Basic Pistol

A fascinating and timely exploration of gun culture in the US.

All across America, people are taking classes in how to use a gun. But who are these instructors? What are people learning from them? And how does it explain the gun violence that’s now playing out on a daily basis?

Harel Shapira, a sociologist at the University of Texas, has spent ten years immersed in the world of gun-training. His experience is an astounding deep dive into how Americans train their minds and bodies to use guns.

Shapira reveals that, far from simply teaching the mechanics of gun safety, these schools are teaching a way of living in the world that is rooted in racist fears, aggressive masculinity and an entitlement to violence. In storytelling that will take your breath away, we discover that 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.