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The Bias Against Guns: Why Almost Everything You've Heard About Gun Control is Wrong
Slicing through the emotional--but factually wrong--arguments of gun control advocates this book busts a number of myths, demonstrating with hard statistical data and riveting anecdotes.
349 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 2003
19 people are currently reading
378 people want to read
About the author
John R. Lott Jr.
21 books50 followersJohn Richard Lott Jr. (born May 8, 1958) is an American economist and political commentator. Lott was formerly employed at various academic institutions including the University of Chicago, Yale University, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Maryland, College Park, and at the American Enterprise Institute conservative think tank. He is currently a Fox News opinion contributor. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from UCLA.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 4, 2012
The author's use of economics to explain trends in crime and the impacts of gun control really helped me understand the issue.
May 2, 2012
Wow. What a great read. I went into this book with all my preconceived notions aside and it blew me away. The author comes to this topic from a strictly by the numbers perspective.He doesn't just spout rhetoric or tired slogans as many do; he actually delves into numbers and statistics, many of which he worked on himself, as there wasn't a lot of research on these topics. I was surprised to find out just how much bias there is against guns from the media and the government. I highly recommend this book to anyone on any end of the spectrum of gun rights vs gun control. I found it to be very compelling and backed up by serious research and data.
January 5, 2016
This book is indeed better than More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun-Control Laws by the same author. It covers more topics and builds on that book, although there is certainly no need to read the previous one. The chapters with more interesting results (safe storage laws and assault weapons bans increase crime and don't decrease accidents, for example) are still journal articles but not quite as dry as in the previous book.
Lott makes a good point in this book: why aren't the benefits of guns considered by the media or government policy? Lott does well here when he starts the investigation into how often guns are used defensively and how successfully they are (hint: very successfully when they are used), and when he shares stories about people who have used guns defensively. Instead of complaining about how humans react to things emotionally and detailing just how lopsided media coverage of gun issues is, Lott should simply use these facts that aren't about to change in order to argue the other side like he does. His ideas about why the media don't cover beneficial uses of guns are interesting; his complaining about them doing it, not so much.
Lott makes a good point in this book: why aren't the benefits of guns considered by the media or government policy? Lott does well here when he starts the investigation into how often guns are used defensively and how successfully they are (hint: very successfully when they are used), and when he shares stories about people who have used guns defensively. Instead of complaining about how humans react to things emotionally and detailing just how lopsided media coverage of gun issues is, Lott should simply use these facts that aren't about to change in order to argue the other side like he does. His ideas about why the media don't cover beneficial uses of guns are interesting; his complaining about them doing it, not so much.
May 27, 2020
Great book jam packed with important facts and figures.
November 7, 2020
Not as good as some of the author's other books, but still worth reading.
The bulk of my objections to this book center around a tendency, particularly pronounced in the second half of the book, to beat the dead horse with statistics. Five pages into the chapter on (as just one example) the relatively narrow subject of how "gun safety" laws have no noteworthy effect on reducing accidental gun deaths and vastly increase the occurrence of rape and murder, his point has become conclusively obvious yet he keeps trying to put more proof in favor of his point when it is not needed.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not against statistics, they are obviously important and, in the abstract, the more the better. But I would place a book like this at the halfway point between a "popular" work and an "academic" work, which means it should have more statistics than a popular work but not as much as he has given.
Alternatively, he could have put a lot more of the statistics he included in the main chapters in his appendix section. Otherwise, however, the cramming of such statistics is better for a reference work as opposed to a general read.
That said, it was still a good read. The first half of the book does a great service in illustrating the hypocrisy of the media, celebrities, and gun control groups -- meaning even more than the already obvious hypocrisy we all observe in our everyday lives. A great supplement to his other works.
The bulk of my objections to this book center around a tendency, particularly pronounced in the second half of the book, to beat the dead horse with statistics. Five pages into the chapter on (as just one example) the relatively narrow subject of how "gun safety" laws have no noteworthy effect on reducing accidental gun deaths and vastly increase the occurrence of rape and murder, his point has become conclusively obvious yet he keeps trying to put more proof in favor of his point when it is not needed.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not against statistics, they are obviously important and, in the abstract, the more the better. But I would place a book like this at the halfway point between a "popular" work and an "academic" work, which means it should have more statistics than a popular work but not as much as he has given.
Alternatively, he could have put a lot more of the statistics he included in the main chapters in his appendix section. Otherwise, however, the cramming of such statistics is better for a reference work as opposed to a general read.
That said, it was still a good read. The first half of the book does a great service in illustrating the hypocrisy of the media, celebrities, and gun control groups -- meaning even more than the already obvious hypocrisy we all observe in our everyday lives. A great supplement to his other works.
August 28, 2013
If you want to find out substantive truth about how various laws gun affect crime, how the media portrayal affects opinion and how the truth is often pushed to the side in this never-ending battle, READ THIS BOOK!
Loot is the definitive author in this matter. He pours thousands of hours into research and presents it in a "just the facts ma'am" way. He states at the outset, he has no agenda towards judging whether people should own guns or not, he simply states the cause and affect on various issues, presenting a very well-rounded study of how guns, gun laws and gun owners affect crime.
This should be a must read for any lawmaker who introduces or supports any gun control legislation. It should be a must read for any gun owner who either legally carries or has guns in the home for self-defense. It really should be read by anyone who has any interest in the matter at all.
The facts presented in this book could potentially be the difference between life and death.
Loot is the definitive author in this matter. He pours thousands of hours into research and presents it in a "just the facts ma'am" way. He states at the outset, he has no agenda towards judging whether people should own guns or not, he simply states the cause and affect on various issues, presenting a very well-rounded study of how guns, gun laws and gun owners affect crime.
This should be a must read for any lawmaker who introduces or supports any gun control legislation. It should be a must read for any gun owner who either legally carries or has guns in the home for self-defense. It really should be read by anyone who has any interest in the matter at all.
The facts presented in this book could potentially be the difference between life and death.
September 21, 2010
why is it that some of the same people who demand abortion be available now and forever, hallelujah, amen, are some of the same people who would demand, as the good senator from cailifornia would, mr and mrs america turn them in (guns)?
so? does a woman on her way to the abortion clinic have the right to keep and bear arms to protect herself against rape and other harm? does she have that right to her body?
i don't believe lott, i know he doesn't, make the above argument/statements/questions in this study. but the case he makes is more than persuasive, it's chilling.
so? does a woman on her way to the abortion clinic have the right to keep and bear arms to protect herself against rape and other harm? does she have that right to her body?
i don't believe lott, i know he doesn't, make the above argument/statements/questions in this study. but the case he makes is more than persuasive, it's chilling.
April 8, 2015
GREAT. It really helped me with my research paper. Lott gave the facts in an un-biased way.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews