1 online resource (xii, 323 pages) :

"Nothing conjures up images of the American frontier and a pick-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps view of freedom and independence quite like guns. Gun Crusaders is a fascinating inside look at how the four-million member National Rifle Association and its committed members come to see each and every gun control threat as a step down the path towards gun confiscation, and eventually socialism. Enlivened by a rich analysis of NRA materials, meetings, leader speeches, and unique in-depth interviews with NRA members, Gun Crusaders focuses on how the NRA constructs and perceives threats to gun rights as one more attack in a broad liberal cultural war. Scott Melzer shows that the NRA promotes a nostalgic vision of frontier masculinity, whereby gun rights defenders are seen as patriots and freedom fighters, defending not the freedom of religion, but the religion of individual rights and freedoms"--Provided by publisher

Includes bibliographical references (pages 271-304) and index

Frontier masculinity, America's "gun culture," and the NRA -- Why a gun movement? -- Framing threats to gun rights -- Under attack -- Fighting the culture wars -- The politics of commitment -- Right and far-right moral politics -- The ties that bind

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