Lethal Logic: Exploding the Myths That Paralyze American Gun Policy

I was looking for fresh information but got stale platitudes.

I was hoping that Mr. Henigan would have a new and interesting take on the gun issue, but this work could have been put together by an intern Googling old Brady Campaign press releases. He consistently ignores superb academic work on gun laws and safety done by a number of prominent criminologists and economists as well as the CDC in order to rehash the tired old idea that somehow more gun control will provide more safety. He uses cherry-picked and often distorted statistics to 'prove' his case, while sidestepping the actual question and ignoring or dismissing any contrary data.

A good example of this is his gun suicide argument. He 'debunks' arguments that gun availability does not affect overall suicide by stating that 92% of attempted gun suicides are completed, which sounds horrifying until you realize that he never addressed the actual question at all. If he had bothered to look at the research, there are a number of unbiased studies which show that availability of firearms may change suicide methods, but it does not affect overall suicide rates.

Overall I would have to say that this book is a severe disappointment, coming as it does from an esteemed public interest lawyer.

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