Introduction

The following is a continually growing list of essays on the subject of gun control. An essay may be listed here for a variety of reasons. GunCite may agree or disagree with the opinions and conclusions of the authors. Some essays may contain erroneous or misleading statistics, others, in part, may succumb to faulty reasoning. However, because an essay is not perfect, doesn't mean the entire composition is invalid or has nothing to offer. Some essays will be listed simply to show an opposing viewpoint.

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Gun Control Essays

[If you are not familiar with the Constitution, the Commerce Clause (and its evisceration), or why some of the Founders thought a bill of rights not only unnecessary, but detrimental to liberty , this essay (though maybe dry to some) is a must read. The constitutional principles defended here, should be taught and re-taught. The Second Amendment's meaning is irrelevant, and most forms of gun control, at the federal level, are unconstitutional. (To a lesser degree the same applies to the states if we consider the original intent of the Fourteenth Amendment, but that is a different subject.) ]

• Reynolds, Glen Harlan, Kids, Guns, and the Commerce Clause: Is the Court Ready for Constitutional Government?, Cato Policy Analysis (October 10, 1994).

  [Same theme as the above essay, but briefer.]
  

• Sowell, Thomas, Ignorance of freedom, Jewish World Review (May 19, 2000).

  [Does a connection exist "between the restrictiveness of a country's civilian weapons policy and its liability to commit genocide?"]
  

• Polsby, Daniel L. and Don B. Kates, Jr., Of Holocausts and Gun Control, Washington University Law Quarterly (Vol. 75, No. 3, Fall 1997).

  [Some credit this article for initiating today's flourishing Second Amendment legal scholarship.]
  

• Levinson, Sanford, The Embarrassing Second Ammendment, Yale Law Journal (1989).

  [Clearing-up a statistical fog of war.]
  

• Murray, Iain, Perspective: Questionable stats plague gun debate, DenverPost.com (June 18, 2000).

  [Shooting-spree survivor expresses his thoughts on gun control.]
  

• Goldstein, Hillel, I Am Alive, No Thanks to Gun Control , The New American (July 17, 2000).

• Editorial - What moms should march for, Savannah Morning News (May 14, 2000).

• Jones, Ava, Guns Empower Women: The Considered Opinion, KeepAndBearArms.org.

• Malkin, Michelle, In defense of an armed citizenry, Jewish World Review (April 13, 2000).

• Kopel, David, An Army of Gun Lies, National Review (April 17, 2000).

• [Written 75 years ago, but some arguments don't change much.]
  Mencken, H.L., The Uplifters Try It Again, Baltimore Sun (Nov. 30, 1925).

• Young, Cathy, When liberals lie about guns, Salon (March 13, 2000).

• Kates, Don, Jr., Bigotry, Symbolism, and Ideology in the Battle over Gun Control, Public Interest Law Review (1992).

  [Think twice before supporting your "local militia."]
  

• Macnutt, Karen L., Militias, Women and Guns Magazine (March, 1995).

  [An amusing self-defense anectdote.]
  

• Lyn Bates, Lessons in Reality: Bitches with Guns, Women and Guns Magazine (July, 1994).

• Volokh, Eugene, UCLA Law School, Guns and the Constitution, The Wall Street Journal (April 12, 1999, p. A23).

• Kopel, David B., Christopher C. Little, Communitarians, Neorepublicans, and Guns: Assessing the Case for Firearms Prohibition, Maryland Law Review (1997).

  ["The Second Amendment is widely seen as quite unusual, because it has a justification clause as well as an operative clause. Professor Volokh points out that this structure was actually quite commonplace in American constitutions of the Framing era."]
  

• Volokh, Eugene, The Commonplace Second Amendment, New York University Law Review (1998).

  [Also contains a brief, but informative history of concealed-carry laws and the motives behind handgun licensing and registration.]
  

• Snyder, Jeffrey R., FIGHTING BACK: Crime, Self-Defense, and the Right to Carry a Handgun, Cato Policy Analysis No. 284 (October 22, 1997).

• [A gun rights advocate's document designed to provide a quick reference guide for debates, letters to the editor, and writing elected representatives. Snazzy charts. (PDF format, so Adobe Acrobat Reader is required.) ]
  Smith, Guy, Gun Facts.

• Malkin, Michelle, Mourning the loss of the last Liberty Tree (November 2, 1999).
  _____, Feminization of gun debate drowns out sober analysis (September 3, 1999).

• Roberts, Richard, TAO of GUN: Spiritual Sovereignty and the Hypocrisy of Gun Control.

• Cramer, Clayton, Variations in California Murder Rates: Does Gun Availability Cause High Murder Rates? (June, 1990).