This article argues that state government actors concerned about gun violence prevention should prioritize enactment of robust firearm purchaser regimes at the state level. First, the article outlines the empirical evidence base for purchaser licensing. Then, the article describes how state governments can design this policy. Next, the article assesses the likelihood that purchaser licensing legislation will continue to be upheld by federal courts. Finally, the article addresses the implications of this policy, aimed at curbing gun deaths, for equally important (...) racial justice priorities. Taken together, these various considerations indicate that purchaser licensing policies are among the most effective firearm-focused laws state governments can enact to reduce gun deaths within the existing federal legislative and legal frameworks. (shrink)

A wide range of governmental policies characteristic of the modern state seek to reduce individuals’ fatality risks—risks that arise from air and water pollution, pathogens, food ingredients and contaminants, motor vehicles, infrastructure, radiation, workplace accidents, alcohol and recreational drugs, firearms, consumer products, tobacco, natural disasters, and other sources. This book provides a rigorous treatment of the ethics of fatality risk regulation. It does so through the lens of welfare-consequentialism—specifically, lifetime welfarism, with a focus on utilitarianism and prioritarianism. The ethical (...) ranking of possible worlds depends on the patterns of lifetime well-being in the worlds. Premature death is ethically significant just so insofar as it changes the lifetime well-being of the person who dies and perhaps others. At the level of policy choice, the book deploys the social-welfare-function (SWF) framework—the most systematic decision-procedure for implementing lifetime welfarism. The book demonstrates how the SWF methodology can be brought to bear in assessing risk-regulation policies. Each individual faces a policy-specific lottery over lifetime well-being, as determined by their risk profile (probability of surviving the current year and future years) and attribute profile (the attributes the individual will have in the current year and future years if alive rather than dead). In short, a policy corresponds to an array of individual risk and attribute profiles, which can then be assigned a utilitarian or prioritarian value. The SWF methodology as thus applied to risk regulation differs quite substantially from cost-benefit analysis (CBA), which is currently the dominant policy-assessment methodology in governmental practice. (shrink)

I begin by contending that an absolute prohibition to avoid resorting to shoot-to-kill, under any circumstances, does not adequately address the considerable negative consequences that could follow. In opening up the question for debate, I seek to alert us to the risks of moral corruption in both thought and practice, but I do not take these to be unassailable. Next, I pose a set of questions in order to interrogate unsafe assumptions and to disambiguate critical language in the shoot-to-kill scenario. (...) (1) How might shoot-to-kill be analogous to self-defence? (2) Should we not distinguish between reasons which could explain from those which do not justify why a suicide bomber acted as they did? (3) Must we avoid entertaining any charges of complicity on the suicide bombers’ behalf? (4) How, if at all, does racial profiling adulterate the grounds for police suspicion? (5) Does “reasonability” differ from “absolute necessity” as a precondition for enacting shoot-to-kill? And, (6), prompted by the injustice of the Jean Charles de Menezes case, can we assess the moral consequences of relocating the moment of decision from the firearms officer to their operational commander? After taking stock of the results of these enquiries, I conclude that resort to 'Kratos' rules of engagement unjustifiably raises the risk of shooting dead an innocent person, compared to the risk from harm that the general population may be reasonably expected to shoulder. (shrink)

This is a study of possession offences, with the focus on those intended to penalise the risk of a serious harm. Offences of this kind are examined in the light of basic doctrines of the criminal law, and in the light of the proper limits of endangerment offences. They are found wanting in both respects, and are also found to pose particular sentencing problems. The conclusion is that many risk-based possession offences are unfair, save those that require proof of a (...) further intent or those aimed at a failure properly to safeguard a dangerous object. (shrink)

