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Title: Gun Control (Opposing Viewpoints) by Helen Cothran ISBN: 0-7377-0747-X Publisher: Greenhaven Press Pub. Date: 01 July, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $33.70 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (4 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Understanding Your Viewpoint
Comment: This book contains 24 opposed viewpoints grouped into four main topics on this subject. Chapter 3 asks if gun ownership is an effective means of self-defense. Viewpoint 1 says guns are effective for self-defense. Most news stories in the corporate media depict violent crime committed with guns, rarely the defensive use of guns. The author suggests this defensive use is largely unreported. If it prevents a crime, there is no report. And if the gun is not legally licensed, it will not be reported. (Every so often the NY city news reports where a crime was stopped because of action by a citizen; but the citizen was arrested because the gun wasn't licensed!) The absence of guns results in more "hot burglaries", where robbery occurs when the residents are home (p.90). The high rate of gun ownership makes all homes safer. Viewpoint 2 claims guns are not effective for self defense because people can't arm themselves quickly (trigger locks?), or are not trained to shoot accurately (p.95). Most people are shot with handguns, not assault weapons; most people are not shot at work or school, but on a street corner or parking lot (drugs?), or the victim's home (pp.96-96).
Viewpoint 3 says defensive gun use is common. It's better to have a gun and not need it than to need one and not have it. The corporate media considers foiled crimes as unnewsworthy (p.100). Most reported self-defense cases occur in the states that allow citizens to carry concealed weapons. The number of these can only be estimated, so controversy results (p.103). Gun prohibitionists want a small number to support their claims. While resisting an attack is risky, it is safer than not resisting. Viewpoint 4 claims defensive gun use is not common, and is more dangerous. No proof is given, except the discredited Kellermann article ("43 times more"). Kellermann's statistics came from homes where a violent death occurred from a gun. The cases of homes where a violent death occurred without a gun were not studied; there 99 times more residents were killed than intruders. While there are many times more guns than swimming pools, more children die from drowning than are accidentally shot. The number of defensive gun uses are not known, only estimates that reflect political biases (D. Hemenway, p.110). The author does not approve of the sale of defensive handguns, but doesn't think to ask what drives the demand. Hint: it isn't advertising in the corporate media.
Viewpoint 5 says concealed weapons makes a safer society. States that allow this experience fewer violent crimes, and no increase in accidental deaths. Over 60% of the states allow concealed weapons. The authors answer five objections to this with facts. A handgun allows self-defense. Concealed handguns reduce crime (Vermont p.114). There was no increase in impulse killings. Training is required before a permit is issued. Concealed carrying does not increase gun accidents. Viewpoint 6 does NOT have a real person as the author! They claim that concealed weapons do not make society safer. On page 119 they talk about "11 states" will liberal CCW laws, on page 120 they say "29 states"; are they picking states to get at the results wanted? Their statistics seem to say that strict CCW laws do not eliminate violent crime! And that liberal CCW laws do not increase crime. Fluctuations in crime rates can be due to many factors (p.121). Increases in the crime rates were followed by liberal CCW laws in some states, and they they declined. 'Post hoc ergo propter hoc' applies to the thinking on either side of this issue. The increased crime rates in Great Britain after gun confiscation should tell you that "Handgun Control Incorporated" is plainly wrong!
Rating: 4
Summary: Gun Control: Exercise in Futility?
Comment: This book contains two dozen opposing viewpoints on the subject of "gun control". Chapter 4 asks "what measures would reduce gun violence?" and provides eight answers. Reading opposing views will educate you, but you should browse some of the books in your library for more depth.
Viewpoint 1 claims "gun control" will reduce lethal crime. The writer says criminal assaults and robberies are not higher in the United States than other developed countries, but the murder rate is much higher. (Actually, the rate of violent deaths in America is lower than in many European countries, and Japan.) Louisiana's murder rate is 20 times the rate of Vermont (which has little gun control). Cities have more murders than rural areas (with guns?). Page 130 mentions that none of the theories can explain this! But the writer claims that eliminating handguns would lower the number of homicides! Viewpoint 2 says gun control will not reduce violent crime; it is a failure in other countries. Japan's abolition of private gun ownership resulted in an increase of gun violence (p.132). This also happened in Australia and Great Britain (p.133). But in America violent crime continues to fall as the number of states with "shall issue" laws increase.
