A Little Handbook on the Second Amendment: What the American aristocracy Does Not Want You to Know.

Rating:
Summary: Historical references supporting gun ownership
Review: If you wanted to REALLY know what the Founding Fathers thought about guns, this is the place to look. References go as far back as Norse law, and are built upon through English Common Law and end up being fully codified in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution.

Dr. Bass presents a logical and easily referenced source for understanding the reasoning behind the right to bear arms in the US. It is easily read and understood. It would be the best starting point for those who seek to research gun control and it's history in the US.

Rating:
Summary: Historical references supporting gun ownership
Review: If you wanted to REALLY know what the Founding Fathers thought about guns, this is the place to look. References go as far back as Norse law, and are built upon through English Common Law and end up being fully codified in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution.

Dr. Bass presents a logical and easily referenced source for understanding the reasoning behind the right to bear arms in the US. It is easily read and understood. It would be the best starting point for those who seek to research gun control and it's history in the US.

Rating:
Summary: An informative little volume
Review: Less scholarly than Stephen Halbrook's "That Every Man Be Armed," or "The Right to Keep and Bear Arms" by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)--this is nevertheless a well-reasoned and valuable little booklet. Only 96 pages, in large easily readable type, it is a valuable addition to the gun-control debate. I would like to see it widely read.

I have a couple of quibbles, or perhaps reservations about the author's personal conclusions: on page 5, as one of the six parties who contribute to the lack of substantive discussion on gun-control he contends that "big business" has no interest in promoting our model of government. That statement reeks of the paranoid class-warfare philosophy espoused by the very socialistic promoters of gun-control whom he scorns. An unfortunate stance.

I think that it is an unwarranted assumption. Later, he also blames big business for the content of school textbooks (which fail to teach our system's principles) and for the views expressed in the press, which he says they "control." I also doubt those claims, and think they are unjustified. Editorial staff controls the editorial content of newspapers, magazines and textbooks. The owners, by and large, are simply interested in readership, which enables them to sell the product or advertising and make money. Therefore, they hire professionals, whom they leave alone to do their jobs. Why many, if not most, of the professionals in those areas are exponents of gun-control is potentially a more revealing question, the answer to which may lie in the institutions from which they spring and the politics of the professors who teach them.

The bulk of the book is informative and well-researched. For one who is truly concerned about the recent attacks on the Second Amendment--the palladium of the Bill of Rights--as am I, there are a great many very good, scholarly books available, several of which he mentions in his bibliography.

I recommend this little book to you. My fear is that Americans have grown too apathetic to pay much attention to their government, or the Constitution and its Bill of Rights, and their representatives are too self-centered. A single indifferent generation, through their inaction, may lose the freedoms that our warriors have bled to protect for two and a quarter centuries. If so,the road back will be very hard and bloody.

Joseph H. Pierre, USN (Ret)
author, Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
editor, George Tooley's Beginner's Book on How to Handle Firearms Safely

Rating:
Summary: Decent
Review: This book is an OK introduction to the gun control movement. Those who have not chosen sides, as well as those who have, will benefit from this book because it presents material in a humorous, easy-to-understand manner.

The position of many different organizations - such as the media - as well as the positions of many individuals is covered. Furthermore, the rationales for those opinions is examined, if in a superficial manner. The author weighs in on more than just the gun control debate itself; failures of government agencies, policy faults, etc. A generous helping of cartoons - some taken from newspaper editorial pages, others from noted political cartoonists - help drive the point home. This is truly an easy reading, hilarious book.

However, it reads a bit like someone just spouting off. The arguments and info are recycled from NRA literature and there's little sign of critical examination of the issues.

Author, and others, find it too easy to dismiss the opinions of persons in favor of gun control. Author tends to readily dismiss alternative viewpoints as "political correctness", which is lazy thinking in my opinion.

Rating:
Summary: Decent
Review: This book is an OK introduction to the gun control movement. Those who have not chosen sides, as well as those who have, will benefit from this book because it presents material in a humorous, easy-to-understand manner.

The position of many different organizations - such as the media - as well as the positions of many individuals is covered. Furthermore, the rationales for those opinions is examined, if in a superficial manner. The author weighs in on more than just the gun control debate itself; failures of government agencies, policy faults, etc. A generous helping of cartoons - some taken from newspaper editorial pages, others from noted political cartoonists - help drive the point home. This is truly an easy reading, hilarious book.

However, it reads a bit like someone just spouting off. The arguments and info are recycled from NRA literature and there's little sign of critical examination of the issues.

Author, and others, find it too easy to dismiss the opinions of persons in favor of gun control. Author tends to readily dismiss alternative viewpoints as "political correctness", which is lazy thinking in my opinion.

Rating:
Summary: Unbalanced Little Pamphlet
Review: This pamphlet makes up with fire-n-brimstone passion what it lacks in cogent arguments. If you're already a gun-nut, this piece will give you some one-liners to use in chat room debates. If you're undecided on the issue of handgun regulation and looking for thoughtful arguments, it won't be your best source. It's not balanced, and it doesn't pretend to be, but it's pretty entertaining. Crime statistics are fumbled, court decisions are misinterpreted, history is wrapped around the axle. You get a sense of the author's agenda from the subtitle: "What the American aristocracy (sic) Doesn't Want You To Know". It comes across as one of those militia tracts downloaded from wacky websites -- everything is a conspiracy. The government, academics, newspapers, business owners, everyone is involved in some murky plot (with motives unexplained) to deny the author and his sympathizers what they believe is a constitutional right (and he even asserts as a "natural right") to own firearms. Lots of kooky fantasies are stuffed into the poor overburdened twenty-seven words of the Second Amendment. The world is full of Elite Rulers and Oligarchs and whatnot. Unsourced, poorly edited (there is a strange recurring fetish to put certain words "in quotations" for no clear reason, such as "the people", "scholars", and "court decisions"), and internally contradictory in its arguments (should we look to the text of the constitution for our guidance or to supporting materials or to interpretive court cases? Well, it depends on which one supports the author's views the best). Guaranteed to raise a smile.