How Must America Balance Public Safety and the Second Amendment?

This book critically examines the link between the language of the Second Amendment and the gun culture in America. Does the Second Amendment guarantee all citizens with the right to own a gun? Is gun control implied in the language used to define the Second Amendment? Are the mentally ill responsible for the majority of gun violence?

These questions and more are explored using a balanced and far-reaching approach to finding answers to gun violence. How Must America Balance Public Safety and the Second Amendment provides the reader with the latest research, data, court decisions, trends, and government regulations on firearms to serve as a basis for a joint compromise that will stop gun violence and protect the rights of all citizens.

Let's not repeat the great mistake of 1920. Between 1920 and 1933, the short-lived 18th Amendment to the Constitution banned the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States.  The purpose of the Amendment was to protect Americans from alcohol abuse, although it did not ban the drinking of alcoholic beverages. The resulting impact of the 18th Amendment was unexpectable negative. Alcohol consumption soared as did criminal violence associated with the illegal sale of alcohol.  Bootlegging, as it was known, thrived because of the nation's unquenchable thirst for alcohol. The 18th Amendment failed to do what it was intended to do – ban the sale of liquor.

If we have learned anything from the 18th Amendment, it is that the government cannot take away from the people something they love. And more than alcohol, Americans love their guns. Banning guns in America will not curb gun violence. It will turn law-abiding citizens into criminals and criminals into Al Capone's. To stop gun violence, we need to focus on violence, not guns. Drunkenness is not caused by whiskey, traffic accidents are not caused by cars, and shootings are not caused by guns. People cause tragedies. So how do we help people to live peacefully in a country with more guns than people?

Confronting gun violence will require all Americans (government and citizens) first to admit that there is a problem. This book provides America with the practical framework needed to build an honest and rational national conversation on the realities of gun violence in America. Mullen offers real solutions that respect the various positions on gun ownership. It is time to stop gun violence in America. Together, we can do this. Every week we delay, 1,200 more Americans will lose their lives to gun violence. Reading this book would be a good first step to finding a lasting solution that saves American lives from death by gun.