Citation

Stell LK. J. Firearms Public Policy 1990; 3(1): 125-154.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1990, Second Amendment Foundation)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A significant portion of the American intellectual community is heir to a conventional wisdom about guns. For them, this wisdom paints a chilling picture by the numbers. It takes shape something like this. Private American citizens own approximately 120,000,000 guns (give or take twenty million). Fifty-five to sixty million of these are handguns. Fifty percent of all American households have one or more guns. Approximately ten thousand handgun homicides are committed each year. I add to this number, tens of thousands of woundings plus more than two thousand accidental deaths plus several thousand gun-suicides. A national scandal? What's the answer? In a heartbeat, the conventional wisdom screams its answer: GUN CONTROL! Pollsters Harris and Gallup say a substantial majority of Americans want it. Liberals like Ted Kennedy want it. Conservatives like George Will want it. Shouldn't we have it? Why can't we get it?