Armed and Considered Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their Firearms (Social Institutions and Social Change) [Paperback]

Peter H. Rossi (Author), James D. Wright (Author)

Book Description

Series: Social Institutions and Social Change | Publication Date: December 31, 1986

This updated volume from Professors Wright and Rossi is part of a larger, continuing research program, focused on the acquisition, carrying, and use of guns and other weapons in the commission of criminal acts. For this expanded edition, Dr. Wright has prepared a new preface, exploring the more recent legislative developments in the debate on guns and violence, engaging the lines of criticism that this book originally encountered, touching on assault weapons, and citing the literature subsequent to the first edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...the most comprehensive review of gun control research yet published." -- Contemporary Sociology

"This exhaustive, uncompromising review on weapons, crime, and violence is perhaps the only book worth reading on the issue." -- San Francisco Chronicle --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Peter H. Rossi (1921-2006) was professor of sociology emeritus at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, director of research at the Social and Demographic Research Institute, and past president of the American Sociological Association. Known as one of the most eminent of American social scientists, Rossi authored over forty books and two hundred scholarly articles. His works include Down and Out in America: The Origins of Homelessness; Just Punishments: Federal Guidelines and Public Opinion Compared; Natural Haards and Public Choice;and Armed and Considered Dangerous.

James D. Wright is provost distinguished research professor in the department of sociology at the University of Central Florida. He also serves as director of the University of Central Florida Institute for Social and Behavioral Sciences, and as editor-in-chief of the journal Social Science Research. He has published more than a doen books, including Armed and Considered Dangerous and Under the Gun as well as many journal articles. His current research interests include violence, urban poverty and inequality, health and the homeless population, and the “divorce reform” movement.

Product Details

• Paperback: 275 pages
• Publisher: Aldine Transaction; Expanded edition (December 31, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0202305422
• ISBN-13: 978-0202305424
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,285,958 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #92 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Current Events > Gun Control

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars By far the most in-depth study criminal gun habits., October 16, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Armed and Considered Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their Firearms (Social Institutions and Social Change) (Hardcover)

Interviewing felony prisoners in ten state correctional systems in 1981, Wright and Rossi found extensive information suggesting that gun control laws have relatively little effect on violent criminals. For example, only 12% of criminals, and only 7% of the criminals specializing in handgun crime, had acquired their last crime handgun at a gun store. Of those, about a quarter had stolen the gun from a store; a large number of the rest, Wright and Rossi suggested, had probably procured the gun through a legal surrogate buyer, such as a girlfriend with a clean record. Fifty-six percent of the prisoners said that a criminal would not attack a potential victim who was known to be armed. Seventy-four percent agreed with the statement that "One reason burglars avoid houses where people are at home is that they fear being shot during the crime." Thirty-nine percent of the felons had personally decided not to commit a crime because they thought the victim might have a gun, and eight percent said the experience had occurred "many times." Criminals in states with higher civilian gun ownership rates worried the most about armed victims. Despite the popular myth that criminals preferred small, inexpensive handguns (so-called "Saturday Night Specials" or "junk guns"), the felony prisoners preferred larger, more powerful handguns-equal to the guns which they expected the police would have. Although the criminals rarely bought guns in gun stores, the overwhelming majority stated that obtaining a gun after their release from prison would be a simple project, which might take a few hours to a few weeks. Armed and Dangerous has lost none of its importance. In the years since it was published, no-one has done any research on criminal gun use and acquisition that is even half as significant or detailed. Armed and Dangerous is also a great book to give a library. The new paperback includes an introduction by Jim Wright that discusses the reaction to Armed and Dangerous in the years since its first publication.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thorough analysis of sociological research about guns., October 16, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Under the Gun: Weapons, Crime, and Violence in America (Paperback)

Intending to build the case for comprehensive federal gun restrictions, the Carter administration handed out a major gun control research grant to sociology Professor James D. Wright, and his colleagues Peter Rossi and Kathleen Daly. Wright was already on record as favoring much stricter controls, and he and his colleagues were recognized as among sociology's brightest stars. Rossi, a University of Massachusetts professor, would later become President of the American Sociology Association. Wright, who formerly served as Director of the Social and Demographic Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, now teaches at Tulane. Daly was a relatively young scholar at the time, but she has since gone on to win the Hindelang Prize from the American Society of Criminology. The Hindelang Prize is awarded for the most significant contribution to criminology in a three-year period. Daly is the most recent winner, for her studies of women's issues. Anyway, Wright, Rossi, and Daly were asked to survey the state of research regarding the efficacy of gun control, presumably to show that gun control worked, and America needed more of it. But when Wright, Rossi, and Daly produced their report for the National Institute of Justice, they delivered a document quite different from the one they had expected to write. Carefully reviewing all existing research to date, the three scholars found no persuasive scholarly evidence that America's 20,000 gun control laws had reduced criminal violence. For example, the federal Gun Control Act of 1968, which banned most interstate gun sales, had no discernible impact on the criminal acquisition of guns from other states. Washington, D.C.'s 1977 ban on the ownership of handguns which had not already been registered in the District was not linked to any reduction in gun crime in the District. Even Detroit's law providing mandatory sentences for felonies committed with a gun was found to have no effect on gun crime patterns, in part because judges would often reduce the sentence for the underlying offense in order to balance out the mandatory two-year extra sentence for use of a gun. The Wright/Rossi/Daly team exploded scores of other gun control myths. They discussed the data showing that gun owners-rather then being a violent, aberrant group of nuts-were at least as psychologically stable and morally sound as the rest of the population. Polls claiming to show that a large majority of the population favored "more gun control" were debunked as being the product of biased questions, and of the fact that most people have no idea how strict gun laws already are. As the scholars frankly admitted, they had started out their research as gun control advocates, and had been forced to change their minds by a careful review of the evidence. Review by Dave Kopel, Independence Institute, http://i2i.org.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Integrity in Research, June 24, 2003

By 

P.F. Monte, Ph.D., J.D. (Tallahassee, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Armed and Considered Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their Firearms (Social Institutions and Social Change) (Paperback)

The work presented in this book stands as a shining example of how social science research should be conducted. The authors' ability to set aside their preconceptions regarding gun control establishes their qualifications as preeminent researchers in the field and true professionals (as though this was necessary). Contemporary social science research is too often lacking in integrity; thankfully, these practitioners have made a contribution to the truth rather than some political ideology. The work cannot be classified as conservative or liberal. Rather, it represents a full and exhaustive exploration of the dynamics associated with the gun control debate as it is framed today. True students of the field should be grateful.