Gunocracy: Confronting America’s Mass Shooting Problem is the latest work from historian Christopher B. Strain, a professor of American Studies at Florida Atlantic University whose scholarship has long examined the intersection of violence, culture, and national identity in the United States. Strain’s new book—available for purchase on November 20 through Amazon and Barnes & Noble—grapples with one of the country’s most urgent and painful questions: why mass shootings persist, and what can be done to reduce their impact.

In this conversation with Eli Bortz, Flatpage’s acquisitions editor, Strain reflects on the decades of research that led from his earlier book Reload to the more expansive and deeply contemporary Gunocracy. The interview explores how historians can illuminate present-day debates, what actionable interventions show genuine promise, and why he believes that understanding the roots of violence can open the door to meaningful solutions. As the book enters the world, Strain discusses its development, its timeliness, and the hope that ultimately shaped its final pages.

You’re a historian by training and a professor of American Studies at Florida Atlantic University. Most of your books have examined the culture of violence that is perhaps particular to the American experience. How would you describe your specialization, and what do you see as your primary research interests?

I’m not sure what it says about me that I’m drawn to studying violence, but you’re correct to note that much of my research deals with that subject. It may have something to do with the fact that much of it, especially the gun violence that plagues our society, seems to me to be avoidable. Understanding the problem(s) and root causes may help us to avert violent outcomes.

What put you on the path of research that led you first to Reload and then Gunocracy? When did you decide it was time to follow up on Reload?

I wrote Reload in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shooting in the spring of 2007, when a gunman killed thirty-two people and wounded seventeen others on campus. I had a sabbatical lined up for the following fall semester, and I was so horrified by that incident that I pivoted and adjusted my research agenda to write up what I’d learned over years of teaching a course on US violence. The course, first taught at University of California, Berkeley, and then at Florida Atlantic University, began as a history of American violence—war, labor violence, racial violence, and so on—but contemporary incidents of violence, particularly mass shootings in the 2000s, increasingly commanded attention, so the course evolved to look at why the United States, a prosperous, developed nation, courted so much violent crime and interpersonal violence. In 2025 I was lucky enough to have another sabbatical, and the mass shootings hadn’t abated, so a kind of Reload redux seemed to be in order. The result was Gunocracy.

What led you to Flatpage, and what kept you around?

I know and trust the acquisitions editor, Eli Bortz, with whom I’ve worked in the past on other book projects. I had approached him when he was editor-in-chief at the University of Notre Dame Press with an idea or two, which weren’t the right fit at the time; however, he kept me in mind and contacted me when he migrated to Flatpage. So Eli led me to Flatpage, and the cofounders Cara Jordan and David Hariri kept me around. They’ve been a joy to work with.

Tell me a few of the ideas/actions/initiatives that warranted inclusion in Gunocracy. What did you see as especially promising in these efforts to find gun violence solutions, in other words?

Safe storage, mental health interventions, and red-flag laws are just a few of the ways to combat mass shootings and gun violence in general. Some ideas are tried and tested and some are not, but the take-home message is that things can be done to avert mass shootings, which we often view as random, unpredictable, and unavoidable.

Gunocracy, as a title, does nod to our complex American relationship to the firearm. Can you pinpoint certain eras in history that contributed to where we currently stand in 2025?

Where we are now is a product of recent history. When guns became politicized in the late 1960s and 1970s, gun violence began to be seen by many as a sad and regrettable, but necessary, kind of collateral damage, justified in the name of constitutionally protected rights and safeguards. When Congress allowed the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban to sunset, the AR-15 and its variants became not only a preferred weapon of civilian patriots but also, unfortunately, mass shooters as well. On December 14, 2012, the day of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, President Barack Obama gave a televised address, saying, “We’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.” When we didn’t, some interpreted it as the elevation of gun rights over the lives of American children and their right to exist and learn in a peaceable environment; others heralded the need for hardened school security. Regardless, these were flashpoints—key moments that have led to where we are now.

Do you see a model in how you built this book, as a historian tackling personally uncomfortable subject matter? The tone is almost apologetic at times, perhaps because not enough researchers are looking closely at the local level?

Historians have an obligation not to look away, even when things become unpleasant. They contemplate the good, the bad, and the ugly—and this subject matter certainly qualifies as the latter. I’m not sure who said it, but someone once observed that if studying history always makes you feel proud and happy, then you probably aren’t studying history.

How do you see historians contributing to contemporary conversations about gun violence without being subsumed by the urgency or political polarization of the issue? How would you like to see your colleagues address fraught issues?

The Bruen test, established by the Supreme Court in the landmark case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen (2022), is a legal assessment used to evaluate Second Amendment challenges to existing gun laws. It requires courts to determine if a law is consistent with the nation’s “historical tradition of firearm regulation” by examining historical analogues, the reasoning behind historical laws, and their application. So when courts have to decide whether regulated conduct falls within the Second Amendment’s scope, historians have a new and central role in explaining the historical context of America’s gun culture. 

Given the intensity and emotional weight of researching gun violence, how did you navigate the psychological demands of the project? Did your perspective on the subject shift as you moved through different stages of writing the book?

I’m not going to lie: it’s hard and it takes a toll. I went on a lot of hikes and took a lot of long nature walks while researching and writing this book. And yes, I think my perspective shifted, because this book ends on a note of hope. There are things we can do to ameliorate the problem: things that should be agreeable to a cross section of reasonable Americans whether liberals or conservatives, Democrats or Republicans, gun owners or nonowners alike. That fact gives me hope. 

If you could correct one widespread public misconception about the history of firearms in America—something that could meaningfully shape today’s debates—what would it be, and how does Gunocracy address it?

The right to own and use firearms can coexist with lower levels of gun violence and fewer mass shootings. One can simultaneously support the Second Amendment and oppose gun violence; they’re not mutually exclusive.

What keeps you moving, as a writer, educator, and human being?

Offering a different perspective on the norm.

This interview only scratches the surface of what Gunocracy uncovers about the systems, politics, and histories that enable mass shootings in America—and what it will take to change course.

Get the full picture in Gunocracy, available November 20 on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.