Gun Violence in America: The Struggle for Control
The gun-control debate continues . . .DeConde, an emeritus professor of history at the University of California at Santa Barbara, ranks with Michael Bellesiles (Arming America, 2000) and Garry Wills (A Necessary Evil, 1999) as a challenger of gun ownership myths. DeConde explores the opposition to private gun ownership, which developed early and became increasingly organized as the nation grew more urban and industrialized. He traces these movements; considers the roles of local, state, and federal government; and addresses attitudes toward the militia and popular resistance to conscription. "From the time firearms became reasonably reliable personal weapons," DeConde declares, "local authorities attempted with various restraints to keep them out of the hands of the wrong people." The U.S. experience is "exceptional," he suggests, only in that "most other peoples do not have . . . an enigmatic gun 'right' imbedded in a Constitution and vaunted as a civil liberty."Mary CarrollCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved