Synopses & Reviews
No topic is more polarizing than guns and gun control. From a gun culture that took root early in American history to the mass shootings that repeatedly bring the public discussion of gun control to a fever pitch, the topic has preoccupied citizens, public officials, and special interest groups for decades.
The Gun Debate: What Everyone Needs to Know® delves into the issues that Americans debate when they talk about guns. With a balanced and broad-ranging approach, noted economist Philip J. Cook and political scientist Kristin A. Goss thoroughly cover the latest research, data, and developments on gun ownership, gun violence, the firearms industry, and the regulation of firearms. The authors also tackle sensitive issues such as the effectiveness of gun control, the connection between mental illness and violent crime, the question of whether more guns make us safer, and ways that video games and the media might contribute to gun violence. No discussion of guns in the U.S. would be complete without consideration of the history, culture, and politics that drive the passion behind the debate. Cook and Goss deftly explore the origins of the American gun culture and the makeup of both the gun rights and gun control movements.
Written in question-and-answer format, the book will help readers make sense of the ideologically driven statistics and slogans that characterize our national conversation on firearms. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in getting a clear view of the issues surrounding guns and gun policy in America.
What Everyone Needs to Know® is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press.
Review
"...the authors are without doubt two of the best-informed and serious gun scholars publishing today ... they have written a very balanced and well-documented essay that objectively summarizes the state of the gun argument on both sides of the debate." -Mike the Gun Guy
"The Gun Debate is written in an admirably neutral tone. Summarizing results from hundreds of studies, the book makes a hugely positive contribution toward sensitive and sensible evidence-based evaluation of what has worked, and what hasn't, in gun control - and why. The language is straightforward English, not econ-speak or reams of tables and statistics. There is something for everyone to take away from this book." --Stone Garden Economics
Synopsis
Guns in America: What Everyone Needs to Know takes readers on a tour of the issues that Americans debate when they talk about guns. The volume includes information on gun control pertaining to U.S. history, jurisprudence, cultural beliefs, political agendas, epidemiologcal data, criminology, law and regulation, and policy effectiveness.
Synopsis
Even before the recent Newtown, CT massacre, gun violence and gun control has preoccupied public officals and legislators at all levels of government as well as powerful special interest groups for years.
Guns in America: What Everyone Needs to Know tours the issues that Americans debate when they talk about guns. The volume includes information on gun control pertaining to U.S. history, jurisprudence, cultural beliefs, political agendas, epidemiologcal data, criminology, law and regulation, and policy effectivness. Throughout, economist Philip J. Cook and political scientist Kristin Goss illustrate for readers which questions and issues are contentious and on which there is something approaching consensus. They answer basic questions like: Where do people acquire guns? Is gun violence rising or falling? Who is at risk for being shot? How much does gun violence cost? And tackle tougher ones such as: Do video games and the media contribute to gun violence? Why is the gun control movement relatively weak? Is it better to enforce the laws we have or enact new ones?
The answers to these questions will help the general reader to make sense of the volley of ideologically driven statistics and slogans that characterize our national conversation on firearms. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in getting a clear view of the highly polarizing topic of gun control.
About the Author
Philip J. Cook is ITT/Terry Sanford Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics and Sociology at Duke University. He is the author of
Paying the Tab: The Costs and Benefits of Alcohol Control (Princeton University Press, 2007); co-author (with Jens Ludwig) of
Gun Violence: The Real Costs (Oxford University Press, 2000); co-author (with Charles T. Clotfelter) of
Selling Hope: State Lotteries in America (Harvard University Press, 1989); and co-author (with Robert H. Frank) of
The Winner-Take-All Society (The Free Press, 1995).
Kristin A. Goss is Associate Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at Duke University. She is the author of Disarmed: The Missing Movement for Gun Control in America (Princeton University Press, 2006) and The Paradox of Gender Equality: How American Women's Groups Gained and Lost Their Public Voice (University of Michigan Press, 2012).
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. America and Its Guns
2. Reasons for Owning a Firearm
3. The Value of Guns for Safety and Protection
4. The Costs of Gun Violence
5. Causes of Gun Violence
6. Manufacture and Marketing of Guns
7. How America Regulates Firearms
8. Effectiveness of Firearms Policy
9. Guns and Gun Control in History
10. Public Opinion and Political Party Positions on Guns
11. The Gun Rights Movement
12. The Gun Control Movement
13. Gun Policy Going Forward
Bibliography
Index