Viewpoint 3 claims gun control will reduce school violence, because guns were used in the 1999 Columbine massacre. Yet prior to the 1968 Gun Control Act, most schools had rifle teams, guns were more handy, and no massacre ever happened! There were no monstrous high schools, MTV, video games, working mothers, and, less oppression of students. Viewpoint 4 says gun control will not reduce school violence, because firearms are obtained illegally. In spite of the corporate media attention, school violence is declining, and students are still safest in school (p.141). The Columbine killers illegally obtained their legally bought guns. Proposals made after this crime were flawed. Most gun violence is intentional, not accidental. Besides, the 1968 Gun Control Act was supposed to cure this! There are flaws in the criminal justice system (p.145). More people are deterred from crime by social standards, not laws (p.146). He suggests prevention programs need more funding (p.147). But there's big money in prison constructions and operation, and payoff to politicians that suggest early intervention programs will be skimped.
Viewpoint 5 claims gun manufacturers should be held responsible for gun violence. But manufacturers of automobiles, baseball bats, knives, etc. are NOT responsible for their misuse! The CPHV tries to use the tort system to prosecute gun manufacturers for misuse of their products. Isn't this barratry? The truth is that CPHV is using civil torts in an attempt to get guns outlawed since they can't accomplish this through legislation. This article has many half-truths and one-sided claims. It could be used as an example of sophisticated special pleading (p.149-153). Viewpoint 6 says gun manufacturers should not be held responsible for gun violence since it allows courts to make laws that should be enacted by legislatures. Product liability law says manufacturers are not responsible for criminal or negligent misuse of non-defective products (p.157). Viewpoint 7 claims gun safety standards should be mandatory, and suggests some solutions. He also tells of the problem with each. None will prevent human error. Viewpoint 8 says gun safety standards should not mandatory. There are risks in gun ownership as there are with flying or traveling in general. While 392 children were killed in gun accidents, 590 died from medicine poisoning (childproof caps?), 1063 from burns, 1247 from drownings, and 5503 from cars (p.175). And 200 from falls.
Rating: 4
Summary: Short Course of Opposing Viewpoints
Comment: This book has four main topics, with two dozen opposing viewpoints. These were chosen for balance, and edited to fit 192 pages. It has a list of organizations that may be contacted, but not the number of their memberships (tells how broad based they are). It lists 25 books on this topic, but does not summarize them. You should know that Bellesiles' book was discredited as an historical work, and W. Weir's book is better than the others. Chapter 1 asks if private gun ownership poses a serious threat to society. It doesn't define "serious threat", or tell that every gun is "owned" by its user.
Viewpoint 1 does not list a real person as the author. It claims that a weapon is dangerous (!) and must be "regulated". It is an attempt to infringe on the right to keep and bear arms. It admits the murder rate increased after the 1968 Gun Control Act even when no firearm was used (p.20)! Most gun deaths result from suicide, not murder (p.22). Viewpoint 2 correctly points out that gun ownership has increased faster than the homicide rate (p.27), so it is simple minded to claim the former caused the latter (pp. 26-27). Homicide rates fluctuate, and have tended to decline (p.28).
Viewpoint 3 uses rhetoric about an idyllic youth in East Orange NJ (before the Gun Control Act), but cites not facts in support. Page 32 suggests a biased outlook in the data collection by part of the CDC, and that some part of the AMA has a political agenda against handguns. What means will they use to reach their desired end? Viewpoint 4 says the medical and public-health establishment produced research that was biased, riddled with errors, and unreliable (p.39). Page 40 gives one example of bias in the 'New England Journal of Medicine': censorship of the report that the homicide rate went up 25% in Vancouver since the 1977 Canadian law banning handguns! Page 43 tells of the flawed methodology used by A. Kellermann (the "43 times fallacy"). Kellermann's article did not use deaths in non-gun homes as a control; in the cases of a non-gun home you are 99 times more likely to kill a family member than an intruder. (Most deaths in the home are suicides.) Between 25 and 75 lives are saved by a gun for every life lost by a gun (p.44). Guns prevent harm to people, and protect property every day. When the discredited CDC gun control research was defunded, corporate millionaires began to pay for this slanted research (p.46).
Viewpoint 5 is a good example of slick writing that doesn't really say much. The writer didn't do enough research ("dime-store novels"?). He mentions "the past three decades of gun violence" which echoes the fact that the 1968 Gun Control Act resulted in more crime and violence. Viewpoint 6 comes from a victim of a crazed shooter. This student of psychology has some insights into the "gun control" fantasy foisted upon the gullible who believe the corporate media. Who else has been exploited?
Note that "gun control" is a euphemism for "gun prohibition". An aristocratic ruling class will always try to disarm the common people in order to oppress them; see Aristotle's "Politics". After the Civil War the new corporate aristocracy attacked the Second Amendment. It took sixty years to destroy our "well-regulated militia" (1877-1934). Then they began to attack "the right to keep and bear arms".
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