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Chargement... Living with Guns: A Liberal's Case for the Second Amendmentpar Craig Whitney
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"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." Liberals feared the NRA would succeed in rolling back 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 Living With Guns, veteran New York Times editor Craig Whitney carefully 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. Whitney 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"--
"A longtime New York Times editor reexamines America's long relationship with guns, finding less than meets the eye in arguments for greater gun regulation"-- Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
Discussion en coursAucunCouvertures populaires
Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)323.4Social sciences Political Science Civil and political rights The state and the individualClassification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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The only times I have fired a weapon have been while wearing a uniform; as a Boy Scout or with the Marines. I don’t own a firearm but I don’t have a problem with law-abiding citizens owning them. Even so, I have long favored proposed legislation against assault-type weapons in response to the increasing number of mass killings by unhinges individuals. This book has caused me to reassess this opinion.
Craig Whitney, a descendant of the same family as Eli Whitney, who brought is us the ability to mass-produce firearms, presents a well-researched study of the roots, laws, arguments and facts involved in the case for and against gun ownership in America. He also, through discussions with key people on both sides of the issue, has come up with a list of proposals that he believes both sides could agree on that would have a significant impact on the rate of gun violence in America. None of his proposals involves restricting the ownership of guns to law-abiding citizens.
The problem is that a ban such as currently proposed in Congress would do next to nothing to prevent most of the massacres that have occurred recently. Columbine, Sandy Hook, Tucson, Oakland and UVA were all carried out with weapons that are not covered under the proposed ban. Without high-capacity magazines, most of these weapons are no different than those found legally in many American homes.
Whitney’s proposals would, if implemented, have an impact on such crimes. His first proposal, filling in the holes in the national instant background check database, could have prevented the assailants in Tucson and UVA from purchasing the weapons they used. Cracking down on straw purchasers and the dealers who knowingly sell to them could have prevented Columbine.
Finally, we must all realize that the second amendment does not give gun dealers and owners carte blanche when it comes to firearms. Even Anton Scalia, the NRA’s staunchest advocate on the Supreme Court, has said. “Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited.” With gun ownership comes responsibility and that can be legislated.
I highly recommend this book regardless of where you stand on this issue. ( )