This article tests the impact of Walmart's corporate decisions to end the sale of handguns at its stores in 1994 and to discontinue the sale of all firearms at approximately 59% of its stores in 2006 before resuming firearms sales at some of those stores in 2011. Using a difference-in-differences framework, we find that that from 1994 to 2005 counties with Walmarts robustly experienced a reduction in the suicide rate and experienced no change in the homicide rate. These (...) models suggest that Walmart's policy change caused a 3.3 to 7.5% reduction in the suicide rate within affected counties, which represents an estimated 5,104 to 11,970 lives saved over the studied period. In contrast, Walmart's 2006 and 2011 decisions to discontinue and subsequently resume the sale of rifles and shotguns in many of its stores was not associated with a robustly measured effect on homicide or suicide rates. We do find evidence that Walmart's 2006 decision to reduce the number of its stores that sold firearms caused a statistically significant reduction in the suicide rate for counties in which Walmart did not subsequently resume firearms sales. (shrink)

While there are no serious arguments in favor of there being no state control whatsoever over the private ownership and employment of firearms, there are significant arguments on the other extreme of the ‘gun control debate’ which contend for bans on the private ownership of firearms or some subset thereof. In this paper I argue that gun ban proponents like Jeff McMahan and Nicholas Dixon confuse the risk or likelihood of being confronted by an attacker intent on serious (...) or lethal harm with the right to defend oneself when faced by such an attacker. When this distinction is properly understood it becomes clear that arguments for the banning of all privately owned guns, or particular classes of guns, cannot stand so long as the firearms in question can be reasonably considered to be an effective means for individuals to defend themselves against attackers intent on serious or lethal harm. (shrink)

Colorado has consistently had one of the highest rates of suicide in the United States, and El Paso County has the highest number of suicide and firearm-related suicide deaths within the state. Community-based solutions like those of the Suicide Prevention Collaborative of El Paso County may be more effective in preventing suicide as they are specific to local issues, sensitive to local culture, and informed by local data, community members, and stakeholders.

BackgroundVoluntary self-prohibition (VSP) is a suicide prevention policy that allows individuals who recognize their risk for suicide to voluntarily prevent themselves from purchasing firearms through systems requiring background checks. It is unclear whether psychiatrists are aware of this suicide prevention tool or when to recommend it appropriately.AimsTo evaluate Virginia psychiatrists’ awareness and use of VSP alongside Substantial Risk Orders (SROs) to inform policy and practice.MethodsA convenience sample of Virginia psychiatrists was surveyed on knowledge and use of VSP and SRO, (...) including vignettes of patients at varying risk levels.ResultsSixty-three psychiatrists completed the survey. Most (66.7%) were unaware of VSP or SRO. After brief education, 74.1% of respondents chose VSP in the vignette where it was most strongly indicated and 72.2% chose SRO in the vignette where it was most strongly indicated. After learning about VSP, 83% agreed or strongly agreed that VSP could be a useful tool.LimitationsThe sample was small and did not collect certain information which may have provided additional insight into respondents’ choices.ConclusionAfter brief education, most respondents found VSP potentially useful. Ensuring knowledge of VSP and SRO may improve the uptake of both policies and suicide prevention efforts. (shrink)

In recent years, a number of prominent scholars have touted the use of litigation as an effective tool for making public health policy. For example, Stephen Teret and Michael Jacobs have asserted that product liability claims against car makers have played a significant role in reducing automobile-related injuries, Peter Jacobson and Kenneth Warner have argued that litigation against cigarette manufacturers has advanced the cause of tobacco control, and Phil Cook and Jens Ludwig have suggested that lawsuits against the firearms (...) industry can reduce gun violence. Critics have attacked this use of litigation as doing more harm than good to public health and as a misuse of the courts. This debate involves two distinct controversies: one over whether the public health benefits of litigation outweigh its costs and the other over the proper role of courts within our system of government. (shrink)

