This book offers concise, understandable coverage of all aspects of the issue, including incidence of gun violence; gun control; gun rights; government regulation, legislation, and court decisions; gun organizations (for gun control and for gun rights); gun enthusiast subcultures -- for example, hunters, target shooters, and collectors; and U.S. attitudes toward guns. Many of the covered topics are placed in historical and cross-cultural perspective.;Preface -- 1. Background and history: Introduction; Gun prevalence, gun control, and violence; The nature of gun violence in the United States; Establishing causality -- not an easy task; The Second Amendment; Public opinion and gun control; The role of politics; References -- 2. Problems, controversies, and solutions: Introduction; The public health approach; The law enforcement approach; The lawsuit approach; Conclusion; References -- 3. Perspectives: Introduction; Stricter gun laws are reasonable ad sensible / Robert J. Spitzer; The United States doesn't need more gun laws -- indeed fewer / Lawrence Southwick; Whether gun laws should be strict depends on the type of law / David B. Kopel -- 4. Profiles: The gun control side: key individuals and organizations; The gun rights side: key individuals and organizations -- 5. Data and documents: Introduction; Summaries of key federal gun laws; Key state gun laws; Selected documents -- 6. Resources: Introduction; Gun violence: the United States vs. other economically developed nations; The Second Amendment; Public opinion; The role of politics; Gun control and gun violence: the public health approach; Gun control and gun violence: the law enforcement approach; Defensive gun use -- Chronology -- Glossary -- About the author.