Conversation on Guns

James Densley (ARDEN HILLS, MN) is a professor of criminal justice at Metro State University and the cofounder of The Violence Project research center. He is the coauthor or author of more than ten books, including The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic.

• Series Editor's ForewordPrefacePart I. Why America Is a Gun Country1. Five Types of Gun Laws the Founding Fathers Loved2. Three Enduring Stories Americans Tell about Guns3. How the "Good Guy with a Gun" Became a Deadly American Fantasy4. American Gun Culture Is Based on Frontier Mythology but Ignores How Common Gun Restrictions Were in the Old West5. How the NRA Evolved from Backing a 1934 Ban on Machine Guns to Blocking Nearly All Firearm Restrictions Today6. The Key Role Firearms Makers Play in America's Gun Culture7. Hollywood's Love of Guns Increases the Risk of Shootings—Both on and off Set8. If You Give a Man a Gun: The Evolutionary Psychology of Mass Shootings9. Want to Understand Gun Owners? Watch Their Videos10. Why Were Medieval Weapons Laws at the Center of a US Supreme Court Case?Part II. The Many Forms of Gun Violence11. Norway and Finland Have Similar Levels of Gun Ownership as the US but Far Less Gun Crime12. The Facts on US Children and Teens Killed by Firearms13. How Easy Access to Guns at Home Contributes to America's Youth Suicide Problem14. How Dangerous People Get Their Weapons in America15. Gun Violence in the US Kills More Black People and Urban Dwellers16. Why Do American Cops Kill So Many Compared to European Cops?17. Police Are More Likely to Kill Men and Women of Color18. Don't Shoot: When Dallas Police Draw Their Guns, They Usually Choose Not to Fire19. Are Mass Shootings an American Epidemic?Part III. The Trauma of School Shootings20. Why There's So Much Inconsistency in School Shooting Data21. School Shootings Are at a Record High—but They Can Be Prevented22. Five Ways to Reduce School Shootings23. Most School Shooters Get Their Guns from Home—and during the Pandemic, the Number of Firearms in Households with Teenagers Went Up24. Arming Teachers: An Effective Security Measure or a False Sense of Security?Part IV. The Effects of Gun Violence25. The Lasting Consequences of School Shootings on the Students Who Survive Them26. Mass Shootings Leave Behind Collective Despair, Anguish, and Trauma at Many Societal Levels27. Gun Violence Has Fueled Enduring Trust Issues for Many Americans28. Why Americans Bought More Guns Than Ever during the Pandemic29. Are Looser Gun Laws Changing the Social Fabric of Missouri?Part V. The Politics and Policies of Gun Control30. How US Gun Control Compares to the Rest of the World31. Public Database Reveals Striking Differences in How Guns Are Regulated from State to State32. US Tragedies from Guns Have Often—but Not Always—Spurred Political Responses33. Supreme Court Swept Aside New York's Limits on Carrying a Gun, Raising Second Amendment Rights to New Heights34. Red Flag Laws Saved 7,300 Americans from Gun Deaths in 2020 Alone and Could Have Saved 11,400 More35. Would Closing the "Boyfriend Loophole" in Gun Legislation Save Lives? Here's What the Research Says36. Why the Legal Age for Purchasing Assault Weapons Does Not Make Sense37. Did the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 Bring Down Mass Shootings? Here's What the Data Tells Us38. Why Is There So Little Research on Guns in the US?39. Public Health Research Reduced Smoking Deaths—It Could Do the Same for Gun Violence40. Indianapolis Is Trying Programs Ranging from Job Skills to Therapy to Reduce Gun ViolencePart VI. Technology and the Future of Gun Ownership41. Why Do Gun-Makers Get Special Economic Protection?42. World's Deadliest Inventor: Mikhail Kalashnikov and His AK-4743. What Are "Ghost Guns"?44. 3D-Printed Guns May Be More Dangerous to Their Users Than to Targets45. What Makes a "Smart Gun" Smart?ContributorsIndex