Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America
“Kleck's book is a comprehensive review of the issues and facts regarding gun use and gun control in the US... The book is organized into four sections: issues of gun control and gun ownership, effects of guns on violence, regulating guns, and policy lessons. The text is clearly written, with effective use of tables, and is well referenced. Recommended for libraries developing comprehensive collections in the areas of criminal justice or criminology. Upper-division undergraduates and above.”—R. T. Sigler,Choice"Kleck assesses the evidence, adduced with the tools of social science, on the issues of gun control and gun owner­ship—ideology, politics, and propaganda, as well as data on who owns guns, how they acquire them, and why; the effects of guns on violence—self-defense, violent crime, suicide, accidents; regulation—types, public opinion, impact on vio­lence rates; and policy lessons. His findings indicate that guns do contribute to violence, but in complex ways that are not acknowledged by either activists or academics. From the mass of evidence, he draws informed recommendations for a na­tional policy."—Book News, Inc.“This eagerly awaited magnum opus is essential reading and resource material for those interested or engaged in research on issues involving gun-related violence. Kleck’s collected research over the last decade, some of which appears here in one form or another, has touched on and attempted to identify, demystify, and remove ideological biases, of both the conventional left and right, from many of these controversial topics…. This book is suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on violence and violent crime… I will refer to it frequently in classes and research… [A] refreshingly fair and persuasive book. It is the definitive work on firearm-related issues in American society.Point Blankis on target.”—Fred Hawley,Social Forces“Point Blankis easily the most comprehensive work on firearms, violence, and firearms control ever published… [T]he book is also valuable as a reference volume. Containing mountains of statistical data on firearms production, hunting, crime, suicide, accidents, survey items, and the like, in addition to an extraordinary bibliography and literature review, the book is a virtual treasure trove of information for any researcher on the topic… The book flows nicely… [T]he point of view of this work is refreshing, especially in the context of the low-level hack rhetoric that for so long has characterized gun-control “research” by some academicians. Kleck’s research will change the direction and raise the level of discussion.”—Alan Lizotte,Contemporary Sociology“Kleck does the gun control policy debate a great service in demonstrating the complexity of issues that too often are discussed in simplistic ways in the political arena.”—H. Laurence Ross,American Journal of Sociology