With 2026, we begin the third year of our online book club. We meet four times a year to discuss recent books about guns and gun culture.
Margaret Kelley’s A Gun of Her Own: The Everyday Lives of Women Who Shoot will be the 9th book we read together. Please join us!
Registration link for the Zoom Webinar: https://wakeforest-university.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_uxHKQ8dbSPiOlEYAWVrMtQ
A GUN OF HER OWN
We will meet on three Wednesdays from 6:00 to 7:00 pm Eastern time beginning on February 18th and discuss the book in three parts:
*Wednesday, February 18th: Read Preface, Introduction, and Chapter 2 (pp. 1-61).
*Wednesday, March 4th: Read Chapters 3-4 (pp. 62-131).
*Wednesday, March 18th: Read Chapters 5-6 and About This Project (pp. 132-204).
We are hoping the author will join us for a bonus fourth session for Q&A as well.
Participate
The Light Over Heat Virtual Book Club runs as a Zoom webinar in which 12 panelists have full speaking privileges to discuss the book. Other registrants participate as viewers with written chat capability. The chat has been extremely active and informative in previous sessions. (To encourage candor, meetings are not recorded except the Q&A with the author with permission.)
If you’re interested in attending the Light Over Heat Virtual Book Club as a viewer, please register for the Zoom Webinar discussion: https://wakeforest-university.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_uxHKQ8dbSPiOlEYAWVrMtQ
Only registered attendees can join the meeting.
Buy the Book
The book is available in hardcopy and e-book. The book is unfortunately priced like academic books often are, expensive and with independent bookstores paying as much for the book as Amazon is able to sell it for. Not surprisingly, the best price I have found for the book is through Amazon (or directly from the publisher). All that said, you can help support the cost of my work by using the following affiliate link to buy the book.
About the Book
From the publisher’s description:
Exploring the growing phenomenon of women gun owners in middle America, this book challenges the conventional narratives that often dominate discussions of gun culture.
By applying a feminist and critical cultural framework, A Gun of Her Own: The Everyday Lives of Women Who Shoot argues that, for many women, guns are not merely tools for protection but powerful symbols of agency and autonomy. This book examines how women navigate gun culture, revealing a unique ethic of care and responsibility that shapes their experiences. Rather than focusing on policy or gun violence, this study explores the everyday realities of women who own and use firearms at the intersection of gender, identity, and gun ownership. It is a book about how women come to guns, learn about them, think about them, and shoot with them.
Previous Books: 2025
Previous Books: 2024
