The politics of gun control
By: Robert J. Spitzer
Edition: 5th ed.
Publisher: Paradigm Publishers
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Boulder [Colo.]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 247
ISBN-13: 9781594519871
Subjects: Gun control
Description: In a time when each new accidental death, school shooting, or political assassination draws unprecedented and polemical media attention, the author, a member of both the NRA and the Brady Center, steers clear of divisive rhetoric to present the contentious issue of gun control in the United States. Although the topic is controversial, the author's even-handed analysis of the issue makes this an example of policy studies in the United States. The Fifth Edition: Features a new, in-depth section on the movement to allow gun carrying on college campuses ; Covers recent public shootings including that of Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona ; Includes such recent court rulings as D.C. v. Heller, McDonald v. Chicago, and others ; Offers new data on gun ownership, gun deaths, school shootings, and public opinion on gun control ; Looks at NRA politics in recent elections ; Examines ATF role changes in light of increased border patrols and heightened Mexican drug violence ; Explores phenomena related to social media including gun meet-ups.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-236) and index.
Table of contents: title: 1. Policy definition and gun control : Regulation, public order, and public policy ; Guns and regulation ; The gun controversy ; The gun culture ; Policy gridlock ; Social regulatory policy analysis; title: 2. The Second Amendment: meaning, intent, interpretation, and consequences : Historic roots ; The Constitution ; The Bill of Rights ; The militia transformed ; Supreme Court rulings ; Other court rulings ; Bad history makes bad law; title: 3. The criminological consequences of guns : America and violence ; Choice of weapons ; Homicide and malicious injury ; Suicide ; Accidents ; Self-defense ; Guns and school violence ; Gun carrying on college campuses? ; Extending the "Castle Doctrine" to America's streets; title: 4. Political fury: gun politics : Single-issue gun groups: the NRA ; Explaining the NRA's effectiveness ; The Brady campaign to prevent gun violence ; The million mom march ; The gun control movement's strategic blunders ; The political balance and the invincibility myth ; Public opinion ; Political parties and guns; title: 5. Institutions, policymaking, and guns : Early legislative efforts ; The Gun Control Act of 1968 ; The Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986 ; The tide turns: the assault weapons ban ; The Brady Bill ; The post-Columbine reaction ; Lawsuit protection for gun manufacturers ; The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives ; Conclusion: Furious politics, marginal policy; title: 6. Gun policy: a new framework : Federalism: the great regulation dilemma ; Gun policy alternatives ; The barriers to gun control ; The security dilemma ; The security dilemma and the gun debate ; Nonproliferation and arms control.