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Armed: New Perspectives on Gun Control | 
 enlarge | Authors: Gary Kleck, Don B. Kates
Publisher: Prometheus Books
List Price: $30.98
Buy New: $23.54
You Save: $7.44 (24%)
New (20) Used (16) from $8.88
Rating:  11 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 363
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 6.2 x 1
ISBN: 1573928836
Dewey Decimal Number: 363.330973
EAN: 9781573928830
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Product Description
In a nation where nearly one-half of all households have firearms, the gun control issue has never been more relevant. While some Americans support controls aimed at disarming only criminals and the irresponsible, others oppose any controls at all, seeing them as steps toward the confiscation of all firearms. Intelligent public debate on what types of controls, if any, are feasible requires some understanding of the results of the best research on guns and violence. In this thought-provoking study of the issue, researchers Gary Kleck and Don B. Kates closely examine the arguments used by advocates and opponents of gun control, identify crucial factual assumptions behind the arguments, and systematically address these assumptions using evidence from the best research available on the subject. Among the topics addressed are media bias in coverage of gun issues, prohibitionist measures for reducing gun violence, the frequency and effectiveness of the defensive use of guns, and a close analysis of the Second Amendment. Easily understood by both specialists and laypersons, this engaging work will help the reader grasp the many facets of this complex issue.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Read how much we are misled August 26, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It was shocking to find out how much we are misled on gun control issues. This book contains a lot of very thorough analysis of misleading gun control propaganda. I would have dropped one star because the text is very tense and dry and requires a lot of concentration to read, but the issues are too important to let that be an obstacle.
Scholarly Research on Gun Control March 26, 2005
20 out of 21 found this review helpful
Kleck is a professor at Florida State University, Kates is a partner of a national law firm. The 'Introduction' says they want to present the findings from scholarly journals to contradict the propaganda in the corporate media (p.14). Concealed handgun carry resulted in a reduction of violent crimes (p.17). This fact is censored from the corporate media, even though thousands of lives could be saved. The corporate media portrays gun owners as subhumans, but exempts the Rockefellers, the DuPonts, and the publisher of the 'New York Times' (p.18). This is just bigotry. The availability of guns does not cause murders; murderers mostly have criminal records (p.21). Most murders are drug-related. Gun Prohibition only disarms honest people, just as locks only bar honest people. Historians and scholars say the Second Amendment is an individual right, and this was well recognized prior to World War II.
Chapter 2 tells of the propaganda campaign that uses various medical groups as pawns. Their studies ignore any facts that don't agree with their desired conclusion (p.33). These Gun Prohibitionists assert falsehoods, fabricate statistics, and falsify references, to forge evidence for their views (p.34). Page 38 gives examples where Dr. Tanay and Kr. Kellermann quote references which disprove their opinions! Such articles show intellectual confusion, ignorance of facts, omission of facts, and emotions that suggest a need for therapy (p.39). Freud said fear and loathing of guns is a sign of sexual immaturity and neuroticism (p.38). A neurosis is a mental disorder characterized by anxieties, compulsions, obsessions, or phobias. The criminological evidence refutes the claims of the medical advocates (p.51). The dishonesty of the "health advocates" on gun control is shown by their disregard of falling accidental gun deaths while the numbers of guns owned were rising (p.57). Are they using the idea of dying children just for its emotional impact (p.58)? The Gun Prohibitionists suppress facts, and falsify data and statistics, in order to prove their case (p.63). The CDC admitted to assuming a conclusion then creating evidence to prove it (p.69). This chapter documents the emotional anti-gun agenda in some medical and public health literature. They generally ignore the large amount of sociological and criminological research (p.83). Violence could be reduced when poverty is reduced.
Chapter 3 explains why "gun control" proposals are aimed to prohibit the right to own firearms. Gun prohibitionists can't be trusted. Freud said the fear and loathing of firearms was sexual hysterics (p.109). Their strident advocacy of gun prohibition reflects their neuroses. Their emotional diatribes are the reason for their failures.
Chapter 5 discusses distortion of gun issues in the mass media which provides most information to people. This information is shaped or biased to provide a conclusion by excluding certain information. This results from the policies of the "owners of media corporations" (p.174). But most consumers can recognize these slants. Page 192 tells how CBS' "48 Hours" faked a story. The evidence of news media bias for "gun control" is that gun control advocates never complain about the play (p.203)! No national news corporations are against "gun control" (p.204). Media manipulation of information in general has been documented in books (p.205). This message is widespread and one-sided (pp.206-7). This results in a poorly informed public.
Chapters 6 & 7 reference other articles that are not included in this book. They are not for the average reader. Chapter 8 explains why the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights refers to a right to personal self-protection (p.343). The need for an armed citizenry was explained by Aristotle, Machiavelli, Locke, Montesquieu, and Blackstone. Self-defense is the most basic of rights (p.345). The general possession of arms is a positive social good (p.348). Blackstone said the subjects of England had the right to petition for redress of grievances, and, lastly, the right to have and use arms for self-preservation and defense (p.349). Possessing arms is a sign of a free citizen. A republic needs armed property-owner, said Machiavelli (p.350). Despots disarm people to render them helpless, and morally degraded (p.351). No twentieth-century military can suppress an armed popular national insurgency.
My New Bible November 18, 2002
27 out of 30 found this review helpful
I'm a gun owner and a gun rights advocate. I'm very fair-minded, consequently I've always wondered if my interest in gun ownership led me to be biased against gun control advocacy (i.e. "I like 'em, they don't. Therefore, they must be wrong."). Now that I've read "Armed" I no longer have any doubts that I've made the right choice on this topic. I found myself getting very angry with the medical society and the media while reading this book. This is the fifth and best book on this topic I've read. I only wish that everyone in a position of power, from government to the media, would read it. If you buy it and read it, maybe they will!
And the truth shall set you free September 13, 2002
23 out of 28 found this review helpful
I would recommend this book to anyone who is willing to question their beliefs, anyone who cares about our society, and anyone who believes in the importance of empirical study over irrational dogma.I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see...
Good consolidation work June 18, 2002
32 out of 35 found this review helpful
I can understand how the reader from Philadelphia can be frustrated with repeated arguments. If you are well read on the subject of firearms and its (non)relation to crime, you will not read much that is new in this volume. That being said, I think this book offers a great consolidation of arguments and discussions made in several other works. If I could only pick one book that I had to give someone to try to convince them of the many fallacies spread around the media and "scholarly" research papers, I would pick this book. Here you will find the legal and constitutional arguments. Here you will find the statistical discussions of anti-gun "scholarship." There are discussions about the motives and practices of the anti-gun crowd, the anti-control crowd, and the middle ground. You will find refutations for the vast majority of anti-gun arguments and the documentation to back it up and/or do the research for yourself. If you can only afford one book on gun control. Get this one.
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