The moral right to keep and bear arms is entailed by the moral right of self-defense. We argue that the ownership and use of firearms is a reasonable means of exercising these rights. Given their defensive value, there is a strong presumption in favor of enacting civil rights to keep and bear arms ranging from handguns to ‘assault rifles.’ Thus, states are morally obliged as a matter of justice to recognize basic liberties for firearm ownership and usage. Throughout this (...) paper we build upon the relevant criminological and social science research in addition to the work of other philosophers who have in recent years argued in favor of gun rights. Although we believe the statistical evidence supports our case, our argument is primarily non-consequentialist. We do, however, address consequentialist objections in the last section of this paper. (shrink)

This article is a theoretical enquiry about the death of the Brazilian citizen Jean Charles de Menezes, shot in London at Stockwell tube station on 22 July 2005 by unknown specialist firearms' officers. The previous day some stations of the Tube were struck by failed bombing attacks. The police were chasing four suspects. Some hours after the murder, de Menezes was discovered to be innocent and not involved in the terrorist act.

Focusing on media actions surrounding the initial shootout between the Branch Davidian religious group and agents of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms outside Waco, Texas, in 1993, this article examines legal and ethical duties of the media. Using the legal concept of negligence and the work of several philosophers, the article concludes first that the media did not violate their legal duties but did violate the ethical duty to minimize harm and second that although law and (...) ethical intertwine and often share vocabulary, they are different. (shrink)

The article reviews the peculiarities of distance learning platforms usage in law enforcement educational institutions during the Covid-19 pandemic. Distance learning at U.S. Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, which is based on the Online Campus have been substantiated. Particular attention is paid to topical issues of training on such online training mod-ules of the Campus: crime scene, driving training, drugs, firearms, health, interviews, investigation, law, topography, maritime training, personal security, technical means, terrorism, stopping vehicles, etc. There are also programs (...) to study the courses "Small Arms" and "Use of Force" in the online training modules of the Campus. The specifics of professional training of border guards in Asian countries have been revealed: the use of platforms of law enforcement agencies; focus of training on the devel-opment of basic competencies and the ability to solve problem situations; the opportunity to take online courses for all categories of staff at a con-venient time; creation of a three-level round-the-clock system of functioning of training of specialists. Peculiarities of professional training of border guards of European countries have been outlined considering the usage of both the platforms of institutions and joint platforms of international organizations, namely: web platform Virtual Aula of Agency FRONTEX; CEPOL DL web platform; European Coast Guard Training platforms; ILIAS EU Mission EUBAM; Connect & Learn UNHCR; UNODC and others. Special attention is paid to the capabilities of the Virtual Aula web platform for training teachers, instructors, external experts, etc. Web platform Virtual Aula of Agency FRONTEX presents up-to-date information on educational programs conducted in Europe. Characteristics of distance learning platforms usage in higher law enforcement educational institutions in Ukraine have been presented. Distance learning course of the English language for border guards have been developed and implemented. Considerable attention is also paid to the disclosure of online assessment of knowledge: the test of self-control on the topics, modules, and procedure of final assessment. (shrink)

Does the Second Amendment protect those who threaten others by negligently or recklessly wielding firearms? What line separates constitutionally legitimate gun displays from threatening activities that can be legally proscribed? This article finds guidance in the First Amendment doctrine of true threats, which permits punishment of “statements where the speaker means to communicate a serious expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individual.” The Second Amendment, like the First, (...) should not be read to protect those who threaten unlawful violence. And to the degree that the constitution requires a culpable mental state in such circumstances, the appropriate standard should be recklessness. (shrink)

This book is an eye-opening account of transnational advocacy, not by environmental and rights groups, but by conservative activists. Mobilizing around diverse issues, these networks challenge progressive foes across borders and within institutions. In these globalized battles, opponents struggle as much to advance their own causes as to destroy their rivals. Deploying exclusionary strategies, negative tactics and dissuasive ideas, they aim both to make and unmake policy. In this work, Clifford Bob chronicles combat over homosexuality and gun control in the (...) UN, the Americas, Europe and elsewhere. He investigates the 'Baptist-burqa' network of conservative believers attacking gay rights, and the global gun coalition blasting efforts to control firearms. Bob draws critical conclusions about norms, activists and institutions, and his broad findings extend beyond the culture wars. They will change how campaigners fight, scholars study policy wars, and all of us think about global politics. (shrink)

