Then there is the counternarrative I trace in this book. Here, a narrower American identity builds walls, erects castle doctrines, and stands its ground. It blocks social programs out of concerns that minorities and immigrants use more than their fair share of resources. It rails against threats to “core values,” as NRA executive vice president and CEO Wayne LaPierre put it several years ago, and buys guns to protect itself from “home invaders and drug cartels and carjackers and knockout gamers.”
