["Social Science Quarterly, EarlyView. ", "\nAbstract\n\nObjective\nThis article reviews the extant literature on southern politics and gun/firearm ownership in the South as a precursor to three symposium papers.\n\n\nMethods\nWe employ standard literature review techniques to synthesize two significant bodies of literature. The latter part of the article introduces the three papers in the symposium.\n\n\nResults\nWe find that the papers in this symposium share two common themes: continued southern distinctiveness, and the importance of the role of race in southern politics and policy‐making.\n\n\nConclusion\nWe find support for a hypothesis that the South remains distinctive as a region in the policy arena of gun ownership/firearm policy.\n\n"]