The Gun Control Debate

At the end of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, highly publicised 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-defence 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.