_Through the exceptional permanent collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, this book looks at arms and armor as art—from warfare to war games, from hunting to the pursuit of glory_ The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s holdings of arms and armor are among the finest of their kind in the world. Presenting nearly 100 masterpieces from the collection, this lavishly illustrated volume includes complete armors and armor elements, swords, firearms and crossbows, staff weapons, horse equipment, and related accessories. Drawn (...) for the most part from the princely armories of Europe, these objects represent the epitome of the armorer’s art, and many are published here in color for the first time. The engaging text by Dirk H. Breiding summarizes the latest scholarship and discusses how the museum’s collection—the core of which consists of a 1977 bequest by the distinguished connoisseur and scholar Carl Otto Kretzschmar von Kienbusch (1884–1976)—has evolved over the years. This volume reveals how arms and armor—uniting art, fashion, design, politics, and technology—can be seen as unique expressions of human creativity. (shrink)

Hugh LaFollette, Jeff McMahan, and David DeGrazia endorse the most popular and convincing argument for the strict regulation of firearms in the U.S. The argument is based on the extensive, preventable harm caused by firearms. DeGrazia offers another compelling argument based on the rights of those threatened by firearms. My thesis is a conditional: if these usual arguments for gun control succeed, then alcoholic beverages should be controlled much more strictly than they are, possibly to the point (...) of prohibition. The argument for this thesis involves developing a careful analogy between firearms and alcohol and defending the analogy against objections. (shrink)

This article compares the landscape of tobacco regulations to the landscape of gun regulations, with a focus on regulations that target youth. This article argues that guns are significantly less regulated compared to tobacco, despite the frequency with which each product causes significant harm to both self and other. Many of the specific ways tobacco is regulated can be applied analogously to firearms while plausibly surviving potential Second Amendment challenges. This article compares the regulatory landscape of tobacco and (...) class='Hi'>firearms across six categories: minimum age for purchase, sale by unlicensed individuals, taxation, advertising, graphic warning labels, and zoning. At one time, tobacco was as central — or more so — to American culture as guns are today. However, many decades of public health advocacy led to historic tobacco regulations. Tobacco's regulatory history provides a valuable blueprint for gun regulation, despite Constitutional differences. (shrink)

O campo da avaliação psicológica para o porte de arma apresenta dificuldades e limitações em sua fundamentação e exercício profissional, com base na legislação brasileira vigente. Para que ela possa se desenvolver, fazse necessário sistematizar o que tem sido desenvolvido sobre o tema. Neste sentido, foi realizada uma revisão assistemática dos estudos nacionais que abordam à avaliação psicológica para porte de arma. Para tanto, foram realizadas buscas por meio da BVS-Psi de pesquisas que trouxessem, em seu título ou corpo, alguma (...) referência à avaliação psicológica para o porte de arma, utilizando como descritores porte de arma, avaliação psicológica, avaliação psicológica para porte de arma. Os resultados apontaram para 2 artigos de natureza empírica, 14 trabalhos de anais, 2 dissertações e 1 livro. Optou-se por não se limitar o período de publicação em razão da pequena quantidade de trabalhos sobre o tema. Concluise que as pesquisas sobre avaliação psicológica para porte de arma de fogo são escassas e trouxeram limitadas contribuições, denotando um campo carente da atenção científica. (shrink)

Spectacular but very rare violent events such as mass killings by habituai non-criminals cannot be explained by factors which are very widespread, such as possession of firearms, being a victim of bullying, an introvert, or a career failure. A stronger clue is clandestine preparation of attack by one or two individuals, against randomly chosen representatives of a hated collective identity. Mass killers develop a deep back-stage, obsessed with planning their attack, overcoming social inferiority and isolation by an emotion of (...) clandestine excitement. (shrink)

