners seeking a concealed carry permit are required to take a safety training course, but with few rules on how they are taught, gun aficionados have stepped in to run them.
www.thecity.nyc
November 12, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Much of this account of concealed carry permitting courses matches those I have attended or observed. The desire and need for people to get gun training runs up against a shortage of gun ranges, which I would guess NYC is limiting like many blue cities, though there is a shortage many places.
TIL: Turning Point USA Rates Colleges. My employer
@wakeforest.bsky.social got a D+. I'm not entirely sure why.
open.substack.com/pub/lightove...
@wakeforest.bsky.social got a D+. I'm not entirely sure why.
open.substack.com/pub/lightove...
TIL: Turning Point USA Rates Colleges
My employer Wake Forest University gets a D+
open.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:22 PM
TIL: Turning Point USA Rates Colleges. My employer
@wakeforest.bsky.social got a D+. I'm not entirely sure why.
open.substack.com/pub/lightove...
@wakeforest.bsky.social got a D+. I'm not entirely sure why.
open.substack.com/pub/lightove...
An incident out of Whitesville, IN (and a reminder from my friend @tamslick.bsky.social) leads me to re-up my earlier opinion essay in @thehill.com, "Stand Your Ground laws do not allow you to ‘shoot first and ask questions later’"
thehill.com/opinion/civi...
thehill.com/opinion/civi...
thehill.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:45 PM
An incident out of Whitesville, IN (and a reminder from my friend @tamslick.bsky.social) leads me to re-up my earlier opinion essay in @thehill.com, "Stand Your Ground laws do not allow you to ‘shoot first and ask questions later’"
thehill.com/opinion/civi...
thehill.com/opinion/civi...
This inaugural edition of “Illuminations” covers some 2025 highlights, interesting work by others on my radar (@tmgneff.bsky.social, Guns Unpacked Podcast, novelist James McBride), who is bringing light over heat (@walkthetalkamerica.bsky.social ), & what’s ahead.
open.substack.com/pub/lightove...
open.substack.com/pub/lightove...
Illuminations #1. 2025 Has Been Quite a Year Already
Light Over Heat January through October Digest
open.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:34 PM
This inaugural edition of “Illuminations” covers some 2025 highlights, interesting work by others on my radar (@tmgneff.bsky.social, Guns Unpacked Podcast, novelist James McBride), who is bringing light over heat (@walkthetalkamerica.bsky.social ), & what’s ahead.
open.substack.com/pub/lightove...
open.substack.com/pub/lightove...
The AR-15 continues to play an outsized role in our national shouting match about guns. A two-year old book and my review of it are sadly current.
open.substack.com/pub/lightove...
open.substack.com/pub/lightove...
Review of American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15
Post inspired by a recent Guns Unpacked podcast interview with the authors
open.substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:26 PM
The AR-15 continues to play an outsized role in our national shouting match about guns. A two-year old book and my review of it are sadly current.
open.substack.com/pub/lightove...
open.substack.com/pub/lightove...
The response to my 4:00 am thoughts on Sig Sauer X TPUSA was extraordinary, so I took some time this afternoon to compose some additional thoughts on the 5 most common responses to my post.
lightoverheat.substack.com/p/further-th...
lightoverheat.substack.com/p/further-th...
Further Thoughts on Sig Sauer X TPUSA
Responses to specific points raised in the comments
lightoverheat.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:29 PM
The response to my 4:00 am thoughts on Sig Sauer X TPUSA was extraordinary, so I took some time this afternoon to compose some additional thoughts on the 5 most common responses to my post.
lightoverheat.substack.com/p/further-th...
lightoverheat.substack.com/p/further-th...
I had a good 13 year run with ACLDN. Meaning, like my auto, homeowners, life, and AD&D insurance, I never had to use it.
They sold to CCW Safe. Haven't had time to explore their program, but imagine they are at least decent in their coverage.
They sold to CCW Safe. Haven't had time to explore their program, but imagine they are at least decent in their coverage.
November 8, 2025 at 3:59 PM
I had a good 13 year run with ACLDN. Meaning, like my auto, homeowners, life, and AD&D insurance, I never had to use it.
They sold to CCW Safe. Haven't had time to explore their program, but imagine they are at least decent in their coverage.
They sold to CCW Safe. Haven't had time to explore their program, but imagine they are at least decent in their coverage.
There is nothing more flattering than someone taking time to read your work, except people taking time to engage your work. Thanks @amcneely.com and @contexts.org .
New on the blog! @amcneely.com (@utdallas.bsky.social) responds to @davidyamane.bsky.social ➡️ contexts.org/blog/a-forme...
November 8, 2025 at 2:09 PM
There is nothing more flattering than someone taking time to read your work, except people taking time to engage your work. Thanks @amcneely.com and @contexts.org .
Proud of my @wakeforest.bsky.social sociology student for contributing her thoughts on Trump's education compact in this public forum:
In this Future View, students discuss the White House’s agenda for universities. www.wsj.com/opinion/the-... via @wsj.com
In this Future View, students discuss the White House’s agenda for universities. www.wsj.com/opinion/the-... via @wsj.com
Opinion | The Trump Education Compact: Threat or Salvation?
Students discuss the White House’s agenda for universities.
www.wsj.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Proud of my @wakeforest.bsky.social sociology student for contributing her thoughts on Trump's education compact in this public forum:
In this Future View, students discuss the White House’s agenda for universities. www.wsj.com/opinion/the-... via @wsj.com
In this Future View, students discuss the White House’s agenda for universities. www.wsj.com/opinion/the-... via @wsj.com
Gun Curious sales have been solid but haven’t reached the “I told you so” numbers I’d imagined sending to all of the many publishers who passed on it. Even as I move on, I believe Gun Curious remains singular. Ironically, that singularity is what makes it a hard sell.
youtu.be/nYlUcddbLcY?...
youtu.be/nYlUcddbLcY?...
An Update on Sales of My Book Gun Curious and Future Sales Plans (Light Over Heat #141)
YouTube video by Light Over Heat with Professor David Yamane
youtu.be
November 7, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Gun Curious sales have been solid but haven’t reached the “I told you so” numbers I’d imagined sending to all of the many publishers who passed on it. Even as I move on, I believe Gun Curious remains singular. Ironically, that singularity is what makes it a hard sell.
youtu.be/nYlUcddbLcY?...
youtu.be/nYlUcddbLcY?...
If you want to join us for any of our three-part conversation on the political roots of the NRA and contemporary gun culture, here's your Zoom webinar registration link: wakeforest-university.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Details: davidyamane.com/welcome-to-v...
Details: davidyamane.com/welcome-to-v...
November 6, 2025 at 6:22 PM
If you want to join us for any of our three-part conversation on the political roots of the NRA and contemporary gun culture, here's your Zoom webinar registration link: wakeforest-university.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Details: davidyamane.com/welcome-to-v...
Details: davidyamane.com/welcome-to-v...