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Reactions to Can Gun Control Work?

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Can Gun Control Work?“Much of the debate over gun violence is dominated by ideologues who muddy the waters, mesmerize the press, and undermine the reasoned debate that is the heart of a true democracy. Jacobs, in contrast, adopts the clear-eyed analytical approach of a first-rate legal scholar.

“Jacobs usefully underscores how difficult it would be to overcome all the obstacles—constitutional, political, and practical—to the effective regulation of guns in a society that is not fully committed to that goal.”

John Donohue, professor of law, Stanford University School of Law, The American Prospect

“Jacobs’s lucid history of twentiethcentury gun control and its abject failure in preventing crime is a good reason to read Can Gun Control Work? Unlike most scholars—not to mention a great many politicians—Jacobs has taken the time to understand how guns actually work and which groups of people firearms regulations typically harm.”

Eli Lehrer, senior editor, The American Enterprise Institute, The Weekly Standard

“If close attention to facts, reason, and common sense has any claim on the public’s thinking, this book may well break the polarized debate over gun control and make it possible to settle on a sensible public policy regarding guns, gun safety, and the reduction of gun violence. This is a ‘must read’ for anyone concerned about the debate over gun control.”

Jan Dizard, professor, Amherst College; co-editor, Guns in America

“In his new book Can Gun Control Work?, James Jacobs doesn’t so much enter the fray as propose terms for negotiations. He offers a persuasive critique of some common but misguided approaches to gun control. And in so doing, he helps point us toward strategies that might save lives while still accommodating the place guns have, and will continue to have, in our national life.”

Barton Aronson, prosecutor, Washington, D.C., FindLaw Book Reviews