Gary Kleck is professor at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice of Florida State University.

Don B. Kates is a partner at the national law firm of Benenson & Kates.

In a nation where nearly one-half of all households have firearms, the gun control issue has never been more relevant. While some Americans support controls aimed at disarming only criminals and the irresponsible, others oppose any controls at all, seeing them as steps toward the confiscation of all firearms. Intelligent public debate on what types of controls, if any, are feasible requires some understanding of the results of the best research on guns and violence. In this thought-provoking study of the issue, researchers Gary Kleck and Don B. Kates closely examine the arguments used by advocates and opponents of gun control, identify crucial factual assumptions behind the arguments, and systematically address these assumptions using evidence from the best research available on the subject. Among the topics addressed are media bias in coverage of gun issues, prohibitionist measures for reducing gun violence, the frequency and effectiveness of the defensive use of guns, and a close analysis of the Second Amendment.

Easily understood by both specialists and laypersons, this engaging work will help the reader grasp the many facets of this complex issue.

Today, the right to own a gun is under assault like never before. Every time a firearm is used in a high-profile crime, calls for stricter gun regulation—even outright prohibition—are pounded into us by a press that has taken sides. In fact, when it comes to guns, journalists have clearly made up their minds. According to a recent study, television news stories calling for stricter gun laws outnumbered newscasts opposing such laws by a ratio of ten to one. In other words, we are hearing only one side of the story.

This is the other side.

"A blockbuster book every freedom-loving American should read." — Christopher Ruddy, editor, NewsMax.com

In The Seven Myths of Gun Control, award-winning journalist and bestselling author Richard Poe cuts through the blizzard of anti-gun propaganda and uncovers the truth about guns, crime, and freedom. He details the seven most common arguments used by gun prohibitionists, debunking each one with a wealth of statistical and legal data gleaned from top experts in the field of guns and gun rights. You will discover that, contrary to myth, the availability of guns leads to less crime, not more; that guns do not pose a special threat to our children; and that the Second Amendment is as vital to the lives and liberty of modern Americans as it was in frontier times. You will also learn how the current drive to further regulate and even outlaw firearms is a point-blank assault not only on truth but on freedom as well.

Provocative, accessible, and persuasive, The Seven Myths of Gun Control is a thoughtful and invaluable contribution to the national debate about guns.

From the Author
Between 1776 and 2000, many Americans lost sight of their moral and political compass. We may be on our way to losing our system of government if the debate on guns is not re-focused on issues as seen by the Founding Fathers. To put America on the path intended by the Founding Fathers, "the people" have to regain influence over government representatives. They are out of our control and too much under the control of big business interests. Hopefully this book will be widely read by American citizens. We need to be better informed about these issues: (A) how our government is meant to function, (B) how an armed citizenry is meant to provide checks against, (1) government encroachment of individual rights, (2) government tyranny, and (3) lawless attacks by criminals that government cannot prevent. Hopefully many Americans will read A Little Handbook on the Second Amendment. Hopefully many will send copies to their government representatives. Too many politicians seem to be trained to ignore what they do not want to hear. If you send a government representative a copy and then write frequently using the book as a reference, it will be more difficult for him or her to ignore the truth.

From the Back Cover
An easily read summary of information found in academic books on the Second Amendment. Every American should read this book. Every politician should receive a copy of this book. The greatest challenge of a scholar is to change the mind of another.

Book Description
A Little Handbook on the Second Amendment is one of the only books (maybe the only book) on the Second Amendment providing an easily read summary of information found in academic books. It includes information that our government, big business interests, and the American media do not want you to know. It clearly demonstrates that the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights recognizes a right of individual citizens to possess and carry privately owned firearms free from infringement by state governments and the federal government.

Funk's Commentary in the Howard Law Journal, January 10, 2000

Reviewer: Giacomo Caliendo from Illinois

From T. Markus Funk, "Is the Second Amendment Really Such a Riddle? Tracing the Historical "Origins of an Anglo-American Right" 39 Howard Law Journal 411 (1995):

Few topics of contemporary social, moral, and political debate can provoke as much raw emotion and open hostility as the Second Amendment, particularly in relation to the topic of gun prohibition. This subject routinely causes many well-intentioned people of whatever view to give up all pretense of courtesy and reason in favor of ad hominem attacks on those with whom they disagree. Readers of history professor Joyce Lee Malcolm's To Keep and Bear Arms: The Origins of an Anglo-American Right will find these ugly by-products of the contemporary conflict refreshingly absent. Malcolm clearly keeps her distance from any broad normative judgments about the social utilities or costs of civilian firearms possession, offering instead a sober, scholarly, historical discussion of the Amendment's origins. Meticulously tracing the British history of regulations on firearms ownership from the Middle Ages on, she provides a detailed and illuminating history that includes the English Bill of Rights and, a century later, the American one. Because it is only in this historical context that the Second Amendment's meaning can be fully understood and appreciated, Malcolm's book is essential reading for anyone interested in this complex and controversial subject.

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