Living with guns : a liberal's case for the Second Amendment / Craig R. Whitney.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Whitney, Craig R., 1943-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Firearms--Law and legislation--United States.

Firearms.

Firearms--Law and legislation.

United States.

Gun control--United States.

Gun control.

United States. Constitution--2nd Amendment.

Physical Description:

xvii, 285 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Public Affairs, [2012]

Summary:

America's war over gun control has raged since the 1960s. In 2008, the Supreme Court startled the left by concluding that with the Second Amendment the founders elevated "above all other interests" the right to bear arms "in defense of hearth and home." And as a result liberals feared the NRA would succeed in rolling back gun regulations nationwide. Discussion about guns in America has been stalemated, shortcircuited, and dominated by rigidly and mutually intolerant ideologies. Yet we may be closer to a solution than either side may imagine. In this book the author, a New York Times editor reexamines America's relationship with guns, showing how guns are an important part of American culture. The earliest colonists needed them to survive. We have nearly 300 million of them today. Trying to restrict gun ownership doesn't effectively deter crime; we need to get serious about what actually works. The author shows that, if we focus on controlling violence rather than guns themselves, the Second Amendment may not be so lethal as the left would like to think.

Contents:

The gun battles of our day

Guns and survival, guns and American independence

Guns against tyranny

Guns and self-defense in nineteenth-century America

The Second Amendment and the Supreme Court

Gun control and gun violence

The thinking behind gun rights

What can be done.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781610391696

1610391691

9781610391702

1610391705

OCLC:

778420567