Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control

Gary Kleck

Transaction Publishers - Political Science - 450 pages

This new paperback comprehensively reviews the research evidence on the links between guns, violence, and gun control, and reports results of the author's own research as well. In Targeting Guns, Kleck follows the line of argument and careful statistical inference of his earlier prizewinning volume, Point Blank, while updating the literature reviews and statistical information, and adding two chapters.

Contents

• INTRODUCTION: 1
• Trends in GunRelated Violent Crime: 8
• The Appearance of Reason Fallacies in Gun Control Reasoning: 9
• Is There an Association between Guns and Violence?: 18
• Tables: 32
• ILLEGITIMATE PRACTICES IN SUMMARIZING RESEARCH ON GUNS AND VIOLENCE: 31
• Failing to Distinguish Technically Sound Studies from Poor Ones: 31
• Inconsistent Application of Critical Standards: 31
• Using Speculation to Rebut Empirical Evidence: 37
• Selective Omission of Studies with Unsupportive Findings: 38
• The Findings Are Mixed: 43
• Nonfalsifiable Propositions and the Use of Scientific Conservatism as a Political Weapon: 44
• Evidence Is Worthless if It Is Not Perfect: 47
• An Illustration of How a Literature Review Can Mislead: 49
• An Epidemic of Misleading Summaries of Evidence: 53
• Selective Reporting by Researchers of Their Own Findings: 54
• The MedicalPublic Health Literature on Guns and Violence: 56
• False Citation of Prior Research: 60
• Conclusions: 62
• THE OWNERSHIP AND ACQUISITION OF GUNS: 63
• Who Owns Guns?: 70
• The Blumstein Speculation about Diffusion of Guns and Youth Homicide Increases in 19851991: 72
• Why People Own Guns: 74
• Uses of Guns: 85
• How Are Guns Acquired?: 86
• Interstate Gunrunning: 88
• Gun Thefts: 90
• Conclusions: 94
• Tables: 96
• SEARCHING FOR BAD GUNS The Focus on Special Gun Types: 105
• Types of Guns: 106
• Machine Guns: 108
• Assault Rifles and Assault Weapons: 110
• The Prevalence of AWs as Crime Weapons: 112
• Plastic Guns: 128
• Copkiller Bullets: 129
• Saturday Night Specials Small Cheap Handguns: 130
• Handguns: 135
• Conclusions: 139
• Tables: 141
• GUNS AND SELFDEFENSE: 147
• The Nature of Defensive Gun Use: 148
• The Frequency of Defensive Gun Use DGU: 149
• The National Crime Victimization Survey Estimates: 152
• How the Scholarly Community Has Addressed the Issue: 154
• DGU Frequency Compared with the Frequency of Gun Crimes: 159
• Problems with the Surveys: 160
• Shooting in SelfDefense: 162
• Keeping Guns Loaded in the Home: 164
• Who Uses Guns for SelfProtection?: 165
• Effectiveness and Risks of Armed Resistance to Criminals: 167
• Rape and Resistance: 174
• The Police Chiefs Fallacy: 175
• An Exercise in Ingenious Speciousness: 177
• Crimes Involving Defensive Gun Use: 179
• Guns and the Displacement of Burglars from Occupied Homes: 182
• Conclusions: 184
• Tables: 187
• CARRYING GUNS FOR SELFPROTECTION: 191
• Purposes and Motives for Carrying Guns: 193
• Prior Research: 196
• The Meaning of Gun Carrying in Surveys: 198
• Prevalence of Gun Carrying in Previous Studies: 199
• Prevalence of Carrying Guns to School and Gun Violence in School: 201
• The Impact of Carrying by Noncriminals on Carrying by Criminals: 204
• Gun Carrying among Adults: 205
• Who Carries Guns for Protection?: 207
• Conclusions: 209
• Tables: 212
• GUNS AND VIOLENT CRIME: 215
• Guns and Power: 218
• Attack: 220
• Injury: 226
• Death: 227
• Guns in Robbery and Rape: 237
• Analysis of Individual Incidents of Violence: 240
• CaseControl Research on Homicidal Behavior: 243
• Macrolevel Analysis of Gun Ownership and Violence Rates: 248
• International Comparisons and the Killias Research: 251
• A CityLevel Study of Gun Levels and Violent Crime Rates: 255
• The Blumstein Fallacy and Homicide Increases among Young Blacks 19851991: 256
• Conclusions: 258
• Tables: 260
• GUNS AND SUICIDE: 265
• Ownership and Acquisition of Suicide Guns: 267
• Types of Guns Used in Suicides: 268
• What Suicides Might Be Prevented by Reduced Gun Availability?: 269
• Prior Studies of Method Availability and Suicide Rates: 275
• CaseControl Studies of Household Gun Ownership and Suicide: 279
• The Impact of Gun Ownership Levels on Suicide Rates: 284
• CityLevel Analysis of the Impact of Guns on Suicide Rates: 285
• The Impact of Gun Control Laws on Suicide: 286
• Tables: 289
• FIREARMS ACCIDENTS: 293
• The Frequency of Gun Accidents: 294
• Trends in Gun Accidents: 296
• Children and Gun Accidents: 298
• Gun Types Involved: 302
• The Victims and Shooters in Gun Accidents: 304
• Gun Accidents and Low SelfControl: 307
• Alcohol Involvement: 308
• Defective Firearms: 312
• Reducing Gun Accidents: 313
• CityLevel Analysis of the Impact of Gun Levels on Fatal Gun Accident Rates: 320
• Conclusions: 321
• Tables: 323
• PUBLIC OPINION AND THE BASES OF SUPPORT FOR GUN CONTROL: 325
• Gun Control as a LowSalience Issue: 329
• Trends in Public Opinion on Gun Control 19591994: 334
• What Kinds of Gun Control Do Americans Favor?: 336
• The Nonutilitarian Nature of Much Gun Control Support: 338
• Who Supports Gun Control?: 340
• Culture Conflict and the War over Guns: 342
• Tables: 345
• THE IMPACT OF GUN CONTROL ON VIOLENCE RATES: 351
• Methods of Prior Research: 352
• Results of Prior Research: 357
• CrossNational Comparisons: 359
• The KleckPatterson Study of Gun Control Impact: 360
• When Florida Made It Easier to Get Carry Permits: 367
• Other Gun Control Strategies: 372
• The Brady Act: 375
• Conclusions: 377
• Tables: 378
• CONCLUSIONS: 383
• The Shape of Effective Gun Controls: 385
• A Workable Gun Control Strategy: 386
• The National Instant Records Check: 387
• Regulating Private Transfers of Guns: 388
• Adequacy of Criminal Records: 390
• Regulating Gun Carrying: 392
• Improved Enforcement of Carry Laws: 393
• Other Elements: 394
• References: 397
• Name Index: 431
• Subject Index: 441

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Bibliographic information

• Title: Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control; Social Institutions and Social Change
• Author: Gary Kleck
• Publisher: Transaction Publishers
• ISBN: 0202369412, 9780202369419
• Length: 450 pages
• Subjects: Law / General; Political Science / Law Enforcement; Social Science / General