Rachel Tait
UFV’s new Political Science professor, Noah S. Schwartz, has recently written his first book entitled On Target. The book was published this month and focuses on gun culture and the National Rifle Association (NRA) in the United States. After four years of extensive ethnographic research, On Target zeroes in on how powerful the NRA has become and how instrumental and influential they are in regards to gun culture and the policies surrounding firearms.
“I wanted to understand more about why the NRA in the US is so powerful,” Schwartz said on why he felt compelled to write the book.
“I wanted to look at how the NRA has cultivated this influence and why they’re so influential, why there’s so many people that support them, and therefore [how] that support translates into political behavior,” Schwartz explained.
“The public and popular explanation seems to be that they [the NRA] donate a lot of money to politicians, to senators and people in Congress,” said Schwartz on why the group is so powerful and influential.
He also explained that he was interested in determining why other lobbies such as pharmaceuticals and oil give a lot more money in comparison to the NRA to political campaigns, and yet they are not as successful.
When asked why this issue is important today, Schwartz responded by saying that it is still a relevant and serious issue in North America.
“In Canada, we have more tools on the books to deal with gun violence in terms of gun control policies, licensing, safe storage laws, limits on magazine bans and things like that,” Schwartz explained.
In America, Schwartz illustrated how certain states are more lax in terms of having stricter laws and regulations set in place concerning gun control than others.
The NRA is an old established association that began after the American Civil War and has become famous over the years. It has “a big presence on Capitol Hill,” said Schwartz
“What I learned in my research is that the NRA is really powerful because they’re able to get a lot of people to participate politically. [The NRA is] one of the biggest teachers of gun safety courses in the US. They teach millions of Americans firearm safety every year,” Schwartz added.
Schwartz said that in order to find out what was covered in the firearm classes, he enrolled into five of them to get a better sense of what was being taught by the teachers from the NRA. He learned that in addition to fire safety, the classes were also very political.
Additionally, Schwartz attended a NRA National convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, which included speakers such as the former US president, Donald Trump, who gave political speeches to tens of thousands of people. Schwartz described these large scale conventions as being like a “Comic Con for gun owners.”
During the interview, Schwartz also mentioned the three NRA museums, highlighting the NRA National Firearms Museum specifically.
“[The NRA National Firearms Museum] tells the NRA story of guns in America, and positions guns as a key part of American history and American identity.”
“I’m realizing that the NRA is really effective because of their ability to tell these stories, stories about American identity and about America’s past. And these stories rally people around it and get them excited and get them participating politically,” said Schwartz.
When asked about his thoughts on the Canadian regulations concerning gun control in Canada and the added ban of imports of handguns that just got implemented in May, Schwartz gave deep insight into the Canadian laws and regulations that are already in place.
“In Canada we’ve had a strong system of gun licensing since the 1990s. There was licensing in the ‘70s, but it was fairly easy to get around. It really strengthened in the ‘90s after the École Polytechnique attack in Montreal in ‘89. We know that safe storage laws work for keeping guns out of the hands of children” said Schwartz.
In regard to the ban of importing handguns into Canada, there is an “upwards of 70-80 percent of crime guns, handguns [that] are coming from the US so the domestic handgun freeze isn’t going to do a lot to stop that,” Schwartz said concerning big cities in Canada.
“I think the extent to which guns underlie community and social relations was something that I didn’t really expect to see as an outsider coming in,” Schwartz mentioned.
“I’m hoping to teach an advocacy group course and public policy course at UFV in the future, and I think [the NRA and gun control is] a really relevant case study for that. I’m teaching intro to Political Science this year and it’s certainly a case study that comes up when we talk about advocacy groups and social movements” Schwartz said.
On Target can be bought on Amazon, Indigo, and the University of Toronto Press website. The book is available in hardcover and ebook formats and will soon be available in softcover.
Rachel is working towards a BA with a concentration in English and Theatre. She has been employed at The Cascade since Fall 2021 as a Staff Writer and a Jr. News Editor. Currently, she is the sectional News Editor and enjoys meeting and interviewing people as well as taking long walks in nature. Rachel also likes to stay up to date on the latest trends and informs students through her fashion column entitled Campus Fashion.
