The Gun Control Debate: You Decide (Contemporary Issues in Philosophy) [Paperback]

Lee Nisbet (Editor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 341 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books; First edition. edition (February 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879756187
• ISBN-13: 978-0879756185
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,578,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Essential essays on both sides of the gun control debate, April 16, 2001

By 

Ross Nordeen (Orlando, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gun Control Debate: You Decide (Contemporary Issues in Philosophy) (Paperback)

Although already a bit dated (this book was published in 1990), this collection of essays contains many of the classics in the gun control debate including Sanford Levinson's classic "The Embarrassing Second Amendment" as well as the infamous "43-to-1" study by Arthur Kellerman. Of interest is the manner in which essays were collected for this volume. Nisbet contacted the two major lobbying organizations, HCI and NRA, and asked them to recommend articles and essays that best put forth their respective positions. Using that as a base, Nisbet narrowed the selection down based on his own research, reading and conversation with the experts.

The resulting collection is telling. If the best that the gun control advocates could muster is the ingeniously specious 43-to-1 study, then they've lost the debate. It's also interesting to note that almost none of the pro-control articles were published in criminological or law journals but instead were published in pro-control public health journals like NEJM or JAMA.

The pro-gun side fairs much better. There are many excellent essays by such notables as Gary Kleck and Don Kates, Jr. Kleck, Kates and others skillfully dissect the poor arguments of the pro-control authors.

No matter what your position is on gun control, this book is a must-have for your collection if you are going to try and debate this issue intelligently.