The possessive investment in guns: towards a material, social, and racial analysis of guns

The essay begins with the 2016 auction of George Zimmerman's murder weapon, used to kill Trayvon Martin, highlighting the commodification of Martin's murder and the weapon's transformation into an icon of self-defense for white gun owners. It critiques the tendency to focus solely on individual racial bias in explaining racial gun violence, arguing that systemic factors are crucial. The essay proposes an analysis focusing on the "social life" of guns and their material role in producing social relations, drawing on Latour and Bennett's work on non-human actors. The author defines racial gun violence narrowly as the use of guns by police and whites against people of color under self-defense claims, acknowledging other forms such as mass shootings targeting people of color and systemic neglect of gun violence in communities of color. The essay utilizes Arjun Appadurai's concept of the "social lives" of objects and his newer concept of objects as both "mediants" and "materiality" to frame the analysis. While existing scholarship explores gun marketing and advertising, this essay also focuses on the materiality of guns—how their design and characteristics mediate social interactions and affect both owners and victims. The introduction highlights that the gun is not the sole source of racial violence but a key element in a larger systemic problem, emphasizing that race-neutral policies can produce racist outcomes. Finally it sets the stage for the essay's organization.

The paper reviews existing scholarship on the social construction of the American gun market, highlighting studies examining gun makers' marketing and advertising strategies. It notes that while there is research on how gun advertising targets white, male consumers, less attention has been paid to how gun ownership privileges accrue disproportionately to whites and the disproportionate impact of gun control measures on people of color. The essay points out the relative lack of scholarly attention to the materiality of guns, specifically how gun design increasingly prioritizes efficient harm-infliction in response to the heightened demand for self-defense. Existing gun scholarship focuses primarily on advertising, largely ignoring the material aspects of gun design and their influence on social interactions.

The essay employs a qualitative methodology, drawing primarily on secondary sources such as news articles, academic publications, and gun-related media. The author analyzes these sources through the lens of Arjun Appadurai's theory of the social lives of objects and his concept of mediants and materiality. This framework allows the author to examine how guns are not merely tools but active participants in shaping social relationships and producing racial gun violence. The author investigates three distinct but intertwined mediations to understand how the logic of self-defense shapes the material reality of racial gun violence. These include (1) The racialized marketing and advertising of guns for personal self-defense; (2) The role of law in expanding gun rights for whites and imposing stricter penalties on people of color for gun possession; and (3) The material changes to gun design emphasizing smaller, more lethal handguns for personal carry and self-defense. This analysis allows for a nuanced understanding of how social factors, legal frameworks, and technological innovations converge to produce racially disparate outcomes. The case study of the Trayvon Martin murder and the George Zimmerman trial is employed to illustrate these interconnected mediations in a concrete example, focusing on Zimmerman's murder weapon as an active participant in the events.

The essay's key findings center around the idea that racial gun violence is not simply a product of individual biases but a material outcome of intersecting mediations. The analysis of gun marketing and advertising reveals the racialized nature of self-defense narratives, particularly in online spaces where gun enthusiasts shape the discourse, employing racially coded language and imagery. The legal system, particularly through concealed carry laws, stand your ground statutes, and lenient penalties for whites using self-defense claims, is shown to be complicit in perpetuating this disparity. Changes in gun design, emphasizing smaller and more lethal handguns tailored for concealed carry, are linked to the increased demand for self-defense and the material capacity to inflict harm. The analysis of the Trayvon Martin case underscores how these mediations intersect, with Zimmerman's weapon functioning as a material component in the killing and his subsequent acquittal. The essay argues that the demand for self-defense, particularly as it is racially framed, reinforces existing power dynamics and makes racial gun violence a predictable outcome. The disproportionate impact of gun violence on communities of color is highlighted, as is the way laws, though seemingly race-neutral, produce unequal outcomes. The essay argues that a system-level analysis, incorporating the materiality of objects, is needed to understand racial gun violence effectively. The study demonstrates that the weapon is not only used to cause harm but also functions as a symbol of privilege, contributing to the normalization of racial violence.

The essay's findings challenge the prevailing focus on individual intent and prejudice in understanding racial gun violence. By focusing on the materiality of guns and the intersecting mediations that shape their social meaning and use, the author provides a more comprehensive and systemic explanation. The analysis underscores the need to move beyond simply examining individual actors and consider the broader social, legal, and technological forces that contribute to racial disparities in gun violence. The discussion highlights the limitations of solely addressing the issue through gun control measures, suggesting that broader criminal justice reform and societal shifts are crucial to tackling the root causes of racial gun violence. The concept of "possessive investment in whiteness" helps to understand the ways in which gun ownership functions as a mechanism reinforcing racial hierarchies.

The essay concludes by emphasizing the need to shift gun demand away from self-defense, not through stricter gun control measures alone, but also by addressing systemic issues in the criminal justice system and promoting broader social change. It proposes that focusing on criminal justice reform, reducing incarceration rates, and promoting alternative approaches to public safety could be more effective in the long run than simply attempting to regulate guns. The author highlights the paradoxical position of people of color regarding gun ownership, emphasizing the vulnerability that arises from both possession and dispossession. The conclusion advocates for a change in how we perceive and address the issue of gun violence, advocating for a systemic and multi-faceted approach.

The essay's reliance on secondary sources limits its ability to delve deeply into the experiences of individuals involved in incidents of racial gun violence. Furthermore, the scope of the study, while broad in its analysis of intersecting mediations, might be considered limited by its specific focus on self-defense as a motivating factor in gun acquisition and use. The essay's framework, while insightful, may not fully capture the complexity of the lived experiences of diverse communities affected by gun violence. The reliance on existing data sets and studies could constrain the conclusions.