The Samurai, the Mountie and the Cowboy: Should America Adopt the Gun Controls of Other Democracies?

by David B. Kopel

Overview

Gun control remains one of the hottest topics on America's agenda. Increased violence, gang wars in metropolitan areas, and the prevalence of guns in the United States frequently bring this debate to new crescendos of public concern. How can we find answers that maintain safety while protecting individual liberty? The Samurai, The Mountie, and The Cowboy offers a compelling look at how other democracies have attempted to solve their own gun problems, and what we can learn from these countries.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780879757564
Publisher:	Prometheus Books
Publication date:	08/01/1992
Pages:	470
Product dimensions:	6.47(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.39(d)
Lexile:	1440L (what's this?)

About the Author

David Kopel is associate policy analyst for the CATO Institute, research director at the Independence Institute, and adjunct professor of Advanced Constitutional Law at Denver University, Sturm College of Law. He is the author of The Truth about Gun Control, No More Wacos: What’s Wrong with Federal Law Enforcement, and How to Fix It, Antitrust After Microsoft, The Samurai, the Mountie, and the Cowboy: Should America Adopt the Gun Controls of Other Democracies?, and nine other books. He is an expert on firearms policy, juvenile crime, drug policy, antitrust, constitutional law, criminal sentencing, and environmental law.

Editorial Reviews

Given the breathtaking sweep of the material and the prodigious scholarship the author displays in his detailed discusson of civil liberties, police powers, law and national character with respect to guns in Japan, Great Britain, Canada, Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, Jamaica and the United States, it's surprising and disappointing when, in conclusion, he lamely argues that the best things Americans can do about guns here are eliminate controls and require classes in marksmanship and safety for all gun owners. Kopel, a Denver lawyer, associate policy analyst with the Cato Institute and a technical consultant to the International Wound Ballistics Association, brilliantly delineates the ways in which each nation's unique history has determined how it deals with guns. He defends vigilantism as all-American and necessary, praises the Guardian Angels, claims that many southern civil rights workers of the 1960s were armed and argues that guns are ubiquitous in the inner cities because people need them. He won't convince everyone, but he offers a lot to ponder. (July)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Having carefully reviewed gun control policies in Japan, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, and Switzerland, Kopel argues, quite accurately, that none provides a useful model for reducing the American crime rate. He concludes that because guns cannot be eradicated, a policy that promotes responsible gun use is more likely to prevent gun misuse. Unfortunately, Kopel spends too much time setting up straw persons at both the anti- and pro-gun extremes and then knocking them down. For a more balanced discussion of the same complicated problem, see The Gun Control Debate: You Decide ( LJ 2/1/91). Not recommended.-- John Broderick, Stonehill Coll., North Easton, Mass.

Library Journal