Academic : Public Affairs : Criminal justice administration : Gun control

Few schisms in American life run as deep or as wide as the divide between gun rights and gun control advocates. Awash in sound and symbol, the gun regulation debate has largely been defined by forceful rhetoric rather than substantive action. Politicians shroud themselves in talk of individual rights or public safety while lobbyists on both sides make doom-and-gloom pronouncements on the consequences of potential shifts in the status quo. In America today there are between 250 and 300 million firearms in private hands, amounting to one weapon for every American. Two in five American homes house guns. On the one hand, most gun owners are law-abiding citizens who believe they have a constitutional right to bear arms. On the other, a great many people believe gun control to be our best chance at reducing violent crime. While few--whether gun owner or anti-gun advocate--dispute the need to keep guns out of the wrong hands, the most important question has too often been dodged: What gun control options does the most heavily armed democracy in the world have? Can gun control really work? The last decade has seen several watersheds in the debate, none more important than the 1993 Brady Bill. That bill, James B. Jacobs argues, was the culmination of a strategy in place since the 1930s to permit widespread private ownership of guns while curtailing illegal use. But where do we go from here? While the Brady background check is easily circumvented, any further attempts to extend gun control--for instance, through comprehensive licensing of all gun owners and registration of all guns--would pose monumental administrative burdens. Jacobs moves beyond easy slogans and broad-brush ideology to examine the on-the-ground practicalities of gun control, from mandatory safety locks to outright prohibition and disarmament. Casting aside ideology and abstractions, he cautions against the belief that there exists some gun control solution which, had we the political will to seize it, would more...

Price: $35.00

There are as many guns in the United States as there are adults. This book, presents the issue with both sides of the debate on all the issues and, thus, the tools to make an informed decision. It breaks the debate into topics like history, effectiveness, legislation and court cases, individuals and organizations, and reliable further resources. more...

Price: $55.00

In the generation that followed Frederick Douglass, no African American was more prominent, or more outspoken, than Ida B. Wells. Seriously considered as a rival to W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington for race leadership, Wells' career began amidst controversy when she sued a Tennessee railroad company for ousting her from a first class car, a legal battle which launched her lifelong commitment to journalism and activism. In the 1890s, Wells focused her eloquence on the horrors of lynching, exposing it as a widespread form of racial terrorism. Backing strong words with strong actions, she lectured in the States and abroad, arranged legal representation for black prisoners, hired investigators, founded anti-lynching leagues, sought recourse from Congress, and more. Wells was an equally forceful advocate for women's rights, but parted ways with feminist allies who would subordinate racial justice to their cause. Using diary entries, letters, and published writings, McMurry illuminates Wells's fiery personality, and the uncompromising approach that sometimes lost her friendships even as it won great victories. To Keep the Waters Troubled is an unforgettable account of a remarkable woman and the and the times she helped to change.  more...

Price: $35.00

The U.S. Navy?s aircraft carriers allow the nation to deter adversaries, bring airpower to bear against opponents, engage friends and allies, and provide humanitarian assistance. However, these powerful and versatile systems need continuous and regularly scheduled maintenance, and their crews require a great deal of training to attain and sustain readiness levels. The length of the carrier?s training, readiness, deployment, and maintenance cycle, the type of maintenance needed, and the timing of events within the cycle affect the carrier?s availability to meet operational needs. Over the past two decades, the proportion of time in a cycle that a carrier spends deployed has decreased, making it difficult for Navy planners to meet the forward-presence requirements of theater commanders. In future years, as the number of carriers in the fleet fluctuates, this challenge will be compounded. In this study, RAND examines the technical feasibility of different cycle lengths and their effect on the forward presence of Nimitz-class aircraft carriers. The authors assess several one- and two-deployment cycles, assuming a deployment length of six months and a time-between-deployments length equal to twice the duration of the previous deployment. The study also presents an analysis of the impact of different cycles on managing shipyard workloads. Among many findings, RAND concludes that shorter cycles can increase the forward presence of the carrier fleet and help level shipyard workloads. However, these shorter cycles will decrease fleet surge readiness. Longer, two-deployment cycles can increase forward presence, but may result in shipyard workload complications and deferred-work backlogs. more...

Price: $9.95