Stopping Power: Why 70 Million Americans Own Guns [Hardcover]

J. Neil Schulman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1994

Did you know that every 13 seconds one of America's 70 million gun owners uses a firearm in defense against a criminal? That American women use handguns 416 times a day in defense against rapists, which is a dozen times more often than rapists use a gun? That a gun kept in the home for protection is 216 times as likely to be used in defense against a criminal than it is to cause the death of an innocent victim in that household?

These are just a few of the surprises this book has in store for anyone whose belief in gun control is based on TV news or popular magazines.

Award-winning novelist, screenwriter, and journalist, J. Neil Schulman, challenges the misinformation that pundits ranging from network anchors to ill-informed doctors are promoting about guns.

Especially for the reader who doesn't own a gun and has never even considered buying one, Stopping Power should be an eye-opener.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Synapse Centurion; 1st edition (June 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1882639030
• ISBN-13: 978-1882639038
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,130,148 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

J. Neil Schulman is an award-winning writer and filmmaker, whom the Wall Street Journal called a pioneer of electronic publishing His 1979 Prometheus-Hall-of-Fame novel Alongside Night -- endorsed by Milton Friedman, Anthony Burgess, and Ron Paul -- projected the economic meltdown and was Freedom Book of the Month for May, 2009. It's currently in development as his second feature film, following his award-winning comic thriller, Lady Magdalene's, starring Nichelle Nichols, which Schulman wrote, produced, directed, and acted in. His 1983 novel, The Rainbow Cadenza, won the Prometheus Award, was adapted into a Laserium show, and Robert A. Heinlein told the 1983 L-5 Society, "Every libertarian should read it!" Schulman scripted the CBS revived Twilight Zone episode, "Profile in Silver." He taught a graduate course on electronic publishing for The New School, has written for popular magazines and newspapers including National Review, Reason, the Los Angeles Times, and Reader's Digest, and monographs ranging from animal rights, informational property rights, and medicalization of criminology have been widely anthologized by academic presses. His 12 books include Stopping Power: Why 70 Million Americans Own Guns, endorsed by Charlton Heston and Dennis Prager, Self Control Not Gun Control endorsed by Walter Williams, and The Robert Heinlein Interview and Other Heinleiniana, which Virginia Heinlein said "should be on the shelves of everyone interested in science fiction." His latest is Unchaining the Human Heart--A Revolutionary Manifesto. He's recipient of the James Madison Award from the Second Amendment Foundation, and on March 16, 2009 Schulman was awarded the Samuel Edward Konkin III Memorial Chauntecleer by the Karl Hess Club, the only previous recipients being Hans-Hermann Hoppe and Wally Conger. Full bio at http://www.pulpless.com/jneil/jnsbio.html

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stopping Power--a political concept, May 28, 2002

By 

R. Herrst (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stopping Power: Why 70 Million Americans Own Guns (Paperback)

This book has been quoted in many places including Congressional hearings, federal appellate-court briefs, the Internet, and other publications including national magazines and Washington think-tank white-papers. It's wonderful to have at your fingertips so much information covering so many aspects of firearms ownership, self defense, and gun-control laws.

You get a real insight into the prejudiced and corrupt workings of the media and government in their unceasing attempt to diminish your natural right of self-defense. Very few books have provided a step-by-step analysis of the manipulation necessary to convince the public to support the proven counterproductive gun-restriction agenda.

Unlike many academic treatises on this subject, Stopping Power has many original insights, frequent moments of real humor, and avoids focusing on some narrow aspect of the topic, such as merely the crime statistics or legal arguments. One of the best things about the book is that the author doesn't rely on debating straw men but instead goes into the real world--ACLU pamphlets, TV Public Service Announcements, and even on-line chat rooms--to bring out the actual concerns and thought processes of those who are afraid to allow gun ownership. Then the author uses the best available technical expertise, criminology, and legal scholarship to answer these concerns--concisely, wittily, and decisively.

The Center for the Study of Crime recommends this as one of the best books in the field and it is without doubt the most entertaining.

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very well-written essays on armed self-defense., October 15, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Stopping Power: Why 70 Million Americans Own Guns (Hardcover)

An award-winning science fiction writer, Schulman has penned a well-written, forcefully argued explanation of why gun ownership by good people enhances public safety. The book is a collection of essays that Schulman has written over the last several years. Some of the essays were first printed in the Los Angeles Times, while others have shown up on computer bulletin boards and similar places. Many of the essays deal with the meaning of the Second Amendment, and with why ordinary folks should be allowed to carry a gun for protection. Schulman persuasively shows that such laws--rather than turning a state into "the wild west"--actually enhance the safety of everyone--including people who don't choose to carry a gun. Schulman's writing style is clear, and fun to read. The straight-forward writing and the short chapters make Stopping Power is a good first book for people who want to learn more about the gun issue. Stopping Power is also an excellent choice for your friends who are anti-gun, but who have enough intellectual curiousity to want to check out the argument in favor of gun ownership. By the time they're finished with Stopping Power, they may well have decided to switch sides in the gun control struggle. Review by Dave Kopel, Independence Institute, http://i2i.org.

34 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It will absolutely disarm the "gun-grabbers!", December 22, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Wichita, Kansas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stopping Power: Why 70 Million Americans Own Guns (Hardcover)

I have studied writings and listened to many arguments on the Second Amendment, its true meaning and intent by our constitutional framers. This book is the best collection of "fact-based" pro-gun arguements that will convince the most staunch gun-control advocate of the dangers in that folly. It is a must read for those seeking the truth about our Second Amendment and the true reason thereof. Mr. Schulman's style of writing, his sincerity and belief in freedom lends itself to a truly great read. If you want to inform your anti-gun friends of the true dangers of "gun control", THIS BOOK IS A MUST!