ARMED: New Perspectives on Gun Control

Kleck, a professor of criminology at Florida State, and Kates, a lawyer, fire a lot of ammunition in this screed against gun control. They argue that, contrary to popular belief, gun control will not reduce violence. They make a provocative case, supporting with scholarship and statistics many of the traditional claims of gun owners and the National Rifle Association. They offer evidence, for instance, that accidents involving guns are few and that guns defend people against violent crime. Unfortunately, the authors' hyperbolic rhetoric undermines their case. In one chapter, they dissect the methods of the gun control movement and conclude, perhaps with some reason, that the limited gun control measures currently being sought are part of a strategy toward banning all handguns. But this position is derided as the result of the "absolutist" and "prohibitionist" views of "anti-gun zealots." The authors argue that this zealotry has pushed the NRA into opposing even moderate gun controls, such as licensing and registration, for fear of eventually losing their right to own guns. Their attack on the "liberal media bias" may convince some readers, but the authors take it to a ridiculous extreme: the media's depiction of gun owners is a "bigoted stereotype that would be recognized and denounced as such if directed against gays, Jews, African-Americans or virtually any group other than gun owners." This volume will only fan the familiar flames of a longstanding ideological division. (July)