Race, Rights, and Rifles: The Origins of the NRA and Contemporary Gun Culture

by Alexandra Filindra

An eye-opening examination of the ties between American gun culture and white male supremacy from the American Revolution to today. One-third of American adults—approximately 86 million people—own firearms. This is not just for protection or hunting. Although many associate gun-centric ideology with individualist and libertarian traditions in American political culture, Race, Rights, and Rifles shows that it rests on an equally old but different foundation. Instead, Alexandra Frilindra shows that American gun culture can be traced back to the American Revolution when republican notions of civic duty were fused with a belief in white male supremacy and a commitment to maintaining racial and gender hierarchies. Drawing on wide-ranging historical and contemporary evidence, Race, Rights, and Rifles traces how this ideology emerged during the Revolution and became embedded in America’s institutions, from state militias to the National Rifle Association (NRA). Utilizing original survey data, Filindra reveals how many White Americans —including those outside of the NRA’s direct orbit—embrace these beliefs, and as a result, they are more likely than other Americans to value gun rights over voting rights, embrace antidemocratic norms, and justify political violence.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, History

394 pages, Paperback

Published September 26, 2023

Reviews

[David Yamane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amid considerable interest in the future of the National Rifle Association (NRA), Alexandra Filindra (political science, University of Illinois-Chicago) provides a novel and compelling analysis of its origins and development. Moreso, this book tells the story of the birth and development of a core ideology of American culture generally: ascriptive martial republicanism (AMR). This “syncretic combination of two worldviews” brings together White male supremacy (“ascriptive”) and the belief that citizens bear rights and duties (“republicanism”), including military service (“martial”) (p. 7). Filindra tells this story in three parts. Part one explores the rise of AMR in the founding era, including the role of militias into the 19th century. Part two shows how the ideology was embodied by the NRA from its founding and carried into the present. Part three uses survey data to highlight the persistence of AMR beliefs today. The singular focus on AMR is at once a strength and a limitation. The equation of American gun culture with the NRA is a frustratingly common move in gun studies and the statistical analyses at the core of part three are blunt instruments that do not capture the diversity and complexity of contemporary gun culture. Still highly recommended.

[RYAN PHAM · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many useful charts and graphs that get the author’s point across

Citizen soldier vs rifleman vs gun owner

Race, crime concerns and protection from government

All important topics