The claim that guns can safeguard freedom is common in US political discourse. In light of a broadly republican understanding of freedom, I evaluate this claim and its implications. The idea is usually that firearms would enable citizens to engage in revolutionary violence against a tyrannical government. I argue that some of the most common objections to this argument fail, but that the argument is fairly weak in light of other objections. I then defend a different argument for the (...) claim that guns can safeguard freedom. I claim that firearm ownership among members of oppressed groups can hinder the use of systematic violence aimed at preventing them from exercising their basic liberties. I show how a commitment to armed self-defense is compatible with non-violent civil resistance as a tool of political change, and show how the former facilitated the latter during the Civil Rights Movement. Finally, I consider the policy implications of my argument. I don’t think it vindicates lax gun control policies. However, it may vindicate some individuals acquiring guns and learning how to use them, and some organizations aiding them in doing so. (shrink)

The article analyzes early U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence on the Second Amendment, focusing on United States v. Cruikshank (1876), Presser v. Illinois (1886), and United States v. Miller (1939). It examines how these rulings interpreted the right to keep and bear arms and their influence on shaping the amendment’s meaning. Using case law analysis, historical methods, and comparative review of American and Polish legal scholarship, the study highlights that early Supreme Court decisions viewed the right to keep and bear arms (...) not as an individual guarantee against state interference, but as a collective entitlement tied to well regulated militia. This collective interpretation dominated for over a century until District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010), which redefined the Second Amendment as a source of individual rights to possess and carry firearms. The analysis clarifies the historical evolution of Second Amendment interpretation and its enduring importance for contemporary constitutional debate. The findings demonstrate that early jurisprudence profoundly shaped American constitutional culture and that the modern, individual-rights understanding of the Second Amendment is a relatively recent product of constitutional reinterpretation. (shrink)

The debate over gun ownership rights in the United States remains one of the most polarized political issues, reflecting fundamentally different worldviews between Republicans and Democrats. These divergent perspectives can be traced to philosophical orientations that shape both policy design and public discourse. This study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining analysis of policy documents, media coverage, and political messaging, to investigate how reductionist and holistic frameworks influence gun rights debates over the past two decades. Drawing on Risjord’s conceptualization, reductionism is (...) understood as an approach that isolates specific factors, prioritizes individual rights, and advances narrowly targeted interventions. Within the American political context, Republicans often embrace this framework, emphasizing the Second Amendment as the central guarantee of personal liberty and self-defense. In contrast, holism emphasizes the interconnectedness of social systems and advocates comprehensive solutions that address root causes. Democrats frequently adopt this orientation, framing gun violence as a public health crisis that requires systemic reforms addressing poverty, inequality, and mental health. The findings reveal that reductionist discourse tends to construct gun rights as a constitutional and individual security issue, while holistic discourse frames gun violence as a collective challenge embedded in broader social structures. This contrast highlights how deeply ingrained philosophical orientations shape political communication and public opinion. Importantly, the study identifies areas of overlap that may inform more effective, unified approaches to firearm policy in the United States. (shrink)

Mental health clinicians and evaluators of a person's mental health for legal purposes must address highly nuanced and possibly conflicting goals that arise in their work. Forensic Neuropsychiatric Ethics reviews real-life dilemmas facing practitioners who work in the field of mental health. The first two chapters ground the reader in the modern history and evolution of forensic ethics. Subsequent chapters provide practical direction on a range of important topics, including maintaining robust professionalism, writing an ethical report, testifying ethically, participating in (...) capital cases, managing bias and subjectivity, incorporating testing into one's opinion, and working in leadership roles. Other topics include providing informed consent; violating confidentiality; considering advance directives and physician assistance in dying; fulfilling the Tarasoff duty to protect; ethical considerations related to assisted outpatient treatment; the assessment and potential removal of firearms; the termination of pregnancy and decisional capacity; recognition of structural and implicit bias in violence risk assessments; and implications for the use of neuroscience and artificial intelligence in the courtroom. The book is written for all clinicians, forensic evaluators, educators, administrators, lawyers, and judges. (shrink)

