Saturday, May 19, 2018

Guns Don't Kill People, People Kill People: And Other Myths About Guns and Gun Control Paperback – July 26, 2016 by Dennis A. Henigan (Beacon Press)



In debunking the many myths prevalent in the contemporary gun debates Dennis A. Henigan makes far more good points than bad. And unlike some bloated commentary, he does not simply create more bumper stickers, that is a weak and horribly misguided misreading of the book. But alas, some people can only repeat a few cherry-picked items to create an illusion so...

Back to the book, the evidence supports more stringent gun (and bullet) control, which to the knee-jerks (and the just plain jerks) means "they gonna take all my guns!" With very few exceptions that is not what adequate control as debated would do. But they can always use the over-used and, again, weak counter about a slippery slope. These people must live in mountainous ice country to experience so many slippery slopes.

I would recommend this to people on both sides of the debate and those, who are likely the majority, who are in the middle and confused because of the hyperbole from (mostly) the NRA but also the gun control lobby as well. Unfortunately this is one of the topics that find very few venues for actual debate and you usually end up with tangential bluster about mental health (which is certainly a concern but is used as a smoke screen so that, by attacking the mental health profession the debate switches to a different topic) or historical events and debates that only tangentially touch on the topic as it stands today.

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