Gun Control Skeptics

Book Review
reviewed by Cam Osborne
September 1981

Restricting Handguns: The Liberal Skeptics Speak Out, Don B. Kates, ed.

The ever-expanding library of libertarian literature falls into two broad categories. The first concerns the philosophy of liberty -- laying the intellectual foundations for and the principles of a free society. This endeavor has been continuing for many years and its development is vital to the cause of freedom.

However, in the last two decades or so a substantial literature has emerged which falls into the second category -- the actual empirical research which refutes the claims of the advocates of the state. Numerous books by libertarians on such topics as historical revisionism, rent control, the welfare state, and psychiatry come to mind.

Works such as these form a necessary component of the libertarian's intellectual arsenal, for while strong and compelling arguments can be made for liberty from a moral position, these arguments can be immeasurably strengthened with empirical data.

For too long, the empirical data on the issue of gun control has been lacking. Don B. Kates has remedied this situation and remedied it in a brilliant and eye-opening manner with his recent collection of essays. This book could not have come at a more opportune time, for the recent shootings of John Lennon, Ronald Reagan, and the Pope have caused a clamor for even more rigid controls on firearms. Unfortunately, however, since publication the book has been virtually ignored, a situation which is not likely to change. This is truly a tragedy for it is difficult for anyone regardless of ideological persuasion or emotional attitude toward guns, to advocate firearms restrictions after reading this book.

Kates dramatically shows that virtually everything the advocates of gun control say about the existing situation is 100% wrong -- that they are either misinformed or have performed outright frauds in their representation of the facts. For instance, they like to point out that the data show that tougher gun laws reduce gun homicides. In page after page the whole anti-libertarian case for gun control is painstakingly and devastatingly shattered.

Also included in this collection are essays on the history of firearms control and a special chapter (worth the price of the book alone) on the liberating effects of handgun ownership on the ability of women to defend themselves not only from violence in general, but from predatory men in particular. As the last line in the chapter puts it, "God didn't make men and women equals -- Colonel Colt did."

This book is highly recommended. It will forever change your views about firearms and their relationship to self defence in our violent society.