Serious discussions of gun control tend to be either fact-centered and based on “studies,” or argument-centered and based on ethical concepts such as individual rights. The argument offered in part I is of the latter sort. The method used is that of “reflective equilibrium,” as popularized by John Rawls. It is based on appeals to intuition, subject to the constraint that one’s moral intuitions be made consistent and that they be explained on the basis of general principles. The conception of (...) rights the argument employs is familiar in many Supreme Court decisions involving rights. According to this view, some rights are special and deserve special protection, either because they are socially valuable or because they are important for the life of the individual. In addition, from time to time the argument looks to legal cases as a source of moral insight. (shrink)

Americans have an ambivalent relationship to guns. The debate over the role of guns and gun regulations in American society tends to be acrimonious and misinformed.

The right of self-defense is an “option-right”: it is a right to choose a course of action in the face of alternatives. It is easy to see that all option-rights entail “means-rights.” That is, every option right requires some means or other if it is to be exercised, and so coercively taking away all means of exercising a right would itself be a violation of that right. Further, not just any means will do: coercively taking away all but some feeble (...) and ineffective means would also be such a violation. On the other hand, an option-right does not necessarily entail a right to use all possible means to exercising it: a person’s right of self-defense does not entitle him to incinerate his attacker with nuclear weapons. (shrink)

The author recommends several policies that would take the United States from its current, minimal level of gun control to a set of moderately extensive gun regulations. These policies are justified by an appreciation of the status quo of American gun violence, the experience of other nations, and the ethical arguments presented in previous chapters. The twenty-five recommendations fall into several categories: eligibility for purchase, ownership, and use; law enforcement; research; banning of excessively dangerous weaponry; prohibition of physician “gag orders”; (...) and safety of guns in homes and as consumer products. Every morally serious American should call for the enactment of sensible gun policies. Consistent with the idea that has motivated development of this book, clear thinking about the issue is a first step. (shrink)

Are means-rights entailed by a given option-right? Whatever the answer might be, it must be subject to an obvious proviso: it cannot give one a right to use a means that involves wrongdoing. One solution, the author suggests, would be the Principle of Best Means, which holds that an option-right entitles one to the best available means of exercising it. However, that principle has implausible implications in some circumstances. A satisfactory principle seems to be the Principle of Effective Means, which (...) holds that an option-right entitles someone to an effective means of exercising it. Among its virtues is the fact that it can explain the two features of means-rights and option-rights discussed at the beginning of this chapter. It clearly implies that the right of self-defense entails a right to arms. (shrink)

What does “gun control” mean? The author describes a class of legislation that lies at the heart of the debate between advocates and opponents of gun control. Some legislation aims to restrict the availability of guns. As such, it is based on an attitude toward guns as a bad thing to have around, at least if they are “too readily available.” In this sense, gun safety regulations are not cases of gun control, nor are laws that prohibit them for a (...) dangerous class of users (such as children). Thus, in part I of this book, advocates and opponents of gun control are referred to, respectively, as “gun restrictionists” and “anti-restrictionists.” This introductory chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the strongly anti-restrictionist environment in which the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was framed. (shrink)

In response to the continued expansion of “red flag” laws allowing broader classes of people to petition a court for the removal of firearms from individuals who exhibit dangerous conduct, this paper argues that state laws should adopt a double-filter provision that balances individual rights and government public safety interests. The main component of such a provision is a special statutory category — “reporting party” — that enables a broader social network, such as co-workers or school administrators, to request (...) that a law enforcement officer file a petition for an Extreme Risk Protection Order. A double-filter provision would not give reporting parties a right to file a court petition directly. Instead, parties would file a request for petition with law enforcement officers, who must seek an ERPO from the court if they find the reporting party's information credible. That information is then transmitted to the court as a sworn affidavit of the reporting party. The goal is to facilitate a balanced policy model that widens the reporting circle in order to feed more potentially life-saving information into the system, mitigates the risk of erroneous deprivation of constitutionally protected due process and Second Amendment rights. (shrink)

