Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America

Abstract

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Acknowledgments -- Preface -- PART I. ISSUES OF GUN CONTROL AND GUN OWNERSHIP -- 1. Ideology, Politics, and Propaganda -- Ideological Ironies and Crosscurrents -- The Appearance of Reason- Fallacies in Gun Control Reasoning -- Fallacies in Anticontrol Argumentation -- Fallacies in Procontrol Argumentation -- Common Problems of Persuasion -- 2. Ownership and Uses of Guns -- Size of the Civilian Gun Stock -- Who Owns Guns? -- Why People Own Guns -- Uses of Guns -- How Are Guns Acquired? -- Conclusions -- 3. Searching for "Bad" Guns: The Focus on Special Gun Types -- Introduction -- Machine Guns -- Assault Rifles and Assault Weapons -- Plastic Guns -- "Cop-Killer" Bullets -- "Saturday Night Specials"- Small, Cheap Handguns -- Handguns -- Conclusions -- PART II. EFFECTS OF GUNS ON VIOLENCE -- 4. Guns and Self-Defense -- The Nature of Defensive Gun Use -- The Frequency of Defensive Gun Use: Survey Data -- Problems with the Surveys -- Shooting in Self-Defense -- Carrying Guns for Protection -- Psychological Effects of Keeping Guns for Protection -- Effectiveness and Risks of Armed Resistance to Criminals -- Rape and Resistance -- The Police Chiefs Fallacy -- An Exercise in Ingenious Speciousness -- Crimes Involving Defensive Gun Use -- Deterrence -- Guns and the Displacement of Burglars from Occupied Homes -- Conclusions -- Implications for Crime Control Policy -- 5. Guns and Violent Crime -- Guns and Power -- Issues of Assault Outcomes -- Attack -- Injury -- Death -- Guns in Robbery and Rape -- Individual-Level Analysis -- Problems in Analyzing Violent Incidents -- Methods of the Present Analysis -- Aggregate-Level Analysis of Gun Ownership and Violence Rates -- International Comparisons -- A City-Level Study of Gun Levels and Violent Crime Rates -- An English Test of the Link Between Guns and Crime Rates