Customer Reviews

Lethal Logic: Exploding the Myths That Paralyze American Gun Policy

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(55)

 

 

The book is worthless unless your using it as a target or as something to start a fire. Don't waste your money on this book with its faulty information.

The problem with this book is that it isn't so much about research into real facts about gun control and its effectiveness (or lack thereof), it's simply an attack on a political strategy of using slogans to mobilize a political base. Which is funny, because all this book itself is, is a vacuous piece of political propaganda.

The author tries to convince the reader that these slogans are all the gun rights supporters have. But this isn't even remotely true. Even the American Academy of Sciences and the CDC, after comprehensive reviews of all research on the subject, came to the conclusion that there is no convincing research to support the premise that gun control reduces crime or violence. Comparative studies between the US, the UK, and Australia indicate that gun control may actually increase violent crime (there is a very strong correlation, at least). Even the Clinton Administration's own studies of their "Assault Weapons Ban" concluded that the law did absolutely nothing to reduce violence in the US. One of the other reviewers mentioned "scare tactics". But another thing the author doesn't address is that, while gun control laws have generally been loosened in the US over the last 20 years (especially in allowing private citizens to carry concealed weapons - 48 states now allow it, with 2 not even requiring a permit), violent crime overall, and gun crime specifically, have consistently dropped over the same period. So the gun control supporters who cry out about escalating gun violence (which is a lie in itself) are really the ones using scare tactics.

And yet he doesn't address any of this. Instead he sets up a straw man of a gun rights movement that has none of this factual evidence to support it, and which depends strictly on catchy slogans. Then he knocks it down with half-truths, making it seem like his side actually doesn't have a major credibility problem. It's not that the other side doesn't have any real evidence to back up their claims, it's just that he conveniently pretends it doesn't exist.

If you are an ardent gun control supporter and just want something to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, or if you are a gun-rights supporter and want to really get angry, by all means, buy the book. On the other hand, no matter what your position on the question of guns, if you want an intelligent and honest evaluation of facts on guns and gun control, steer clear of the author and this attempt of his to do nothing more than the same thing as the NRA's catchy slogans. Don't forget, he's the vice-president of a lobbying group with a major stake in the issue. This book reads more like a jealous rant simply because the opposition is doing a better job.

If we had authors asserting that religion and politics have killed more people than almost anything else over the course of history (which they have), and that we should therefore restrict religious or political beliefs, you'd hear a massive outcry. If an author pointed out that speech is just as dangerous as any weapon and should be restricted by government, the ACLU would be storming the barricades in defense of that civil right. But move one amendment away, and it's trendy to try and strip all people of a civil right because of what some bad people do, even though that right also helps to defend the good people against the bad.

Henigan has for years asserted that law abiding citizens shouldn't be allowed to arm themselves. He has relentlessly pursued stripping individuals of this civil right, through every avenue from public propaganda to civil litigation to legislation, all the while reasserting the Brady Campaign's failed policies. This book is just more of the same; save yourself the money and just visit the Brady Campaign's website if you want to be indoctrinated. The irony is that the sloganeering and propaganda that Henigan rails against are the same tactics that the Brady Campaign has used for over a decade.

I am new to this issue, and was looking to gain some knowledge on the subject. If you want to read a poorly written rant directed at the NRA and gun owners based on opinion and a very selective use of statistics buy this book. If you want real unbiased information, fact, and ideas on how to effectively address the issue this book is not for you. What we need is an organization that it's true agenda is to reduce gun violence. The Brady Campaign's only interest is in new laws and further restricting gun ownership, not to reduce gun violence. Would be nice to have an organization that would take an objective look at the issue, and get down to the actual heart of the issue. This extremism on both sides is getting us no where. What's sad is that if the NRA and Brady Campaign would work together on the issue they could accomplish great things together. However, the Brady Campaign has proven they have no interest in pursuing the issue in any manner that does not involve banning this and banning that, restricting this and restricting that, etc. The Brady Campaign needs to stop attacking CCW holders for starters, maintaining a list on CCW crimes is one of their favorite things to do. The idea the permit made them do it is ludicrous. Think about it, they actually think that an individual that will willingly take someone's life will only do so if the law permits them to legally carry a concealed weapon. Obviously if they will commit a crime like murder this individual could not possibly care less if the law says they can stick a hand gun in their coat or not. Hopefully one day an organization will emerge that its true mission will be reducing gun violence by any means that actually works, and not only through enacting new laws and attacking the law-abiding. The brady campaign would be surprised with most gun owners if they would give them a chance and not try and depict them as terrorists and such.

One of the few books I did not get from Amazon but thought I'd put my two cents in. Just finished this book and I thought is was very good reading. After reading John Lott's book "More Guns .. Less Crime" I figured I'd get another "side of the coin" trying to be "fair and balanced". You can take what you want from this book. Henigan explains his interpretation of what he knows, hears and sees and tries to lay things out so someone can get an understanding of what the issue is, guns and gun control and how we've come to where we are. I think he laid it out rather well. There are plenty of event facts but when it references surveys, polls and data I tend to take them with a grain of salt, as I surely did with Lott's book and his interpretations. No one has good hard facts as to how our nation is doing. That can only be done with tracking on a national scale using a common database. Where just about every state does things differently, any data you try to get on a national level is purely conjecture . Unfortunately the NRA will only allow that to happen if taken from their "cold" hands. This book helped solidify my thoughts, as I tend to agree author.

