Customer Reviews

The Global Gun Epidemic: From Saturday Night Specials to AK-47s (Praeger Security International)

5 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(5)

 

 

This book seemed to be written with alot of inconsistancies. Stats were not backed up by any sort of reference or study, and the actual value changed when the stat was repeated later on in the book. References to a particular gun (H&K 303) make no sense since there is no such gun, really discredit any real factual information that this book might have. This book reads like propaganda to anyone with any sort of knowledge on the subject, when it should have been a piece of some merit with factual data to support any if not all of the statements and conclusions, especially since the author is suppose to be a professor.

not worth the time or effort.

The author, Wendy Cukier is the head of the Coalition for Gun Control, a highly controversial and often discredited lobby group. They are well known for creatively interpreting statistics and making outright lies to support their unpopular viewpoint. This book is no different, and is full of questionable data and half truths. If you would like an outline of how to write a good propaganda piece, this is the book for you. If you would like to read something with even a little tiny shred of good research in it, steer far clear of this book.

This book has all the hallmarks of a political work. The stats are creatively interpreted and it lacks reviewed references. There are numerous glaring technical errors that support the sloppy methodology employed.

Not worth the read

The highest levels of gun violence are always in areas of the strictest control. Check the stats of D.C. or New York.

If you're a liberal zealot who doesn't mind massaged statistics to further the vision, you'll like this book. If you're looking for rational debate about guns, this isn't it.

Socially irresponsible big business strikes again; this time in the form of gun manufacturers selling their weapons all over the world. This book looks at the bloody public health effects of the gun industry. In addition to the many assualts and countless instances of intimidation that guns produce here in the U.S. Guys and Guns Amok (The Radical Imagination), U.S. made guns are wrecking havoc all over the world.
The restrictions that are used in big cities in the U.S. are effective. Hence, gun regulation receives support from civic groups, elected representatives and police forces across the country. Countries that want to restrict the sales of this lethal product have every right to do so, and should not have guns rammed down their throats through the tyranny of so-called "free" trade, which is oftentimes "imposed" trade. The Terror of Neoliberalism: Authoritarianism and the Eclipse of Democracy (Cultural Politics and the Promise of Democracy)

Many U.S. citizens have been socialized to see violence as the way to solve issues. Much of that socialization has taken place through the vehicle of "action/adventure" movies The Hollywood War Machine: U.S. Militarism and Popular Culture, and those Rambo sorts of movies are now being shown on corporate tv stations all over the world. The documentary Why We Fight has a segment on how people are manipulated to view guns in an industry friendly way, while helping to normalize military aggression of the state.

It doesn't bother me if US citizens want guns, and gun organizations like "Hunters and Shooters" do responsible lobbying (they see the NRA as an extremist organization that serves industry, not gun owners). But the marketing and reckless distribution of guns worldwide has nothing to do with safety, and is contributing to suffering that "The Global Gun Epidemic" does a great job of documenting. It has received good reviews from medical professionals for a good reason. Gun fanatics may choose to completely ignore the important information the authors provide, but the sad facts remain. Even people within the gun industry have started to expose the corruption. Ricochet: Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist

I'd also recommend Gun Show Nation: Gun Culture and American Democracy.