Armed: New Perspectives on Gun Control [Hardcover]

Gary Kleck (Author), Don B. Kates (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2001

In a nation where nearly one-half of all households have firearms, the gun control issue has never been more relevant. While some Americans support controls aimed at disarming only criminals and the irresponsible, others oppose any controls at all, seeing them as steps toward the confiscation of all firearms. Intelligent public debate on what types of controls, if any, are feasible requires some understanding of the results of the best research on guns and violence. In this thought-provoking study of the issue, researchers Gary Kleck and Don B Kates closely examine the arguments used by advocates and opponents of gun control, identify crucial factual assumptions behind the arguments, and systematically address these assumptions using evidence from the best research available on the subject. Among the topics addressed are media bias in coverage of gun issues, prohibitionist measures for reducing gun violence, the frequency and effectiveness of the defensive use of guns, and a close analysis of the Second Amendment. Easily understood by both specialists and laypersons, this engaging work will help the reader grasp the many facets of this complex issue.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The gun-control debate continues . . . Criminology professor Gary Kleck, of Florida State University, and attorney Don B. Kates seek to dispel myths, too--myths they believe constitute the conventional wisdom about guns and gun violence. Like John R. Lott (More Guns, Less Crime, 1997), the authors argue that what people think they know about guns is "inconsistent with criminological, legal and other scholarship." Kates provides an introduction, a section that holds that the extremism of gun haters prevents passage of reasonable restraints, and a closing philosophical analysis of "The Constitutional Right to Arms: The Ideology of Self-Protection." Kleck authors sections on the "public health" approach to guns, the "Prohibitionist Intentions of the Gun Control Movement," media distortion, "The Frequency of Defensive Gun Use: Evidence and Disinformation," and "The Nature and Effectiveness of Owning, Carrying, and Using Guns for Self-Protection." Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 363 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (November 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573928836
• ISBN-13: 978-1573928830
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,014,574 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #73 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Current Events > Gun Control

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good consolidation work, June 18, 2002

By 

Matthew Thomas (WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Armed: New Perspectives on Gun Control (Hardcover)

I can understand how the reader from Philadelphia can be frustrated with repeated arguments. If you are well read on the subject of firearms and its (non)relation to crime, you will not read much that is new in this volume. That being said, I think this book offers a great consolidation of arguments and discussions made in several other works. If I could only pick one book that I had to give someone to try to convince them of the many fallacies spread around the media and "scholarly" research papers, I would pick this book.

Here you will find the legal and constitutional arguments. Here you will find the statistical discussions of anti-gun "scholarship." There are discussions about the motives and practices of the anti-gun crowd, the anti-control crowd, and the middle ground. You will find refutations for the vast majority of anti-gun arguments and the documentation to back it up and/or do the research for yourself.

If you can only afford one book on gun control. Get this one.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My New Bible, November 18, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Armed: New Perspectives on Gun Control (Hardcover)

I'm a gun owner and a gun rights advocate. I'm very fair-minded, consequently I've always wondered if my interest in gun ownership led me to be biased against gun control advocacy (i.e. "I like 'em, they don't. Therefore, they must be wrong."). Now that I've read "Armed" I no longer have any doubts that I've made the right choice on this topic. I found myself getting very angry with the medical society and the media while reading this book.

This is the fifth and best book on this topic I've read. I only wish that everyone in a position of power, from government to the media, would read it. If you buy it and read it, maybe they will!

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scholarly Research on Gun Control, March 26, 2005

By 

Acute Observer (By the Shore NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Armed: New Perspectives on Gun Control (Hardcover)

Kleck is a professor at Florida State University, Kates is a partner of a national law firm. The 'Introduction' says they want to present the findings from scholarly journals to contradict the propaganda in the corporate media (p.14). Concealed handgun carry resulted in a reduction of violent crimes (p.17). This fact is censored from the corporate media, even though thousands of lives could be saved. The corporate media portrays gun owners as subhumans, but exempts the Rockefellers, the DuPonts, and the publisher of the 'New York Times' (p.18). This is just bigotry. The availability of guns does not cause murders; murderers mostly have criminal records (p.21). Most murders are drug-related. Gun Prohibition only disarms honest people, just as locks only bar honest people. Historians and scholars say the Second Amendment is an individual right, and this was well recognized prior to World War II.

Chapter 2 tells of the propaganda campaign that uses various medical groups as pawns. Their studies ignore any facts that don't agree with their desired conclusion (p.33). These Gun Prohibitionists assert falsehoods, fabricate statistics, and falsify references, to forge evidence for their views (p.34). Page 38 gives examples where Dr. Tanay and Kr. Kellermann quote references which disprove their opinions! Such articles show intellectual confusion, ignorance of facts, omission of facts, and emotions that suggest a need for therapy (p.39). Freud said fear and loathing of guns is a sign of sexual immaturity and neuroticism (p.38). A neurosis is a mental disorder characterized by anxieties, compulsions, obsessions, or phobias. The criminological evidence refutes the claims of the medical advocates (p.51). The dishonesty of the "health advocates" on gun control is shown by their disregard of falling accidental gun deaths while the numbers of guns owned were rising (p.57). Are they using the idea of dying children just for its emotional impact (p.58)? The Gun Prohibitionists suppress facts, and falsify data and statistics, in order to prove their case (p.63). The CDC admitted to assuming a conclusion then creating evidence to prove it (p.69). This chapter documents the emotional anti-gun agenda in some medical and public health literature. They generally ignore the large amount of sociological and criminological research (p.83). Violence could be reduced when poverty is reduced.

Chapter 3 explains why "gun control" proposals are aimed to prohibit the right to own firearms. Gun prohibitionists can't be trusted. Freud said the fear and loathing of firearms was sexual hysterics (p.109). Their strident advocacy of gun prohibition reflects their neuroses. Their emotional diatribes are the reason for their failures.

Chapter 5 discusses distortion of gun issues in the mass media which provides most information to people. This information is shaped or biased to provide a conclusion by excluding certain information. This results from the policies of the "owners of media corporations" (p.174). But most consumers can recognize these slants. Page 192 tells how CBS' "48 Hours" faked a story. The evidence of news media bias for "gun control" is that gun control advocates never complain about the play (p.203)! No national news corporations are against "gun control" (p.204). Media manipulation of information in general has been documented in books (p.205). This message is widespread and one-sided (pp.206-7). This results in a poorly informed public.

Chapters 6 & 7 reference other articles that are not included in this book. They are not for the average reader. Chapter 8 explains why the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights refers to a right to personal self-protection (p.343). The need for an armed citizenry was explained by Aristotle, Machiavelli, Locke, Montesquieu, and Blackstone. Self-defense is the most basic of rights (p.345). The general possession of arms is a positive social good (p.348). Blackstone said the subjects of England had the right to petition for redress of grievances, and, lastly, the right to have and use arms for self-preservation and defense (p.349). Possessing arms is a sign of a free citizen. A republic needs armed property-owner, said Machiavelli (p.350). Despots disarm people to render them helpless, and morally degraded (p.351). No twentieth-century military can suppress an armed popular national insurgency.