Gun Crime In Global Contexts

Every year around three-quarters of a million people die (directly or indirectly) as a result of gun violence, with most deaths occurring in the poorest, yet also most highly weaponized parts of the world. Firearm proliferation -- 875 million global firearms -- is a direct contributor to both regional conflicts and to crime. This book attempts to understand the inter-related dynamics of supply and demand which are weaponizing the world. Now over ten years after Peter Squires’s Gun Culture or Gun Control?, the issues pertaining to gun violence and gun control have developed dramatically. With Gun Crime in Global Contexts, Peter Squires offers a cutting-edge account of contemporary developments in the politics of gun crime and the social and theoretical issues that surround the problem. This book contains: an innovative political analysis of neo-liberal globalization and weapon proliferation; an overview of recent gun control debates and gang strategies in the UK; an updated analysis of US gun politics: self-defence, race and the ‘culture war’; a critical analysis of US school and rampage shootings, how they have impacted the gun debate and how different societies have responded to mass shootings; an examination of the UN's development of an Arms Trade Treaty (2001--13); a discussion of weapon trafficking; discussions about youth gangs around the world, including those in Brazil, Kenya, West Africa, Mexico and South Africa. With its interdisciplinary perspective and global reach, this book will be important reading for academics and students interested in youth and gang crime, violent crime and comparative criminal justice, as well as peace and security studies and international relations.

This edited book addresses the issues of gun trafficking and gun violence across different regions of the world, including the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania. It seeks to identify global key trends on gun trafficking and related violence and discuss different enforcement measures. Each chapter is written by teams of distinguished academics and/or experienced practitioners to include practitioner insights and policy proposals on issues related to gun violence and gun trafficking. Chapters offer an overview of violence and recent gun control debates in the regions, enumerate challenges, provide lessons learnt, and recommend policy solutions. An overview of the global small arms trade is provided at the beginning alongside a comparative analysis of common challenges and significant differences across the regions. This book speaks to those in Criminology, International Relations, Public Policy, International Security, Public health and Law, and to civil society organizations, think tanks, research centers, policy analysts and policy makers involved in gun control debates.

Private gun ownership for self-defense remains a major personal and public issue in the United States, driven by concerns about crime, vulnerability and a range of ‘ideological’ factors, including race and gender. As media attention centres upon the extent to which women are taking up firearms, with the gun lobby and firearms manufacturers celebrating the ‘new armed woman’, and guns being promoted as ‘Rape Prevention Kits’, this book explores the changing gendered aspects of gun ownership. Can ownership of firearms by women be considered, as some have claimed, the embodiment of what might be termed ‘pioneer feminism’, as women resist male violence in a dangerous world, or are different stories told by the prominence of women in firearms control campaigns, or the fact that women remain frequent victims of male gun ownership? Analysing representations of the ‘armed woman’ in firearm and gun lobby marketing and advertising campaigns, together with television and popular music forms, Gender and Firearms: My Body, My Choice, My Gun examines the directions taken in the public debate on weaponisation in the United States, considering the role of women in the politics of gun safety and gun control. The book draws on statistical evidence in order to shed light on trends in gun ownership, whilst engaging with feminist scholarship on the relationship between gender, violence, risk and vulnerabilities, thus opening up critical new debates surrounding identity, performance, gender and risk in contemporary societies. As such the book will be of likely interest to sociologists and scholars of sociology, criminology, and cultural and media studies with interests in gender, embodiment, risk, crime and violence.

Private gun ownership for self-defence remains a major issue in the US, driven by concerns about crime, vulnerability and ideological factors including race and gender. This book explores the changing gendered aspects of gun ownership.

