Law Schools

What’s A Gunner?

Are you annoying AF? Congrats! You might be a gunner.

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This column answers a question that has been plaguing law students for ages.  You’ve heard the term.  Heck, you may have even used it.  But do we really know what we mean when we say someone is a “gunner”?

It turns out the answer depends on the context.  This post breaks down what it means to be a gunner in a variety of different contexts.  So, if you’re called a gunner, it might mean one of the following:

    1. The grade curve gunner. You’re someone who will, due to mandatory grade curves, cause others to get a lower grade because you will get the higher one.  As an example, I’ve been told people don’t want to take one of my courses because it is typically full of gunners.  That means that there is substantial risk to one’s GPA in taking the course.  Against stereotype, this type of gunner doesn’t necessarily speak in class very often.
    2. The annoying AF gunner. You’re annoying AF (to fellow students).   As an example, check out Elie Mystal’s blog post about gunners from 2016.  You sit in the front of the class, hand up all the time, asking questions and throwing hypotheticals at the professor.  You treat the class like it’s office hours, and you’ll be damned if the professor can move on with the material.  You’ll shout out answers before the person on call can answer.  To the professor, you might appear to be an eager and energetic student, depending on how you go about it.  To your peers, you’re annoying AF.  You can tell if this is you by the number of sighs, eye rolls, and colleagues who check out when you raise your hand.  This is also the urban dictionary definition of gunner.  Some have claimed this type of gunner isn’t really even a gunner.  However, I did encounter a strong defense of this type of gunner, so I’ll include it within the category.
    3. The reluctant gunner. You’re someone willing to take the hit when no one else has read.   Gunner here means someone who is always prepared for class.  They are engaged.  If the person on call doesn’t know the answer, the reluctant gunner waits a polite yet reasonable amount of time to raise their hand to answer.  Everyone likes the reluctant gunner.  They are a safety valve for the class.
    4. The professor-designated gunner. Oftentimes, professors have singled out students who, in their opinion, give good answers to questions and can be relied upon to engage.   Don’t hate on these students.  They provide valuable service to the class and to the professor by assuring the ball keeps rolling.
    5. The petulant child. Not a category of gunner, but someone who is often mistaken for one.  Activities include demonstrating contempt for the professor and all of one’s colleagues.  Above the Law posted one example of this type of gunner.   I have my own stories.  I remember one student telling me that I grade like an [expletive deleted], just as a personal example of such audacity (one that caused me to threaten a letter to the Bar about character and fitness if he did not leave my office).  Another student slept in many of my classes, and, when I called him out, he showed me his straight As.  I pointed out the fallacy of empiricism to him in that past isn’t necessarily prologue.  Another student told me we didn’t need to cover the readings, because everyone in class could read.  After about 40 questions, it was clear that reading meant different things to him than it did to me.  This type of person isn’t a gunner.  This person is attempting to engage in some alpha (typically male) battle with the prof. The petulant child acts even worse towards their own classmates.  As I posted once in my graduation speech:  There are people out there that have refused to share class notes, even with the person whose mother was dying of cancer and whose dog was also run over by a car.  There are people who have started vicious rumors about others.  There are people who have bragged openly about your job offers, GPAs, clerkships, and other achievements.  There are people out there who call their colleagues names, claim they are stupid, etc.  This person isn’t a gunner.  The word you’re looking for is something quite different and usually accompanied with the word “insecure.”
    6. The ideal gunner. This person is intellectually curious, continually thinking about the course, lecture, and materials.  This person reads cases more than once, takes copious notes and, every week, works on their course outline.   They visit during office hours to ask selective questions about things missed in lecture.  They often spend time working through practice problems to assure they have mastered concepts.  They are humble in knowing that the more they learn, the more there is to learn.

The ideal gunner should be the aspirational goal of all gunner types.

LawProfBlawg is an anonymous professor at a top 100 law school. You can see more of his musings here.  He is way funnier on social media, he claims.  Please follow him on Twitter (@lawprofblawg) or Facebook. Email him at [email protected].

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