Guns and American Exceptionalism

Global Speaker Series

Guns and American Exceptionalism

Comparing gun rights and gun violence in the US and other democracies

Thursday, September 19 at 7:00PM Zoom

As the recent horrific mass shootings, including the school shooting in Winder, Georgia have demonstrated, when it comes to guns the United States is truly exceptional. Among the worlds economically advanced democracies, it is the only one with a constitutionally guaranteed right to firearms ownership and a deeply embedded gun culture. It has the highest rates of both gun ownership and gun violence. What are the roots and the implications of American gun culture?

How do Americas gun rights—and its gun violence—compare with other advanced democracies, including its closest neighbor, Canada? What are some of the policy options for reducing America’s uniquely high rates of gun violence? These are some of the questions that will be addressed by this important program.

Our presenter for this program is Professor Pierre Atlas.

In his talk and audience Q&A, Dr. Atlas will address the following topics:

• What is “American Exceptionalism”?
  
• What are some of the roots of American gun culture, and how is American gun culture a characteristic of American Exceptionalism?
  
• How does America's gun rights and gun violence compare to other advanced democracies?

Dr. Pierre M. Atlas is a Senior Lecturer and Director of the Master of Public Affairs (MPA) program at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Indianapolis, and prior to that was a political science professor at Marian University for two decades. A comparative political scientist by training, his recent research and publications have examined historical and contemporary political differences between the United States and Canada on issues such as Indigenous policy, the role of government, and gun laws and gun culture. He teaches a class on Gun Culture and Policy at the O’Neill School, and is an advisory board member of 97Percent, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to reduce gun deaths in America by including gun owners in the solutions. Pierre earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from Rutgers University and holds M.A. and B.A. degrees in Political Science from the University of Arizona and the University of Toronto, respectively.