Guns 101

With a background in firearms instruction, sales, and organizations, Steier's knowledge has been cultivated through years of in-depth experience and per- sonal dedication. In Guns 101, Steier covers the basics (what guns are for and how they work), but also discusses many types of firearms, firearm accessories, and gun activities--enough to help any reader carry on an intelligent conversation. From shop etiquette to do-it-yourself repairs, Guns 101 answers all of your gun questions. Complete with diagrams and photographs that make all of the technical details clear, this book is essential reading for any newcomer to the world of guns. Skyhorse Publishing is proud to publish a broad range of books for hunters and firearms enthusiasts. We publish books about shotguns, rifles, handguns, target shooting, gun collecting, self-defense, archery, ammunition, knives, gunsmithing, gun repair, and wilderness survival. We publish books on deer hunting, big game hunting, small game hunting, wing shooting, turkey hunting, deer stands, duck blinds, bowhunting, wing shooting, hunting dogs, and more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

With a background in firearms instruction, sales, and organizations, Steier’s knowledge has been cultivated through years of in-depth experience and per- sonal dedication. In Guns 101, Steier covers the basics (what guns are for and how they work), but also discusses many types of firearms, firearm accessories, and gun activities—enough to help any reader carry on an intelligent conversation. From shop etiquette to do-it-yourself repairs, Guns 101 answers all of your gun questions. Complete with diagrams and photographs that make all of the technical details clear, this book is essential reading for any newcomer to the world of guns.

In vast swathes of America, the sacredness of the Second Amendment has become a political third rail, never to be questioned. Gun rights supporters wear tri-cornered hats, wave the stars and stripes, and ask what would have happened if the revolutionaries had been unarmed when the British were coming. They have had great success in conflating unfettered gun ownership with the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, and all things American, even in an era of repeated mass shootings. Yet the all-too-familiar narrative of America's gun past, echoed in the Supreme Court's Heller gun rights decision, is not only mythologized, but historically wrong. As Robert J. Spitzer demonstrates in Guns across America, gun ownership is as old as the nation, but so is gun regulation. Drawing on a vast new dataset of early gun laws reflecting every imaginable type of regulation, Spitzer reveals that firearms were actually more strictly regulated in the country's first three centuries than in recent years. The first "gun grabbers" were not 1960's Chablis-drinking liberals, but seventeenth century rum-guzzling pioneers, and their legacy continued through strict gun regulations in the 1920s and beyond. Spitzer examines interpretations of the Second Amendment, the assault weapons controversy, modern "stand your ground" laws, and the so-called "right of rebellion" to show that they play out in America's contemporary political landscape in ways that bear little resemblance to our imagined past. And as gun rights proponents seek to roll back gun laws and press as many guns into as many hands as possible, warning that gun rights are endangered, they sidestep the central question: are stricter gun laws incompatible with robust gun rights? Spitzer answers this question by examining New York State's tough gun laws, where his political analysis is complemented by his own quest for a concealed carry handgun permit and construction of a legal AR-15 assault weapon. Not only can gun rights and rules coexist, but they have throughout American history. Guns across America reveals the long-hidden truth: that gun regulations are in fact as American as apple pie

Guns are an enduring symbol of imperialism, whether they are used to impose social order, create ceremonial spectacle, incite panic, or to inspire confidence. In Guns and Society, Saheed Aderinto considers the social, political, and economic history of these weapons in colonial Nigeria. As he transcends traditional notions of warfare and militarization, Aderinto reveals surprising insights into how colonialism changed access to firearms after the 19th century. In doing so, he explores the unusual ways in which guns were used in response to changes in the Nigerian cultural landscape. More Nigerians used firearms for pastime and professional hunting in the colonial period than at any other time. The boom and smoke of gunfire even became necessary elements in ceremonies and political events. Aderinto argues that firearms in the Nigerian context are not simply commodities but are also objects of material culture. Considering guns in this larger context provides a clearer understanding of the ways in which they transformed a colonized society.

The guns still stand at Gettysburg amid the markers and the monuments on the hallowed ground. And it is fitting that they do, for Gettysburg marked not only the high tide of the Confederacy and the turning point of the war, but also the greatest cannonade ever seen in this hemisphere. In no battle of the Civil War did artillery play a more decisive role than it did here, and no factor contributed more to the Union victory than the superior handling of the Federal cannon. Amid all the discussions of the errors of generalship on both sides, too little credit has been given to that all-but-forgotten hero of the battle, General Henry Jackson Hunt, the chief of the Union artillery. In reappraising and retelling the battle form the artilleryman’s point of view, Colonel Downey has made a real contribution to our understanding of the reasons for the Confederate failure to crush the Army of the Potomac.