A New Breed of "Gun Violence" Researchers has emerged

... according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.  "Academics who study gun violence and gun policy occupy an unusual position in public discourse. Few other topics provoke such extreme responses from advocates on both sides of the conversation. That takes getting used to."

Nowhere is that debate more visible and visceral than in the Lone Star State, where the new concealed-carry law is taking effect just as students are returning to their campuses.  Faculty at public universities, which are mandated to permit students to come into classrooms armed, are thinking long and hard about the potential consequences of this reality.  Antagonizing students for the sake of stimulating the clash of ideas may be imprudent, when that clash could become a cross fire.

What "concealed carry" can mean is well illustrated in the new Jeff Bridges movie, which I saw over the weekend.  In "Hell or High Water," Bridges is a Texas Ranger pursuing Chris Pine, a neophyte bank robber and his heavily armed, ex-con brother.  When Pine and his bro enter one of the busier banks around the lunch hour, customers go for their concealed weapons.  The shoot out moves from inside the lobby onto the highway, where armed citizens take out after the brothers in their SUVs and Jeeps.

A good thing or a bad one?  Go see the film and judge for yourselves.  It happens to be one of Bridges's best acting jobs ever in my humble opinion.  The story is a tad slow but very well written.  The characters are three dimensional and sympathetic.  And the climax is potent, if also tentative.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2582782/