From Pulitzer Prize–winning reporters: Can complete strangers representing every point along the political divide engage in civil and productive discourse on the topic of gun control? As Americans, we spend a lot of time talking about guns. With the political division in the country, evidenced by the Capitol insurrection and voter fraud protests, it’s not surprising that we rarely have real conversations with people whose ideas don’t align with ours about gun ownership. Democrats and liberals usually talk with other Democrats and liberals, not Republicans and conservatives. That is, perhaps, why the country is so divided when it comes to reducing gun violence. Guns, an American Conversation features the results of a fascinating nationwide conversation about guns. A group of 150 strangers were brought together in a month-long moderated Facebook group chat. They featured teachers, Second Amendment advocates, hunters, police officers, and mothers and fathers from across the political spectrum and the fifty states. Together, they participated in a project meant to foster civil, yet honest, dialogue between people whose backgrounds and beliefs led them to have opposing views on the issue of gun control. Guns attempts to map out common territory in a nation driven by profound divides. It includes real information about gun laws in the United States, providing the reader with tools to continue the discussion in their own lives. With sidebars, charts, and graphics that are clear and easy to navigate, Guns might not change your mind about gun control, but it will help you learn to cross divides in conversation as America navigates the way forward on this difficult issue.

Every time a shooting makes national headlines, the same debates erupt: Is the problem guns or mental health? Why is the United States unique in its gun violence problem? Can we reduce this violence while protecting the right to bear arms? Newtown, Connecticut, native and Disciples of Christ minister Donald V. Gaffney brings a calm and compassionate voice to these complex questions, offering a guide for individuals and groups to reflect on and discuss guns and gun violence. Common Ground explores the place of guns in our individual and national histories, violence in Scripture, the legal issues surrounding gun rights, and ways in which we as moral, life-valuing people can bridge the divide to help solve the problem of gun violence in the United States. To move beyond the talking points and rhetoric dominating gun violence discussions, Gaffney concludes chapters with questions for reflection and discussion to encourage self-examination, exploration, and evaluation of potential solutions to gun violence.

From TheConversation.com, an exploration of the devastating gun violence in the United States—and possible ways to stop it. In The Conversation on Guns, editor James Densley brings together a group of expert scholars to explore the role of guns in US society and the tragic impacts of gun violence. From the many forms of gun violence, to effective and innovative public health and community-led initiatives to curb it, the authors discuss how and why guns are deeply rooted in American history and culture by examining both the politics and policies around gun safety. Grounded in the latest research, these short and accessible articles written by experts in criminal justice, law, sociology, public health, history, and education explain how the United States became so saturated with guns and what the prevalence of guns is doing to our society. The Critical Conversations series collects essays from top scholars on timely topics, including water, biotechnology, gender diversity, and more, originally published on the independent news site The Conversation. Contributors: Pierre M. Atlas, Deborah Azrael, Michelle Barnhart, Paul Boxer, Brad J. Bushman, Marika Cabral, Patrick Carter, Philip J. Cook, Saul Cornell, Rebecca Cunningham, James Densley, Greg Dickinson, John J. Donohue III, Frank Edwards, Sandro Galea, Richard Gunderman, Connie Hassett-Walker, Paul Hirschfield, Aimee Dinnín Huff, Arash Javanbakht, Bokyung Kim, Michael J. Klein, Anita Knopov, Susanna Lee, Morgan Marietta, Frank McAndrew, Jonathan M. Metzl, Matthew Miller, Brian L. Ott, Molly Pahn, Jillian Peterson, Dan Romer, Maya Rossin-Slater, Allen Rostron, Molly Schnell, Hannes Schwandt, Donald H. Sebastian, Michael Siegel, Rebeccah Sokol, Robert Spitzer, Peter Squires, Jeremy Straub, Tom Stucky, Ashwini Tambe, Jennifer Tucker, John A. Tures, Lacey Wallace, Andrew P. Wheeler, Garen Wintemute, Cary Wu, April M. Zeoli, Marc A. Zimmerman

Visiting Martin Luther King Jr. at the peak of the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, journalist William Worthy almost sat on a loaded pistol. "Just for self defense," King assured him. It was not the only weapon King kept for such a purpose; one of his advisors remembered the reverend's Montgomery, Alabama home as "an arsenal." Like King, many ostensibly "nonviolent" civil rights activists embraced their constitutional right to selfprotection -- yet this crucial dimension of the Afro-American freedom struggle has been long ignored by history. In This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed, civil rights scholar Charles E. Cobb Jr. describes the vital role that armed self-defense played in the survival and liberation of black communities in America during the Southern Freedom Movement of the 1960s. In the Deep South, blacks often safeguarded themselves and their loved ones from white supremacist violence by bearing -- and, when necessary, using -- firearms. In much the same way, Cobb shows, nonviolent civil rights workers received critical support from black gun owners in the regions where they worked. Whether patrolling their neighborhoods, garrisoning their homes, or firing back at attackers, these courageous men and women and the weapons they carried were crucial to the movement's success. Giving voice to the World War II veterans, rural activists, volunteer security guards, and self-defense groups who took up arms to defend their lives and liberties, This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed lays bare the paradoxical relationship between the nonviolent civil rights struggle and the Second Amendment. Drawing on his firsthand experiences in the civil rights movement and interviews with fellow participants, Cobb provides a controversial examination of the crucial place of firearms in the fight for American freedom.

It May Not Be Your Gun! It May Not Happen In Your Home! Would your kids know what to do? Today children are growing up in a high-tech animated world of make believe. This fun colorful book reminds kids and parents they must learn the difference between real and fake. It reminds kids to never take chances with guns. It helps teach kids what to do if a young friend or relative finds and shows them a gun. The book reads in a fun flowing and easy to understand way that could truly save a child's life. My book is not for or against guns. It is a tool to help stimulate the conversation. It may not be your gun; it may not happen in your home. Tragedy is too often the result when a child finds or shows off a gun. We are talking about guns that are kept as heirlooms, for hunting and for family protection even duty guns used to serve with military and law enforcement have been found by kids. Studies show that as many as one in every three homes may have a gun in it. Be sure your kids know what to do. Teach them it's okay to tell. A badge of courage they will earn! Read;" LET'S TALK ABOUT GUNS" WITH THE KIDS YOU LOVE TODAY!

This interdisciplinary anthology explores a wide range of intersecting issues contributing to and arising from gun violence. Millions of people are hurt and killed by gun violence globally, and the traumatic realities of these events are navigated by individuals and communities widely. In this context, gun violence fundamentally threatens social functioning in significant ways, and profoundly test the resilience of families. The resulting transformations carry social, political, legal and economic implications for mothering, family dynamics, and community engagement. This collaborative volume brings together diverse perspectives intended to deconstruct perceptions, realities, risks and impacts of gun violence, as seen by researchers, educators, community advocates, public health/health care experts, criminologists, social workers, field-based practitioners, and victims/survivors of gun violence. The distinct and broad range of contributions in this volume critically unpacks representations, stress and trauma, resilience, advocacy/activism, policymaking, family functioning, social justice and equity, governmentality and the criminal justice system, public health/health care, and community programs/interventions. Ultimately, the work is a unique contribution to the literature in which there is a lack of wide academic consideration of gun violence and a demonstrably unsatisfactory political response stretching back decades.

A former editor at the New York Times examines the war over gun control in America and the rigid and intolerant ideologies that have informed the debate on both sides for more than 50 years. 20,000 first printing.