Exposes the mechanics of power across the military-industrial complex from battlefield to back office

How ordinary Americans, frustrated by the legal and political wrangling over the Second Amendment, can fight for reforms that will both respect gun owners’ rights and reduce gun violence. Efforts to reduce gun violence in the United States face formidable political and constitutional barriers. Legislation that would ban or broadly restrict firearms runs afoul of the Supreme Court’s current interpretation of the Second Amendment. And gun rights advocates have joined a politically savvy firearms industry in a powerful coalition that stymies reform. Ian Ayres and Fredrick Vars suggest a new way forward. We can decrease the number of gun deaths, they argue, by empowering individual citizens to choose common-sense gun reforms for themselves. Rather than ask politicians to impose one-size-fits-all rules, we can harness a libertarian approach—one that respects and expands individual freedom and personal choice—to combat the scourge of gun violence. Ayres and Vars identify ten policies that can be immediately adopted at the state level to reduce the number of gun-related deaths without affecting the rights of gun owners. For example, Donna’s Law, a voluntary program whereby individuals can choose to restrict their ability to purchase or possess firearms, can significantly decrease suicide rates. Amending red flag statutes, which allow judges to restrict access to guns when an individual has shown evidence of dangerousness, can give police flexible and effective tools to keep people safe. Encouraging the use of unlawful possession petitions can help communities remove guns from more than a million Americans who are legally disqualified from owning them. By embracing these and other new forms of decentralized gun control, the United States can move past partisan gridlock and save lives now.

"Gordon Parks's spectacular rise from poverty, personal hardships, and outright racism is astounding and inspiring." --from the foreword by Wing Young Huie

This book examines Western military technological innovation through the lens of developments in small arms during the twentieth century. These weapons have existed for centuries, appear to have matured only incrementally and might seem unlikely technologies for investigating the trajectory of military-technical change. Their relative simplicity, however, makes it easy to use them to map patterns of innovation within the military-industrial complex. Advanced technologies may have captured the military imagination, offering the possibility of clean and decisive outcomes, but it is the low technologies of the infantryman that can help us develop an appreciation for the dynamics of military-technical change. Tracing the path of innovation from battlefield to back office, and from industry to alliance partner, Ford develops insights into the way that small arms are socially constructed. He thereby exposes the mechanics of power across the military-industrial complex. This in turn reveals that shifting power relations between soldiers and scientists, bureaucrats and engineers, have allowed the private sector to exploit infantry status anxiety and shape soldier weapon preferences. Ford's analysis allows us to draw wider conclusions about how military innovation works and what social factors frame Western military purchasing policy, from small arms to more sophisticated and expensive weapons.

Janet Warren Lane has been a Christian for 54 years, a school teacher for 15 years, a minister’s wife for 33 years, a mother of four grown and married children who are all involved in ministry and/or missions, and a grandmother of 8 and counting! For most of that time she was unaware of Satan’s most formidable weapon used against Christians - Fiery Darts. Since becoming aware of this weapon, Satan’s motives for using it, and how to wield the power of God’s Word against it, Janet’s release from years of captivity has been wondrously secured.Most people agree that negative thinking can have a debilitating effect on a person’s life. But just knowing this does little to help combat such thinking. By comparing negative thinking to the weapon of fiery darts, Janet exposes the weapon and the tactics used by Satan to manipulate. After the weapon and its tactics are exposed, detailed instructions are given as to how to counter-attack and live life free from the bondage negative thinking can impose.

How ordinary Americans, frustrated by the legal and political wrangling over the Second Amendment, can fight for reforms that will both respect gun owners’ rights and reduce gun violence. Efforts to reduce gun violence in the United States face formidable political and constitutional barriers. Legislation that would ban or broadly restrict firearms runs afoul of the Supreme Court’s current interpretation of the Second Amendment. And gun rights advocates have joined a politically savvy firearms industry in a powerful coalition that stymies reform. Ian Ayres and Fredrick Vars suggest a new way forward. We can decrease the number of gun deaths, they argue, by empowering individual citizens to choose common-sense gun reforms for themselves. Rather than ask politicians to impose one-size-fits-all rules, we can harness a libertarian approach—one that respects and expands individual freedom and personal choice—to combat the scourge of gun violence. Ayres and Vars identify ten policies that can be immediately adopted at the state level to reduce the number of gun-related deaths without affecting the rights of gun owners. For example, Donna’s Law, a voluntary program whereby individuals can choose to restrict their ability to purchase or possess firearms, can significantly decrease suicide rates. Amending red flag statutes, which allow judges to restrict access to guns when an individual has shown evidence of dangerousness, can give police flexible and effective tools to keep people safe. Encouraging the use of unlawful possession petitions can help communities remove guns from more than a million Americans who are legally disqualified from owning them. By embracing these and other new forms of decentralized gun control, the United States can move past partisan gridlock and save lives now.

Kevin sat quietly in the two-man cell. His new cellmate was trying to whip up support among his inmate friends to "do something" about his new cellmate-me. This was definitely not going well. I could almost "feel" an assault or a knife attack coming. I made a decision. If I was going to die in prison, then I would take myself out rather than let some self-righteous, low-brow punk(s) do it. I could fight-the Army had trained me well-but how many would come at me? Would there be weapons? I quietly wrote a letter home and explained what I was going to do. After that, I placed the thirty-day supply of Atenolol in my pocket. Atenolol controls blood pressure by slowing your heart rate. If things went badly, I would take all of them at once- hopefully stopping my heart with a minimum of pain. I also spoke silently with God. I told Him, "If I have to do this, please don't send me to hell. I sincerely believe Lord that the guilt of this sin should be given to this animal, Doherty." This event was survived. There was a long road ahead. From false accusation to trial to false imprisonment then probation, this is a story of defeat and survival that nothing could prepare a person for.