Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-236) and index.

1. Policy definition and gun control : Regulation, public order, and public policy ; Guns and regulation ; The gun controversy ; The gun culture ; Policy gridlock ; Social regulatory policy analysis -- 2. The Second Amendment: meaning, intent, interpretation, and consequences : Historic roots ; The Constitution ; The Bill of Rights ; The militia transformed ; Supreme Court rulings ; Other court rulings ; Bad history makes bad law -- 3. The criminological consequences of guns : America and violence ; Choice of weapons ; Homicide and malicious injury ; Suicide ; Accidents ; Self-defense ; Guns and school violence ; Gun carrying on college campuses? ; Extending the "Castle Doctrine" to America's streets -- 4. Political fury: gun politics : Single-issue gun groups: the NRA ; Explaining the NRA's effectiveness ; The Brady campaign to prevent gun violence ; The million mom march ; The gun control movement's strategic blunders ; The political balance and the invincibility myth ; Public opinion ; Political parties and guns -- 5. Institutions, policymaking, and guns : Early legislative efforts ; The Gun Control Act of 1968 ; The Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986 ; The tide turns: the assault weapons ban ; The Brady Bill ; The post-Columbine reaction ; Lawsuit protection for gun manufacturers ; The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives ; Conclusion: Furious politics, marginal policy -- 6. Gun policy: a new framework : Federalism: the great regulation dilemma ; Gun policy alternatives ; The barriers to gun control ; The security dilemma ; The security dilemma and the gun debate ; Nonproliferation and arms control.