The Changing Politics of Gun Control

by Clyde Wilcox

Book Overview

In recent years, political discourse about gun control and the Second Amendment has become increasingly volatile and this collection of original essays by top scholars illuminates the various reasons why. Gun lobbies such as the National Rifle Association are more organized and aggressive and their issue agenda has evolved as new and more powerful weapons and militia appear. On the other side of the debate, the critical wounding of James Brady gave...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0847686159
• ISBN13: 9780847686155
• Release Date: May 1998
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Length: 284 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.8" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Nice piece of scholarly work.

On the whole, the work was put together nicely. Although the two editors acknowledge for purposes of full disclosure their preferences towards a certain degree of gun control, they take care to differentiate between their scholarly work and their personal opinions. They present a number of well-balanced essays covering gun control and gun politics. For those seeking pro-gun or anti-gun propaganda to fit preconceived notions towards this policy arena, I suggest you find other material. Books from Wayne LaPierre or Sarah Brady would suffice for those purposes. However, this book is perfect for a researched and documented study of a full array of perspectives on gun control and gun policy. It is true that people approaching this book from one or the other perspective will inevitably disagree with some parts. For instance, I found myself extremely disappointed with Diana Lambert's hit piece against the NRA titled: Trying to Stop the Craziness of This Business. On the other hand, the use of John Kingdon's agenda model (from his book on policy agendas) as applied to the area of gun control made for fascinating and insightful reading. The book could have been better, but it unquestionably deserves a higher rating than other reviews have given. Do not let the biased opinions of ideologues dissuade you from buying it. Dr. Bruce and Dr. Wilcox are both well-respected scholars in their fields, and they have done an outstanding job with this work.