In the history of war thinking, a transhistorical approach has emerged, with the value of not subjecting the theory to circumstances, particularly those fuelled by technical factors. This ambition was closely linked to Clausewitz’s theory, which was based on the difference between the historical character of “real war” and the transhistorical character of “absolute war”. Prior to Clausewitz’s theory, the transhistorical character had crept into the thinking on warfare in the modern era, which had developed a great deal around the (...) use of firearms, a character to which some theorists did not want to submit. During the First World War, the French army produced new weapons, such as tanks and aerial bombardment. It was therefore the ability to adapt to the historical circumstances of this war that was later considered to be the cause of victory, as the historian Marc Bloch later emphasised when he defined history as a “science of change”. After the Second World War, the major changes in warfare fuelled a tendency to refer to Clausewitz’s transhistorical theory in order to continue to think about war despite its major changes. The transhistorical approach was therefore a historical phenomenon. (shrink)

Rates of firearm injury and mortality are far higher in the United States compared to other high-income nations. Patterns of firearm injury have complex causal pathways; different social contexts may be differentially affected by firearm legislation. In the context of the diversity of social, political, and legal approaches at the state level, we suggest the application of the social ecological model as a conceptual public health framework to guide future policy interventions in the U.S.

The firearms data infrastructure in the United States is severely limited in scope and fragmented in nature. Improved data systems are needed in order to address gun violence and promote productive conversation about gun policy. In the absence of federal leadership in firearms data systems improvement, motivated states may take proactive steps to stitch gaps in data systems. We propose that states evaluate the gaps in their systems, expand data collection, and improve data presentation and availability.

ABSTRACT In 1644, the Manchus, a Tungusic population from northeast Asia, conquered Ming China, establishing the Qing Empire. Four years later, Crimean Tartar horsemen joined a major uprising against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, gravely destabilizing one of Europe’s largest states. These near-simultaneous incursions by ostensibly nomadic, horse-riding ‘Tartars’ into firearm-defended sedentary states generated extensive historiographical reflection on the role of nomads and their warhorse-centred armies in shaping human history. This article explores how the Jesuit Martino Martini drew on these Tartar wars (...) to articulate a dialectical theory of human history, oscillating between civilization and barbarism, respectively embodied by agriculturalism and nomadic-pastoralism. Such theories, I argue, emerged in dialogue with pressing concerns about military security in metropolitan Europe. Indeed, the shock of the near-simultaneous Tartar wars spurred European writers to critically examine their own states’ defences, contributing to controversies between Ancient and Modern military technologies. As this article shows, several Europeans came to construe Tartars simultaneously as ‘barbarians’ and a source of valuable martial expertise to be studied and selectively appropriated. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: “Indian Agriculture” Practical Astronomy, Surveying and Time‐keeping Gunpowder and Firearms Philosophy of Technology References and Further Reading.

This chapter contains sections titled: “Indian Agriculture” Practical Astronomy, Surveying and Time‐keeping Gunpowder and Firearms Philosophy of Technology References and Further Reading.

