A Continent Disarmed? Gun Culture, Gun Control and the Making of Western Europe (ca. 1870-1970)

Introduction

This research project is a comparative and transnational historical investigation of the lawful possession and use of small firearms by law-abiding civilians in Europe between ca. 1870 and ca. 1970. Over the course of this century-long period, Europe underwent a silent revolution, which led it from being a continent where guns were in daily use to becoming a place where weapons in civilians’ hands became associated with violence and crime.

Historical Context

This led to the progressive establishment of gun control measures and to the cultural deglamorization and depoliticization of guns as a cornerstone of public order, social peace and, more generally, the smooth running of political systems. The overall goal of the project is to study the root causes of this shift and its impact on European history.

Methodological Approach

The project provides a wide-ranging examination of the gun question. It adopts an integrated methodological approach that encompasses:

1. Legislative measures
2. Cultural representations
3. Gun-related practices

This is framed within a broad, comparative and transnational diachronic framework involving select countries in Western Europe (France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Sweden).

Focus of the Research

Heuristically, the project does not equate the possession and use of guns with political violence and warfare; instead, it focuses on lawful gun ownership and use. This constitutes a privileged point of view and a fundamental benchmark to fully grasp the impact and cultural roots of political violence.

Project Ambition

The project has the ambition to write the first political, social and cultural history of the gun question in Europe. It will not only fill a major gap in the current literature, but also newly address the relationship between processes of enlargement of states’ competences, the control of violence, and the rights of individuals. This ultimately lies at the core of the making of modern and contemporary Europe and the nature of European citizenship.