David Yamane

David Yamane is a sociology professor at Wake Forest University. He is an internationally recognized scholarly authority on guns in America and a calming voice in our divisive national argument on the issue. An Asian American and lifelong liberal from the San Francisco Bay Area, Yamane became a first-time gun owner as a 42-year-old and began a 12-year journey into the complex world of firearms in America. Having one foot outside and one inside gun culture allows him to speak with compassion across our paralyzing differences.

Committed to informing public debate and enriching everyday conversations about guns, Professor Yamane shares his thoughts on his Gun Culture 2.0 blog and Twitter (davidyamane). In 2022, he launched a YouTube channel, “Light Over Heat with Professor David Yamane” on which he posts weekly short videos about issues related to his scholarship.

David was raised in Half Moon Bay, California, educated at the University of California at Berkeley (B.A. '91) and University of Wisconsin at Madison (M.S. '94, Ph.D. '98), and has taught sociology at the University of Notre Dame (1998-2004) and Wake Forest University (since 2005).