In Defense of Gun Control argues why the United States should have at least moderate and perhaps serious gun control. LaFollette assesses the empirical evidence about the costs and benefits of extensive private gun ownership and proposes several specific gun control measures, and urge us to employ indirect measures to limit the harm caused by guns.

[The book] brings new clarity and philosophical rigor to the gun control debate ... What In Defense of Gun Control most brings out, through an in-depth treatment of the arguments, is a movement away from the polarities by showing the genuine complexity of the issue. While some arguments can be (and are rightfully) summarily dismissed, a reader is likely to find something compelling in both sets of arguments as presented. This is a great strength of the book, for it can hopefully lead us to a shift away from polarized positions and into a more nuanced dialogue about what is at stake and the positions that are actually being held. It is a strong effort in this space—one of only a few such rigorously argued works in philosophy on the topic—and we recommend it to all thoughtful readers.

Makes a valuable contribution to the public debate by identifying and destroying inadequate empirical claims popular among gun rights advocates. It is also admirable for its conscientiousness and intellectual humility, for example in explaining the empirical limitations of the public health argument for gun control. It is a model for how this debate should be conducted.

Recommended.

Hugh LaFollette has offered an informative, compelling and readable contribution to the philosophical literature on America's gun debate, which, as of yet, is still relatively small. He gives an overview of three major sets of arguments for and against gun control: armchair arguments, rights based arguments, and empirical arguments. He appraises each in turn, and ultimately points out how and where the gun rights position is wanting, and why the case for gun control is stronger. He concludes by detailing several proposals for gun control. These include some well-known (and much debated) regulations, like gun registration and background checks on gun purchases, but one idea that is rather novel and little discussed, mandatory liability insurance for gun owners.

No philosopher has contributed more substantially to the literature on gun policy ethics than Hugh LaFollette, as he demonstrates in this outstanding volume. In Defense of Gun Control features exquisite sensitivity to the implicated empirical issues and a penetrating, fair-minded analysis of the ethical issues, before concluding with an array of moderate gun control proposalssome of them quite novel. This work will be of interest to scholars, university students, and others who seek a balanced examination of gun rights and gun control in a single continuous discussion.

In Defense of Gun Control is an outstanding, short, readable treatise on how an intelligent person might approach the gun control debate. This book should be read whether or not you agree with the author's ultimate conclusions, and I would argue, whether or not you are extremely interested in guns or gun control. It provides a highly useful template for how initial non-experts (all of us on most issues) can thoughtfully approach any public policy question.

This is the best book to date on issues of gun rights and gun control. While it includes history, statistics, and analysis of the statistics, it is above all a work of careful, sustained, rational argument informed by the facts to the extent that they are known. It is particularly strong in its analyses of the nature of moral rights and of what rights people actually have. This is not another polemical tract of the sort that tends to dominate discussions in the US. In developing and defending his views about issues of ethics, law, and policy, LaFollette is scrupulously fair to the views and arguments of all parties. His is a voice of sanity in this polarized but vitally important debate.

Hugh LaFollette is currently Cole Chair in Ethics at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. He mainly teaches and writes in ethics, especially practical ethics. He is author of three others books, editor of many more, and Editor-in-Chief of the International Encyclopedia of Ethics. He is currently preparing the second edition of that eleven volume reference work.