Unintended Consequences – Chapter Three: Paper Targets Don’t Shoot Back and Have No Right to Live
It is difficult to shoot a handgun accurately, even under the most tranquil of circumstances. “The handgun is the most difficult firearm to shoot accurately and rapidly; skill comes only with practice,” according to Massad Ayoob.80 But many handgun owners don’t…
Unintended Consequences – Chapter Two: Safety Last
Every handgun is inherently deadly. None can ever be considered safe. Therefore, safety issues begin to multiply from the moment a person accepts the industry’s arguments and brings home a handgun for self-defense.h Even if the handgun is never called…
Unintended Consequences – Chapter One: Selling A Lie
According to gun makers and the gun lobby, packing heat for self-defense has always been as American as apple pie. In their version of history, “responsible” gun owners from the beginning of the American experience have relied on a revolver…
Unintended Consequences – Introduction: The Emerging Public Health Debate
Handguns inflict a staggering toll on our society. More than one million Americans have died in firearm homicides, suicides, and unintentional shootings since 1962. Handguns were used in more than 670,000 of these fatal shootings.4 On average, if someone gets shot…
Unintended Consequences – Summary
One question lies at the heart of the public health and safety approach to gun control: Do the risks associated with firearms outweigh their benefits?a The question is particularly acute with respect to handguns, which are responsible for most of America’s…
License to Kill IV – Section Three: Conclusion
While advocates of relaxed concealed carry laws promise the public protection from crime, Texas Department of Public Safety data details the day-to-day, real-world effect of such laws: they arm criminals and threaten public safety. All too often, concealed carry license…
License to Kill IV – Section Two: Details of Specific Arrest Incidents Involving Concealed Handgun License Holders
Using outside resources, such as newspaper accounts, law enforcement reports, and public data on criminal records, the Violence Policy Center was able to obtain additional information on 11 of the 5,314 arrests reported by the DPS�10 for murder or attempted…
Pocket Rockets – Section One: A Pocketful of Death
“Because such firearms are so portable and lightweight, it’s extremely easy to wave them around indiscriminately – unintentionally placing yourself and others in possible danger. Remember, the smaller the handgun, the easier it is to point it in the wrong…
Pocket Rockets – Endnotes
Jim Grover, “Don’t Be a Victim!,” Guns & Ammo (July 1992), pp. 20-21. “Alejandro Mayorkas Holds Briefing With Others on the Furrow Case,” FDCH Political Transcripts (August 12, 1999). “Man accused in Jewish center shootings pawned guns repeatedly,” The Associated…
Sitting Ducks – Section Two: Industrial Targets and the 50 Caliber Sniper Rifle
In the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, experts have said that anti-terror analysis must focus on simultaneous attacks mounted by relatively simple conventional means, but capable of inflicting catastrophic damage.37 The materiel-destroying capability…