Author Henigan coauthored Guns and the Constitution: The Myth of Second Amendment Protection for Firearms in America (Aletheia Press, 1995); his position was dismissed by the Supreme Court a year ago in Heller v. DC who found that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms is an individual right of Americans.

This current work is yet another lame attempt to fog the truth.

I read this book in hopes of finding factual information about gun laws and crime. What I found was a political book. It is very light on substance and factual information, and very heavy on political grandstanding.

If you need the numbers and the data, steer clear, this more propaganda than anything else.

If you look at the distribution of reviews, you will find (not surprisingly) that most people either love this book or hate it, and again (not surprisingly), that more hate it than love it. Why? Because the book truly strikes a nerve for people who engage in black and white thinking and who bristle when their thinking is challenged. Contrary to what virtually all of the negative reviews say, this book is extremely well-researched and well-reasoned. The author rightly takes the position that the gun lobby status quo in this country is not sacrosanct and should be addressed. He does not advocate getting rid of everyone's guns (acknowledging that this is neither practical nor legal) but does present compellingly reasonable ways to help reduce gun violence. I strongly suspect that the negative reviewers had their minds made up beforehand and actually read very little of the book, which challenged them to actually think and examine the status quo.

Dennis Henigan explains chapter by chapter how slogans often used by the gun toting community are false and often counter-productive to creating a safer nation. These claims include "Guns don't kill people. People kill people." and "An armed society is a polite society." as well as others. Henigan is staunchly anti-gun. This is no surprise seeing as how he is vice president for law and policy at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. I went into the book with an open mind but almost immediately found myself taking everything Henigan argued with a grain of salt. Henigan provides sources for his data but many of his sources come from very slanted sources. I sought to find the truth behind his claims and did much of my own research. I found many of his arguments to be misleading, drawing conclusions from facts that had little to do with the subject matter. The causality of many of his figures on guns and violence is questionable at best. Many of Henigan's claims, however, I found to be inaccurate, spun, or entirely false. From statistical errors occurring in the first sentence (claiming 70% of Americans support a ban on assault weapons, when in reality it is only 50% [Gallup,2009]) to misguided comparisons, Henigan goes to great lengths to use rhetoric in order to push a gun control agenda. Henigan notes that the Brady Act could be used to reduce the "gun show loophole", that is, that private dealers at gun shows do not require background checks as they are considered private sales. Henigan fails to note, however, that only 0.7% of convicts obtained their guns from gun shows, an almost negligible figure.

Overall, a well put together book with lots of information, but it definitely falls short of qualifying as a reference for guns and violence in America.

This book is surprisingly thorough for its size. In each chapter, Dennis Henigan states one of the familiar pro-gun slogans and clearly elucidates its logical flaws. Granted, this can be quite simple. For example, he quotes Ozzy Osbourne in the first chapter as saying, "I keep hearing this [expletive] thing that guns don't kill people, but people kill people. If that is the case, why do we give people guns when they go to war? Why not just send the people?" The reader is to infer quite obviously that if a man like Osbourne, who has been known to make poor choices in his life, can see the logical fallacy in this argument, everyone else should. Henigan, however, does not stop there; he carefully addresses the results of accepting the pro-gun arguments, and explains how stricter gun laws and enforcement could benefit everyone including, or especially, responsible gun owners by making guns safer and stemming the flow of legally manufactured and purchased guns to the hands of criminals or unstable individuals.

Henigan's proposals and arguments appear to be designed to find common ground among gun owners and gun control supporters because he is not opposed to individuals owning guns. Further, in several places, Henigan discusses the fairly recent Heller decision and its implications. Even though he does not agree with the ruling, Henigan believes that the decision, which affirms an individual's right to own a gun and the right to regulate said right, should allay gun owners' fears that their guns will be banned and confiscated, and direct the debate to sensible laws and enforcement. The reader is left to infer, to twist a slogan, that if only well trained law abiding stable individuals had guns that did not fire when dropped, outlaws would be severely disadvantaged.

Henigan briefly touches on the faith some gun rights supporters have in their beliefs about guns. For example, in chapter 3, he quotes Warren Cassidy, the former NRA leader, saying, "You would get a far better understanding if you approached us as if you were approaching one of the great religions of the world." Further, Henigan also states in the prologue that he is, "not arguing that destroying the NRA MYTHOLOGY [emphasis added]," although necessary, is sufficient to overcome the political power of the NRA. As a person of faith, I am aware that many of things that I believe to be true, not just in a spiritual sense, e.g., love your enemies, turn the other cheek, etc., but in a historical sense as well, e.g., a virgin birth, a physical resurrection of an executed man, the God of universe becoming a baby, etc., seem foolish. In fact, Paul, one of the earliest leaders of my faith, even addressed the apparent foolishness of Christianity in his first letter to the Corinthians. I freely admit that no amount of logical explanation can persuade me to let go of these beliefs because I accept them on faith. Since one of the tenets of my faith is honesty, not to admit as much does a disservice to my beliefs.

Before I purchased this book, I read quite a few of the reviews on Amazon. It is woefully apparent that most of the negative comments were written by people who did not read the book or did not consider the arguments presented therein. As well written and thorough as Henigan's book is, I fear that nothing short of a religious type conversion or apostasy, depending on your viewpoint, will change hearts and minds on this topic.