NCJ Number
96052
Editor(s)
D B Kates
Date Published
1984
Length
578 pages
Annotation
This collection of papers on the major policy implications of American firearms ownership and regulation includes contributions from criminologists, sociologists, economists, historians, philosophers, and constituional and criminal law theorists.
Abstract
The 17 papers are arranged around 8 central topics relevant to policy evaluation of the gun control controversy. These topics include public opinion on gun ownership and its regulation, the relationship of popular and academic attitudes on gun regulation, and gun ownership as a possible cause of homicide and other criminal violence. The viability and utility of specific prohibitionary proposals, concentrating particularly on handguns and guns known as 'Saturday Night Specials,' are also discussed. Other chapters assess the effectiveness of present gun controls and examine whether widespread gun ownership could be a means of deterring or preventing crime. Gun ownership as a constitutional right and the implications of conferring a monopoly of gun ownership on on the police, the military, and civilians approved by the government are also discussed. A review of the constitutional and legal implications of specific kinds of and legal implications of specific kinds of gun prohibitions, supported by pre-1975 research, provides a framework for discussing firearms and violence. Chapter notes, section bibliographies, tabular data, figures, a table of contents, and an index are provided.