This book provides in-depth coverage of guns, gun violence and gun homicides from a variety of perspectives, including, but not limited to, gender, suicide, peaceology and police (in)action. Reflecting changes in contemporary perceptions as well as desires for scholarship emanating from under-researched areas of the globe, this book addresses the pervasive issue of guns, gun violence and gun homicides. Authored by a wide range of Social Science experts, and premised on the notions of epistemological diversity, inclusivity and knowledge production in the Global South, this book provides comprehensive coverage on the nebulous concern of guns and their destructive force using differing approaches to the same problem, with a focus on prevention/reduction of gun violence. Readers may find the chapters contained in this book to be fascinating, provocative, informative, clearly presented and solution oriented. This book is of special interest to students, criminologists, policymakers, criminal justice system officials and laypersons. It is invaluable to policymakers at differing levels of government who provide advice on the social issue of guns and gun violence in their respective jurisdictions.

As cultural, social, political, and historical objects, guns are rich with complex and contested significance. What guns mean, why they matter, and what policies should be undertaken to regulate guns remain issues of vigorous scholarly and public debate. Gun Studies offers fresh research and original perspectives on the contentious issue of firearms in public life. Comprising global, interdisciplinary contributions, this insightful volume examines difficult and timely questions through the lens of: Social practice Marketing and commerce Critical theory Political conflict Public policy Criminology Questions explored include the evolution of American gun culture from recreation to self-protection; the changing dynamics of the pro-gun and pro-regulation movements; the deeply personal role of guns as sources of both injury and security; and the relationship between gun-wielding individuals, the state, and social order in the United States and abroad. In addition to introducing new research, Gun Studies presents reflections by senior scholars on what has been learned over the decades and how gun-related research has influenced public policy and everyday conversations. Offering provocative and often intimate perspectives on how guns influence individuals, social structures, and the state in both dramatic and nuanced ways, Gun Studies will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as sociology, political science, legal history, criminology, criminal justice, social policy, armaments industries, and violent crime. It will also appeal to policy makers and all others interested in and concerned about the use of guns.

Does allowing people to own or carry guns deter violent crime? Or does it simply cause more citizens to harm each other? Directly challenging common perceptions about gun control, legal scholar John Lott presents the most rigorously comprehensive data analysis ever done on crime statistics and right-to-carry laws. This timely and provocative work comes to the startling conclusion: more guns mean less crime. In this paperback edition, Lott has expanded the research through 1996, incorporating new data available from states that passed right-to-carry and other gun laws since the book's publication as well as new city-level statistics. "Lott's pro-gun argument has to be examined on the merits, and its chief merit is lots of data. . . . If you still disagree with Lott, at least you will know what will be required to rebut a case that looks pretty near bulletproof."Peter Coy, Business Week "By providing strong empirical evidence that yet another liberal policy is a cause of the very evil it purports to cure, he has permanently changed the terms of debate on gun control. . . . Lott's book could hardly be more timely. . . . A model of the meticulous application of economics and statistics to law and policy."John O. McGinnis, National Review "His empirical analysis sets a standard that will be difficult to match. . . . This has got to be the most extensive empirical study of crime deterrence that has been done to date." Public Choice "For anyone with an open mind on either side of this subject this book will provide a thorough grounding. It is also likely to be the standard reference on the subject for years to come."Stan Liebowitz, Dallas Morning News "A compelling book with enough hard evidence that even politicians may have to stop and pay attention. More Guns, Less Crimeis an exhaustive analysis of the effect of gun possession on crime rates."James Bovard, Wall Street Journal "John Lott documents how far 'politically correct' vested interests are willing to go to denigrate anyone who dares disagree with them. Lott has done us all a service by his thorough, thoughtful, scholarly approach to a highly controversial issue."Milton Friedman

Firearms: Global Perspectives on Consequences, Crime and Control explores the many dimensions of the illicit use of firearms across the globe, including legal, social science, technical and research perspectives on the issue. Employing a global set of case studies, the book introduces students to the core issues related to the trafficking, manufacture, availability and criminal use of firearms, as well as firearms markets, national and international legal frameworks to control firearms, the response of the criminal justice system, the role of civil society in affecting change and how students can get involved through research and action. Firearms will be of great interest to students of Criminology, Criminal Justice, International Law, International Development, Policing, Crime Control and Community Safety.