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Morally Controversial Leisure: The Social World of Gun Collectors
Author(s) -
Olmsted A. D.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1525/si.1988.11.2.277
Subject(s) - deviance (statistics) , gun violence , sociology , gun control , criminology , political science , advertising , law , poison control , suicide prevention , business , computer science , medical emergency , medicine , machine learning
In this article I examine the world of gun collectors. When dealing, collecting and showing this group sees guns as fascinating collectibles. Yet, collecting and other leisure pursuits are often controversial. Academics, politicians and media persons perceive gun collectors and their collections as symbols of deviance and their guns as threats to society. The moral controversy created by the anti‐gun position, and the gun collectors' accounts of their activities, shows how other hobbies may become social problems.