Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Guns and Society
Friday, October 18 – Saturday, October 19, 2024
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
The Center for the Study of Guns & Society is pleased to announce its 3rd annual fall conference. Scholars, museum curators, and students from around the country will gather for two days of discussions on a wide range of historical topics related to firearms.
For more information, contact Deidre Goodrich, program coordinator, at dgoodrich@wesleyan.edu.
Friday, October 18, 2024
Fayerweather, Beckham Hall, 2nd floor (55 Wyllys Avenue)
9:30 – 11 am Walking Tour: Middletown and the Birth of Arms Manufacturing (Optional)
Hosted by the Middlesex Country Historical Society. Join us for a walking tour of historic High Street and learn how the history of guns runs right through Wesleyan University’s campus. $10 per person.
11 am – 4:30 pm Conference Check-In
11:30 am – 1:30 pm Lunch and Panel Discussion
12 pm Welcome Remarks
Nicole Stanton, Provost, Wesleyan University
Jennifer Tucker, Founding Director, Center for the Study of Guns & Society, Wesleyan University
12:10 – 1:25 pm Session 1: Current Legal Cases on Guns in the U.S.
Moderator: Richard Galant (Now It’s History)
Panelists:
Alinor Sterling (Koskoff Koskoff and Bieder)
Kelly Sampson (Brady)
Leigh Rome (Giffords)
1:30 – 2:30 pm Session 2: Gun Violence and Health: Epidemiology, Economics, and Community Perspectives
Moderator: Kelly Roskam (Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions)
Panelists:
Matthew Miller (Northeastern Univ. / Harvard Firearm Injury Prevention Center)
“Recent Work on the Epidemiology of Firearm Injury in the U.S.”
Rebecca Johnson (Milliman)
“Healthcare Cost Journey for Survivors of Firearm Injuries”
Richard Glover (Long Island University School of Social Work)
“Safer Schools & Communities: A Comprehensive Collaborative Model”
2:30 – 2:45 pm Break
2:45 – 3:45 pm Session 3: Gun History in an Age of Originalism
Moderator: Thomas Wolf (Brennan Center for Justice at NYU)
Panelists:
Jack Rakove (Stanford University, Emeritus)
“The Hollow Promise of Originalist Jurisprudence”
Mark Frassetto (Everytown for Gun Safety)
“History in Post-Bruen Second Amendment Litigation”
Kelly Roskam (Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions)
“The Handful of Historical Laws in Second Amendment Litigation”
Ian Ayres (Yale Law School)
“The Coming Assault on Federal Gun Restrictions”
3:45 – 4:30 pm Session 4: CSGS Research Updates
Moderator: Jennifer Tucker (Wesleyan)
Historical Gun Laws Across Five States
Brennan Gardner Rivas (Wesleyan)
Evan Turiano (Wesleyan)
Gun Data Across Media, Innovation, Gun Violence, Incidents, and Advertisement: Methods and Research
Maryam Gooyabadi (Wesleyan’s QAC)
4:30 – 5 pm Session 5: Lethality Studies
Moderator: Jennifer Tucker (Wesleyan)
Panelists:
Stephen Hargarten (Medical College of Wisconsin)
Iain Overton (Action on Armed Violence)
5 – 5:15 pm Break
5:15 – 6:30 pm Session 6: Gunplay and Movies: A Conversation and Audience Discussion with Hollywood Armorer/Weapons Master Harry Lu
Moderator: Jennifer Tucker (Wesleyan)
“Reenacting Justice” Presentation: Glenn LaVertu (Parsons School of Design / Wesleyan visiting instructor)
Discussion Facilitators:
Ryan Linkof (Lucas Museum of Narrative Art)
Michael Slowik (Wesleyan Film Studies)
6:45 – 7:45 pm Reception at Center for the Study of Guns & Society (Horgan House, 77 Pearl St.)
Drinks and light appetizers
Dinner on your own
Sign up for a group dinner or use our restaurant guide.
Saturday, October 19, 2024
Fayerweather, Beckham Hall, 2nd floor (55 Wyllys Avenue)
8:30 – 9 am Continental Breakfast and Check-In
9 -10:30 am Session 7: Early American History
Moderator: Evan Turiano (Wesleyan)
Panelists:
Jen McCutchen (University of St. Thomas)
“‘She Kept a Gun to Defend Herself as Well as Her Husband Did’: Women and Firearms in the 18c. Native South”
Holly Brewer (University of Maryland)
“Gun Regulations in Context”
Kevin Sweeney (Amherst College)
“The Production and Marketing of Firearms Used in Eighteenth-Century America”
Saul Cornell (Fordham University)
“Common Law Limits on Firearms: Surety Laws in Historical Context”
10:30 – 10:45 am Break
10:45 am – 12:15 pm Session 8: Nineteenth-Century Studies of Guns and Culture
Moderator: Roberto Saba (Wesleyan)
Panelists:
Randy Roth (The Ohio State University)
“How Did Changes in Firearms Technologies and in the Uses of Existing Technologies Change the Character and Incidence of Violence in the U.S. in the 19th Century?”
Brennan Gardner Rivas (Wesleyan)
“The Revolver Must Go: Regulating Guns in Texas”
Kate Birkbeck (Yale University)
“The Redemption of the Arms Trade 1873-1875”
LK Bertram (University of Toronto)
“The Calamity Club: Sex Workers and Madams as Gun Owners in the ‘Wild’ West, 1863-1914”
12:15 – 1:30 pm Lunch
1:30 – 2:30 pm Session 9: Interpreting Firearms in Museums
Moderator: Leah Glaser (Central Connecticut State University)
Panelists:
Alex MacKenzie (Springfield Armory National Historic Site / Coltsville)
“Layering Interpretation on Technical Collections”
Ryan Linkof (Lucas Museum of Narrative Art)
“A Narrative Device: Guns and Visual Storytelling”
Ken Cohen (Smithsonian National Museum of American History)
“Exhibition Strategies for Firearms at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History”
Kelly Fellner (Springfield Armory National Historic Site / Coltsville)
“Capturing Coltsville in the City of Hartford”
2:30 – 3:30 pm Session 10: The History of Guns and Religion in the U.S.
Moderator: Brennan Gardner Rivas
Panelists:
Joseph Moore (Kennesaw State University)
“The Gun Disciples of Christ”
Gregory Mixon (University of North Carolina – Charlotte)
“Multiple Hats: Late Nineteenth Century African Americans, the Militia, and the Community”
Joseph Slaughter (CSGS Associate Director, Wesleyan)
“Death Stalked Close: Fundamentalism and Firearms”
3:30 – 3:45pm Break
3:45-4:45 pm Session 11: Guns in 20th Century History—Concretizing and Abstracting Guns
Moderator: Jennifer Tucker (Wesleyan University)
Panelists:
Terrence Witkowski (California State University, Long Beach)
“Toy Guns and Social Unease in American History”
Andrew McKevitt (Louisiana Tech University)
“Dr. Grady’s Crusade: The Cold War Origins of Gun Rights Radicalism”
Justin A. Joyce (Washington University in St. Louis)
“Joystick Justice: Video Games and American Gun Violence”
4:45 pm Conference wrap-up and brief preview of upcoming events
Jennifer Tucker and Joseph Slaughter
5 – 6 pm Closing Reception
Click here to read post-conference article.
Click here to see conference photos.
