Customer Reviews

Stopping Power: Why 70 Million Americans Own Guns

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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!

I was expecting this book to contain some reasoned and valid insight into the gun control debate. Instead it was filled with fear-mongering rhetoric, expressed in a very disorganized and shoddy fashion. It was not a measured comment on guns and their roles in protecting and ensuring the security of Americans. It was a shambolic series of shrill letters and rambling essays. J Neil Schulman seems to continually deliver his message with a ball hammer, where for this sensitive issue, a scalpel was needed.

Lastly, how hard it is to proof read your manuscript, Mr Schulman? There were so many typos in this mess that had I corrected them all with a red pen, I would have run out of ink.

Not recommended, even at the reduced price.

It's difficult to understand the enthusiasm other reviewers feel for this book. While I am a staunch advocate of Second Amendment rights, "Stopping Power" adds little to the debate. The book contains very little material written orginally for this edition; rather, it's a compilation of various unpleasant e-mail threads and letters to the editor. It seriously aggravated me to have paid for a book containing verbatim transcripts of junk I could have read for free on the Internet. Mr. Schulman is bright and makes some strong arguments, but overall the work is shoddy -- petulant, unscholarly, and devoid of editing.

Pass on this one.