Merchants of the Right: Gun Sellers and the Crisis of American Democracy

In a country where there are more guns than people, it is important to understand gun culture and the politics surround it. Carlson (sociology, Univ. of Arizona; Policing the Second Amendment) focuses on the surge of gun sales in 2020, which were up 72 percent over sales in 2019. There were a vast number of first-time buyers, including women and people of color. The author interviewed 50 gun sellers—mostly Trump supporters—of small, independent shops in four states: Arizona, California, Florida, and Michigan. The sellers were generally baffled by the surge in sales. Three elements of the gun culture receive close attention in this study: armed individualism, conspiracists, and extreme partisanship. Concentrating on what she calls a “conservative corner of American gun culture,” Carlson acknowledges that gun owners and gun rights advocates are of various backgrounds, ethnicities, and beliefs; at the same time, however, little in the book addresses this topic. The book concludes with a rumination on democracy, political engagement by gun rights advocates, and the 2021 January insurrection.