Gun violence

Other areas of contention in the analysis of gun violence include ... 

Although the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act (which bans gun possession in and near schools) was overturned by the Supreme Court, there are plenty of laws and policies that forbid students or others from bringing guns onto school property. John Lott suggests that the characterization of gun violence in schools is rather misleading ... 

Quoted from Licensing and Registration Frequently Asked Questions. Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Available online. URL http //www. bradycampaign.org/facts/faqs/ page=licreg. Posted in June 2002. 

June 14 Handgun Control, Inc., changes its name to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. A related group, the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, is renamed the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. 

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (and its associated Educational Fund to End Gun Violence) is the other large national gun control group. Its site is located at http //www.gunfree.org and has generally the same kind of offerings as the Brady Campaign s site but has its own research and reports, so you should explore both sites thoroughly. 

Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research. Firearm Violence An Annotated Bibliography. Baltimore, Md. Johns Hopkins Center, 1996. Covers resources dealing with firearms ownership and use, legal and legislative issues, the gun industry, gun control supporters and opponents, and strategies for reducing gun violence. 

Gun Violence Gun Safety National State Resource Guide. Central Maine Medical Center. Available online. URL http //www.cmmc.org/ gunsafety.htm. Downloaded on July 7, 2004. Provides contact information and links to numerous national organizations related to gun safety and gun violence, plus state organizations in Maine. 

An accessible overview of gun control for young adult readers. Issues covered include gun violence, defensive gun use, legal issues, and the effectiveness of gun laws. 

Egendorf, Laura K. How Can Gun Violence Be Reduced San Diego, Calif Greenhaven Press, 2002. This At Issue book for junior high school and older readers offers pro and con analyses of existing gun control laws and policies (such as the Brady Law) and proposals such as requiring personalized guns that will operate only for their owner. 

Gender Gap on Gun Control Women Want Tougher Laws. San Francisco Chronicle, September 8, 1999, p. A6. Reports on an Associated Press poll that shows that 52 percent of women but only 33 percent of men believe that tougher gun laws are more likely to decrease gun violence than better enforcement of existing laws. 

Coalition to Stop Handgun Violence. The Unspoken Tragedy Firearm Suicide in the United States. Washington, D.C. Educational Fund to End Handgun Violence and Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, 1995. Reports that firearms are being increasingly used in suicides by females, a group that had previously preferred poison. Because firearms are more often lethal than other means, the fatality rate for female suicide attempts has increased. 

Cook, Philip J., and Jens Ludwig. Gun Violence The Real Costs. New York Oxford University Press, 2000. The authors, both public policy experts, painstakingly calculate the total economic impact of gun violence. They consider it to be a major public health problem that costs Americans about 100 billion a year, including both the direct costs of injury and the cost of increased security at airports and schools. However, the authors take a moderate stance on gun control, advocating registration of handguns and stricter enforcement and increased sentencing for gun-related crimes. 

Gruyter, 1997. Reviews and critiques studies of gun violence, from a generally pro-gun rights viewpoint. This book also acts as an update to Kleck s previous book. Point Blank. 

Calhoun, John A. Project Safe Neighborhoods America s Network against Gun Violence Facilitating the Work of Outreach. USA Bulletin, vol. 50, January 2002, pp. 26-28. Describes a program that combines stronger enforcement of gun laws with community outreach and education. (The same issue has a related article with 10 case smdies.)... 

Donohue, John J., Ill, and Stephen D. Levitt. Guns, Violence and the Efficiency of Illegal Markets. American Economic Review, vol. 88, May 1998, pp. 463ff. Analyzes the role of guns in economic planning by criminals such as drug gangsters. The authors conclude that their decisions are based more on who is likely to win a confrontation than on the lethality of the weapons used. 

Don t Withhold Treatment on This Epidemic. U.S. Catholic, vol. 63, September 1998, p. 25. Points out that homicide is the second leading cause of death for youths aged 15-24, and that the U.S. homicide rate is far higher than that of other countries. The article reports on efforts of the Centers for Disease Control and others to treat gun violence as an epidemic and ponders whether other social problems might be better dealt with if people treated them as seriously as physical diseases. 

Fact Sheet Firearm Injury and Death in the United States. Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research. Available online. URL http //www.jhsph.edu/gunpolicy/US factsheet 2004.pdf. Updated in January 2004. Gives statistics and trends relating to gun violence in the United States. Overall gun-related deaths have declined by 25 percent between 1993 and 2001. Other topics summarized include effects on youth, public health effects and cost of gun ownership, summary of the effects of different types of gun laws, legal issues, regulation and litigation, and public opinion. 

Kopel, David. Anti-Gun, Anti-Science The Real Enemy Is Shoddy Research. National Review Online. Available online. URL http //www. nationalreview.eom/kopel/kopel022701.shtml. Posted on February 27, 2001. Kopel, a criminologist and research director for the Independence Institute, imagines what it would be like if diseases were treated as crimes. The results would be as absurd and the research as shoddy as in the real world where some advocates want to treat gun violence as a health rather than criminal issue. An example of such junk science are studies that show higher risks of murder for people who have guns do not show causation and do not control for numerous related variables. 

Cox, Vic. Guns, Violence, and Teens. Springfield, N.J. Enslow, 1997. Written for teenagers, the book takes a teen viewpoint in looking at guns in schools, gang violence, and the positions in the public debate over gun... 

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