1st Edition
Gun Control in Context Learning from the Australian Gun Control Experience
This book approaches the gun control debate by asking what it takes to achieve acceptance of, and compliance with, gun control regulations in a community thought to be opposed and resistant. It does this by centring this question on the experience of gun dealers who occupy a dual role in the compliance process – subject to its regulations, yet central to the application of all regulatory processes. The findings are surprising in that they demonstrate more support for gun control than opposition among this group, more willingness to cooperate with authorities than resistance, and more possibility for setting the tone for support with the wider gun owning community. This book considers how policy makers in the USA can capitalise on these overtones of collaboration and concern for public safety and learn from the successes and mistakes of the Australian gun control experience.
Gun Control in Context is essential reading for all those engaged across the broad spectrum of the gun control debate and offers a grounded and reasoned approach to the challenges of public policy. It will be of interest to criminologists, legal scholars, and political scientists alike.
Introduction 1.Gun Control in Context 2.Finding Common Ground between the Gun Owning Community and the Public Gun Control Agenda 3.Barriers to Collaboration and Effective Gun Policy 4.Stigmatisation and the Gun Dealer with Amy Templar 5.Harnessing the Benefits of the Gun Owning Community 6.Learning From the Australian Experience of Gun Control 7.Epilogue
Biography
Suzanna Fay is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Queensland. Her current research considers how perceptions of gun regulation by police, dealers, and the community influence debate and enforcement of Australia’s gun laws.
'Suzanna Fay’s Gun Control In Context is a must read for American gun control advocates. The gun violence carnage on U.S. streets, in schools, and families has not precipitated the kind of gun regulation that Australia implemented in the wake of the Port Arthur Massacre. Fay’s insightful interviews of gun dealers reveals how this group transformed from opposition to regulation to a central role in making the country’s regulations work. In Gun Control in Context she shows how by engaging this community, they were brought on board. Most Americans, including many gun owners, favor some regulation, but reform efforts run up against the lobbyists—the NRA and similar organizations, and gun manufacturers. U.S. advocates should look to the Australian experience documented by Fay and engage with the portion of the gun community who are willing to talk (rather than vilifying them as a monolith) and the lobbyists be damned. Gun Control in Context is a compelling, illuminating documentation of an important, successful implementation of gun reform.'
Robert Crutchfield, Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology, University of Washington
