The Citizen's Guide to Gun Control

Examines the relationship between firearms and interpersonal violence, analyzes patterns of gun ownership in the U.S., and looks at the future of gun control legislation

This book by two criminologists is based on the misguided assumption that the material on police blotters is less the stuff of newspaper headlines and more that of scholarship, and that such an inconclusive study as this will interest general readers. The authors repeat virtually every cliche about gun control, starting with the information that Americans own more guns than residents of any other industrialized nation and ending with the warning that "reducing gun violence will be a difficult, complex, and expensive task." Along the way, they offer such observations as: "New firearms are normally sold by manufacturers and importers to wholesalers, who sell to dealers, who in turn sell to consumers." There are, incidentally, no recommendations on solving the problem of firearm violence.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This is a clearly written review of the literature on gun control by two well-known criminologists who were generally considered to be representatives of the neo-conservative wing of criminology. This small volume plus James D. Wright and Peter H. Rossi's Under the Gun , 1983, and Armed and Considered Dangerous, 1986 (both published by De Gruyer Aldine) represent the best comprehensive reviews on this complicated subject. Taken together, the three volumes provide a clear and balanced introduction to the issues of gun control. John Broderick, Sociology Dept., Stonehill Coll., North Easton, Mass.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.