Megan Kang (Princeton University)

Work-in-Progress seminars

Becoming a Shooter: Illegal Gun Use Among Urban Youth

Abstract: While sociological research has extensively examined the social consequences of gun violence, the meaning of guns in the lives of those involved in violence and their social networks remains under-explored. Drawing on 18 months of fieldwork and 37 in-depth interviews with teenagers and young men in Chicago involved in illegal gun use, this study investigates how youth adopt the identity of a shooter and the barriers they face in shedding this label. In poor, urban neighborhoods where guns are widely available and gun violence is pervasive, the shooter identity is not only possible but often socially desirable. The erosion of gang control over firearm access and usage, coupled with the prominence of guns in local culture and social media, creates pathways for young people to arm themselves and cultivate a reputation as a shooter. An individual moves from picking up a gun to becoming a shooter through a series of rituals and public displays, transforming the behavior of gun carrying into a role embedded in social interactions. Once established, this label is hard to shed. Unlike other forms of delinquency, shooting has irreversible consequences, fueling long-term rivalries and cementing one’s reputation on the physical and digital streets. Moreover, the dilemma of unilateral disarmament—in which putting down a gun does not guarantee one’s adversaries have done the same—makes desistance from illegal gun carrying especially precarious. The guns that once represented status and protection often entrench young men in cycles of crime and marginality.