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Bringing Research and Innovation into the Debate on Guns in Society

Housed in the Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics, Bringing Research and Innovation into the Debate on Guns in Society (BRIDGS) brings social science approaches to the gun debate to forge a forum for those across the debate to engage, learn, and elevate.

Drawing on ASU’s charter of inclusivity, public values and community impact, BRIDGS imagines a different kind of space for the gun debate. This is a space that prioritizes listening to and learning from perspectives different from our own; enhancing our knowledge about the nuances of the gun debate including the complexities of gun laws, the interlocked consequences of gun violence, and the intricacies of guns themselves; and bringing rigorous and thoughtful data and evidence to understand where we are in the gun debate and where we might go next.

We invite you to get to know the BRIDGS community of scholars, learn about the kinds of research we do, and engage the conversation by listening to our podcast or dropping in on our events.

In the News

michelle phelps headshot

In today’s episode of Guns Unpacked, we welcome Dr. Michelle Phelps, a professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota.

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 Dr. Gerald Higgenbotham

In today’s episode of Guns Unpacked, we welcome Dr. Gerald D. Higgenbotham, an assistant professor of public policy and psychology at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. Dr. Higgenbotham examines contemporary cognitive policies and how they influence repressive history through racism and collective power.

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jan dizard headshot

This episode of Guns Unpacked features Jan Dizard, Professor Emeritus of American Studies at Amherst College, a pioneering thinker about hunting, gun culture, and the environment. Dizard authored groundbreaking works such as Going Wild, Mortal Stakes, and Hunting: A Cultural History (MIT Press, 2022, co-author Mary Zeiss Stange).

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