NY Review of Books on Guns - A Surprisingly Moderate and Reasonable Take

David Cole has an excellent review of three recent books/blogs relate to guns in America.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/jun/20/facing-real-gun-problem/

It is worth reading for anyone who is not reflexive in their response to gun ownership.  Put simply, Cole dispels the myths that sustain both gun rights advocates and gun ownership advocates.  In place of myth, Cole offers a rationale analysis of what causes gun violence and what might be done to limit it without resorting to unconstitutional, unpopular, and unrealistic bans on guns.  In a telling passage, Cole notes

[A]s Nocera's Gun Report and any viewing of the evening news illustrates, the media regularly cover gun violence, and as Diaz (a reflexively anti-gun author) himself demonstrates, the toll of death, injuries, and crime inflicted with guns is no secret.  It's true that gun manufacturer's market their wares, but who would expect otherwise?  Guns have become increasingly lethal, but most gun violence is caused by ordinary handguns, not militarized assault weapons.  Diaz devotes almost an entire chapter to a detailed description of the very powerful Barrett 50-caliber anti-armor sniper rifle.  But he then notes that this weapon has been involved in only about thirty-six criminal incidents nationwide over a twenty-three-year period, or less than two a year.  Civilians may not have any legitimate need for such a rifle, but it is hardly the core of the problem.

In a succinct manner, Cole demonstrates that the problem of gun violence is rather pedestrian.  The vast majority of gun violence, as I noted in an earlier post, is perpetrated with handguns.  However, handguns are not going away.  The Second Amendment protects the rights of Americans to own handguns and the vast majority of Americans do not support their ban (74% oppose banning handguns per a Gallup poll Cole cites).  In Cole's words, we not "to recognize that there are legitimate competing interests on [the gun rights] side of the ledger, and that many Americans value those interests particularly deeply."  If we are to attack the problem of gun violence, we will fail miserably if the only solution involves banning guns that are popular and constitutionally protected.

Instead of the usual anti-gun dogma, Cole proposes a respectful balancing that takes into account the practical reality that gun ownership is here to stay.  First, he proposes revisiting the push for background checks which, as everyone is aware, enjoy strong majority support among even gun owners.  Second, he proposed common sense safety regulations that would make it more difficult for guns to be shot accidentally. Critically, Cole recognizes that gun owners are persons to whom respect is owed and his proposals are not in any way paternalistic.

Most importantly, Cole recognizes that the rate of gun violence is far more pronounced in urban, poor areas. He astutely recognizes that the only way to really reduce gun violence is to reduce the effects of urban poverty.  This means better social safety nets, better schools, and better living conditions.  We may disagree with the best manner of achieving the goal of reducing urban poverty, but as Cole makes clear, if we want to reduce the number of persons killed or injured with guns, the the only way to do so substantially is to stop poor urbanites from shooting each other.