From Publishers Weekly

Kleck, a professor of criminology at Florida State, and Kates, a lawyer, fire a lot of ammunition in this screed against gun control. They argue that, contrary to popular belief, gun control will not reduce violence. They make a provocative case, supporting with scholarship and statistics many of the traditional claims of gun owners and the National Rifle Association. They offer evidence, for instance, that accidents involving guns are few and that guns defend people against violent crime. Unfortunately, the authors' hyperbolic rhetoric undermines their case. In one chapter, they dissect the methods of the gun control movement and conclude, perhaps with some reason, that the limited gun control measures currently being sought are part of a strategy toward banning all handguns. But this position is derided as the result of the "absolutist" and "prohibitionist" views of "anti-gun zealots." The authors argue that this zealotry has pushed the NRA into opposing even moderate gun controls, such as licensing and registration, for fear of eventually losing their right to own guns. Their attack on the "liberal media bias" may convince some readers, but the authors take it to a ridiculous extreme: the media's depiction of gun owners is a "bigoted stereotype that would be recognized and denounced as such if directed against gays, Jews, African-Americans or virtually any group other than gun owners." This volume will only fan the familiar flames of a longstanding ideological division.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The gun-control debate continues . . . Criminology professor Gary Kleck, of Florida State University, and attorney Don B. Kates seek to dispel myths, too--myths they believe constitute the conventional wisdom about guns and gun violence. Like John R. Lott (More Guns, Less Crime, 1997), the authors argue that what people think they know about guns is "inconsistent with criminological, legal and other scholarship." Kates provides an introduction, a section that holds that the extremism of gun haters prevents passage of reasonable restraints, and a closing philosophical analysis of "The Constitutional Right to Arms: The Ideology of Self-Protection." Kleck authors sections on the "public health" approach to guns, the "Prohibitionist Intentions of the Gun Control Movement," media distortion, "The Frequency of Defensive Gun Use: Evidence and Disinformation," and "The Nature and Effectiveness of Owning, Carrying, and Using Guns for Self-Protection." Mary Carroll
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Review

"the authors have a superb command of the literature and make a powerful case for gun ownership..." -- Choice

From the Publisher

"If you believe, as I once did, that we can reduce violent crime by simply restricting gun ownership, you should read this book. It will change your basic beliefs." -- Steven B. Duke, Professor of Law, Yale University

About the Author

Gary Kleck (Tallahassee, FL) is professor at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice of Florida State University. Don B. Kates (Novato, CA) is a partner at the national law firm of Benenson & Kates.