Arming America

In the late 1990's, Michael Bellesiles published Arming America, a book which purported to "shatter the myth" of widespread gun ownership in early America. The book was given glowing reviews in the press and won the Bancroft Prize. However, widespread criticism raised serious questions about the data in the book.

This category is for links to evidence concerning this controversy, mostly compiled while researching Bellesiles V Lott for this website.

Belleseilles v Lott

The continually-annoying gun-control organization JoinTogether posted a lengthy article comparing Belleseilles, the discredited author of Arming America, with John Lott, the still-credited author of More guns, Less Crime and The Bias Against Guns. They seem to be under the impression that the recent controversy surrounding Lott is somehow of equal weight and magnitude with that that has cost Belleseilles his job, and they would dearly love to discredit Lott. I wrote an article refuting their arguments and explaining the truth.

In doing research for that article, I collected a number of sources from the time period when the Arming America debate was hottest. Much of this took place before I was regularly blogging. So, I've collected them all up again into their own category and republished them here for your enjoyment.

"The Hypocrisy of Gun-Control Advocates"

An article from Mother Jones magazine's website attempts to discredit the work of John Lott, author of ''More Guns, Less Crime.'' The brouhaha seems to center around one alleged lost survey, in which he found that ''98 percent of the time that people use guns defensively, they merely have to brandish a weapon to break off an attack.'' This survey was documented as lost in a computer crash.

I've written my own analysis of this controversy.

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