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This study aims to present a history and critical analysis of arms and armor collecting in America from the late 19th century until the present day.

The research draws from the literature on arms and armor, from primary written, visual and material evidence, and from the author’s long experience as an antique gun and sword collector.

American arms and armor collectors have included men of great wealth, museums and their curators and many enthusiasts of more modest means. Collectors, dealers and curators have created a substantial arms literature. Collectors have organized around various types of artifacts, historical periods and company brands. Dealers, auction houses and manufacturers have provisioned the market with period pieces and reproductions.

The history of antique arms and armor collecting is regarded as a social activity where enthusiasts have pursued “serious leisure” through consumption and brand communities. This history is further analyzed as a cultural practice wherein generations of collectors have interpreted the meaning of antique arms and armor.

This paper aims to present an autobiographical account on the life of Terrence H. Witkowski and his development as a marketing and consumption historian.

This paper is an autobiography and intellectual history.

The author traces his interest in history to childhood travel, to growing up in a home furnished with early American décor and to a lifelong passion for antique collecting. Historical research in marketing and consumption fit his independent personality, and has made the best use of his scholarly skill set.

This essay describes one person’s journey to becoming a marketing and consumption historian.

There is agreement in the literature that offenders often acquire guns through unregulated private encounters with friends, family members and petty criminals. Although anecdotes suggest that licensed gun dealers also play a role, most studies have ignored or discounted the possibility that dishonest retailers are a significant source of supply. This effort explores gun markets in Los Angeles by examining the redistributive history of firearms seized by police and by reviewing Federal gun trafficking investigations. One finding, that corrupt licensed dealers diverted sizeable quantities of guns to end users and to unlicensed street vendors, suggests that retail sources may serve as a far more important source of firearms for criminals than is commonly supposed.

Purpose – To explain the unswerving loyalty given to Charles Manson by his followers from a religious perspective by drawing on Durkheim’s (1912/1976) theory of religion and Hall’s (2003, 2013) theory of religion and violence.

Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative analysis of archived multimedia either quoting, or written by, members of the Manson Family. Specifically, a theoretical thematic analysis is used to draw inferences on how members explained their participation in the 1969 murders.

Findings – The Manson Family display a unified belief system premised on the sacredness ascribed to Helter Skelter, forming a moral community at Spahn Ranch. Manson was conceived as the clan’s God, thereby meeting most of Durkheim’s requirements for a religious formation. A main component of their belief system was the inevitability of Helter Skelter, or the upcoming racial revolution; the ultimate war and end of the world. This belief provides one explanation for the Manson murders; that they were carried out as a religious duty to initiate Helter Skelter.

Originality/value – Despite the continued public fascination with the Manson murders, only a few studies have applied a sociotheoretical framework to explain this event and none have used a religious account from the perspective of those involved. By introducing religion as one plausible framework, this research is not only an extension of Durkheim’s work but also contributes to existing literature on the relationship between religion and violence.

Purpose – Presents metrics and policy recommendations from the Dallas Domestic Violence Task Force (DDVTF) concerning the systemic response to domestic violence (DV) within this community.

Design/methodology/approach – In June 2017, 47 private citizens, nonprofit, criminal justice, social service and religious organizations, and governmental officials who participated on the task force were invited via email to participate in an electronic Qualtrics survey.

Findings – Both general annual metrics are offered as well as detailed monthly metrics and long-term trends for shelter and advocacy providers, police, the district and city attorney’s offices, and courts. In 2016–2017 alone, roughly 15,000 people were educated on DV, 246 victims were sheltered in emergency beds each night on average, roughly 8,000 victims were turned away due to lack of space, over 15,500 DV-related calls were handled by police, 11,000 county criminal cases were filed, and 7 intimate partner homicides occurred within the city of Dallas. Policy recommendations are offered.

Originality/value – The DDVTF annual report is one of the largest and most comprehensive reports of its kind in the United States, with over 3,000 variables collected across the partners. Now in its third reporting year, this chapter offers an overview of key findings and policy recommendations and highlights the work of this coordinated community response team.

Powder coating in the car industry. “The future for powder coatings in the car industry is bright”, Chrysler Corporation's Ernie McLaughlin said in the keynote address at the recent Powder Coating '94 in Cincinnati.

Creating a new business often ends in failure arguably the more knowledge of the start-up process an entrepreneur has the more successful the outcome. Whilst business simulations have been researched, the role of virtual worlds in aiding nascent entrepreneurs in gaining important experiential learning is lacking. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This qualitative research involved six months observational data, with nine in-depth semistructured interviews with the small business owners based in the virtual world Second Life.

The findings highlight important similarities between “real world” and “virtual world” businesses. The nascent entrepreneurs reported a sense of running the business as any other business. The level of risk, in terms of capital, for setting up a virtual business is far less than the real world. However, risks are still associated with a virtual business with entrepreneurs investing time to run the business.

The findings of this study provide important insight into how prior knowledge can be gained through participating in “real” business activities, other than business simulations. Virtual worlds provide can play an important role in aiding nascent entrepreneurs to gain important prior knowledge of the start-up process, that the authors can anticipate will aid the entrepreneur in further ventures.

NOTWITHSTANDING the fact that there exists a considerable amount of literature published in various forms on the subject of brittle lacquers and their applications to a multitude of diverse problems a brief resume of some of the general principles involved would seem not to be out of place.