The Gun Control Debate : You Decide (Contemporary Issues) | 
 enlarge | Creator: Lee Nisbet
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Category: Book
List Price: $24.98
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Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 690958
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 580
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 1.3
ISBN: 1573928615
Dewey Decimal Number: 363.330973
EAN: 9781573928618
ASIN: 1573928615
Publication Date: May 2001
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Product Description
At the end of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, highly publicized gun massacres, especially in schools, have maintained "gun control" as a hotly contested, peculiarly American, political and cultural debate. Featuring selections from historians, criminologists, social scientists, public health specialists, and jurists, Dr. Nisbet offers an in-depth analysis of the central questions involved in America's debate concerning the further restriction or even prohibition of presently legally owned guns. Providing a set of critical-thinking questions that focus on key issues in the gun control debate, Nisbet helps readers to evaluate gun control issues more deeply and thoroughly than is possible using the popular media's portrayal of the controversy. Among the questions addressed are: Does the availability of guns influence levels, patterns, and concentrations of violent crime? If so, how, and with what policy implications? Does more guns equal more or less crime? Do guns kept for self-defense menace gun owners and their families more than protect them? Is mass media coverage of gun control issues biased? If so, how, and in what direction? How should we interpret the Second Amendment? Does the gun debate reflect an underlying cultural conflict between groups who detest each other's values and lifestyles? Containing twenty-nine new articles and an entirely new section on the media entitled "The Gun Control Debate in the Age of (Mis)information," this new edition provides the most up-to-date research on a hotly contested topic. The contributors include: B. Bruce-Briggs, Phillip J. Cook, Barry Glassner, Gordon Hawkins, Richard Hofstadter, Don B. Kates Jr., Gary Kleck, David Kopel, John Lott, Joyce Malcolm, Garry Wills, Franklin E. Zimring, and many more. No matter what side of the debate you're on, this outstanding collection of articles will help you understand the complexities of this intensely controversial issue.
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 Articles on the Controversy July 13, 2002
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
This book contains various articles that deal with the natural right to keep and bear arms, for and against. You can read this book to educate yourself on opposing viewpoints. They date from the 1970s and 1980s, but their arguments are still valid. Since then 33 of the 48 states have passed "right to carry" laws. South Dakota and Vermont have virtually no gun controls; you can compare their crime and violence to areas with strict gun controls. But owner-operated small businesses overwhelmingly predominate: no powerful corporations to restrict the rights of the people.
Gun control goes back thousands of years: the aristocracy has always sought to disarm the common people the better to exploit them. Aristotle's Politics explains how democracy came to Greece once the common people were armed. Nineteenth century America was well armed. The Sullivan Law meant a citizen must prove a "reasonable need" to own and carry a handgun; the ordinary citizen is always rejected (unless they know somebody). The law disarmed the people, and was followed by increased crime and violence. Organized crime became more powerful after the people were disarmed. An armed militia of citizens could quickly put an end to them.
Low violence rates in Europe preceded their gun laws. After gun laws were passed in America crime rates grew. Recent reports say crime rates skyrocketed after Gt. Britain confiscated all guns. When will they ever learn?
Chapter 13 is from the 'New England Journal of Medicine' of June 12, 1986 by Arthur L. Kellermann and Donald T. Reay. No information is given on their backgrounds. From other sources you will learn that Kellermann was at John Hopkins University when he wrote this article, and later left to go to Emory University.
The medical examiner of Kings County WA investigated 743 deaths from firearms. The results were 84% suicides, 13% homicides, and 3% accidents. From the percentages of victims (family, friends, and strangers) Kellermann concocted his statistic of a gun being 43 times more likely to kill a family member than an intruder. This statistic was heavily publicized in the press. There are five things wrong with this article.
1) It did not report on deaths in homes without any gun as a control. This is not scientific! Reports from other sources say a family member is 99 times more likely to be killed in a gun-free home than an intruder. Kellermann's statistics are flawed by design.
2) The suicide rate is lower and the murder rate is higher in America; suicide rates are higher and the murder rate is lower in countries that ban private ownership of guns (see Chapter 13). The total of suicides and murders is the rate of violent deaths; this provides a comparison. Most suicides occur in the home, so much so that the phrase "died at home" is a euphemism in obituary columns. A death in the home is much more likely for a family member than a stranger. America's high rate of gun ownership prevents home invasion crimes common to England and Europe.
3) Most assaults and murders occur between people who are known to each other. This makes homes potentially more dangerous that streets or shopping malls. The exception is for illegal activities; just read your daily newspaper. Children are always much safer in school than at home or in their neighborhood.
4) Another truth is that medical journals require payment to publish articles. It is another form of advertising or opinion molding. What millionaire's "foundation grant" was paying Kellermann to create his biased report?
5) Nothing in life is guaranteed, neither safety or liberty. Chapter 13 provides a comparison for violent deaths, but omits statistics for South American countries which have a similar colonial history. Isn't it true that countries that ban citizens from owning guns also oppress their citizens in other ways? You can look that up in a history book, or your newspaper.
 Essential essays on both sides of the gun control debate April 17, 2001
18 out of 22 found this review helpful
Although already a bit dated (this book was published in 1990), this collection of essays contains many of the classics in the gun control debate including Sanford Levinson's classic "The Embarrassing Second Amendment" as well as the infamous "43-to-1" study by Arthur Kellerman. Of interest is the manner in which essays were collected for this volume. Nisbet contacted the two major lobbying organizations, HCI and NRA, and asked them to recommend articles and essays that best put forth their respective positions. Using that as a base, Nisbet narrowed the selection down based on his own research, reading and conversation with the experts. The resulting collection is telling. If the best that the gun control advocates could muster is the ingeniously specious 43-to-1 study, then they've lost the debate. It's also interesting to note that almost none of the pro-control articles were published in criminological or law journals but instead were published in pro-control public health journals like NEJM or JAMA. The pro-gun side fairs much better. There are many excellent essays by such notables as Gary Kleck and Don Kates, Jr. Kleck, Kates and others skillfully dissect the poor arguments of the pro-control authors. No matter what your position is on gun control, this book is a must-have for your collection if you are going to try and debate this issue intelligently.
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