Litigation cannot solve a public health crisis. But litigation can be an effective complementary tool to regulation by increasing the salience of a public health issue, eliciting closely guarded information to move public opinion, and prompting legislative action. From tobacco to opioids, litigants have successfully turned to courts for monetary relief, to initiate systemic change, and to hold industry accountable For years, litigators have been trying to push firearm suits into their own litigation moment. But litigation against the gun industry (...) poses special challenges. Not only has the regulatory regime failed to prevent a public safety hazard, Congress has consistently underfunded and understaffed the relevant regulatory actors. And in 2005 it legislatively immunized the gun industry from suit with the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. This paper surveys the field of litigation in response to gun violence, tracking the limited successes of victims and stakeholders suing the gun industry. We find that victories remain confined to individual actors and unlike high-impact public litigations in other areas, aggregate class actions and major public litigation led by state attorneys general are noticeably absent in the firearm context. (shrink)

As a “case” in business ethics, the conduct of the firearms industry is hardly dilemmatic. The responsible choices before firearmmanufacturers have long been clear, if largely neglected. The great interest here for business ethicists lies in understanding how civillaw and ethics can work together to bring a rogue industry under control. Business ethicists have a role to play in shaping the formationof legal standards in this area. In turn, emerging concepts of manufacturers’ liability can make a contribution to the (...) teaching ofbusiness ethics. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: References and Further Reading.

This chapter contains sections titled: References and Further Reading.

This paper reconstructs the deficiencies of formal democracies to explain the internal injustices of the modern state, the self‐righteous swaggering foreign policy of Western powers, and the dangerously over‐simplified, polar logic characterizing the war rhetoric of the modern era. In a brief tour through the non‐liberal tradition of democratic thought, drawing connections between the tragic mythological origins of Western understandings of self and world, the paper attempts to demonstrate that a failure to find alternate, healthier means of value‐creation has caused (...) Westerners, in their constructive identity work, to adhere themselves to their systems with a ritualized, ‘religious’ fervour. Legitimacy in the world becomes, in the final analysis, a simple matter of might. The possession of firearms and bread render self‐sanctifying myths legitimating aggressions on the argument of ‘good’ powers fighting the battle against ‘evil’ contaminants. (shrink)

What does the open-carried gun tell us about the contemporary political structure of whiteness, and how do such objects operate to reinforce this structure? To work through these questions, this article brings together political theories of racialized democracy and political theoretical analyses of gun-rights debates with insights from interdisciplinary scholarship on guns to generate a political theoretical account of the relationship between guns and white democracy. To do so, we analyze two open-carry spectacles: recurring Second Amendment protests featuring the prominent (...) display of open-carried weapons, and open-carrying protestors in Michigan demonstrating against stay-at-home orders in response to COVID-19 in 2020. Our analysis of these two cases illuminates our central arguments about guns and white democracy. We argue that guns operate to politically align white bodies amid the ongoing constitution of political whiteness: open-carried firearms work to reinforce and reproduce white democracy. We further claim that the force of open-carried guns in sustaining white democracy works through two linked dynamics: first, guns extend, generate, and secure the wages of whiteness; second, they protect and assert white dominion. Taken together, these dynamics explain how guns uphold white democracy, but also illuminate, we argue, the contingency of that political power. It is that contingency which suggests that the open-carried firearm might also help contest it in turn, a point illustrated by turning to scholarship on the relation of firearms to the civil rights movement. (shrink)

In light of the January 6, 2021, insurrection on the Capitol, this article considers the Second Amendment as an example of how Black women are quasi-citizens within the United States. I focus on the Second Amendment to not only give an account of the historical and contemporary ways guns are used to terrorize Black women but to also show the jeopardization possessing and carrying firearms pose to Black women in both individuated and systemic cases. By turning to the Second (...) Amendment, Black women’s status as citizens illuminates a liminal space where they are simultaneously inside the category of citizens but functionally excluded. Given the unjust foundations of the Second Amendment, I view Black women brandishing firearms as possibly an act of civil disobedience. (shrink)

Police officers often encounter potentially dangerous situations in which they strongly rely on their ability to identify threats quickly and react accordingly. Previous studies have shown that practical experience and targeted training significantly improve threat detection time and decision-making performance in law enforcement situations. We applied 90-min traditional firearms training as a control condition and a specifically developed intervention training to police cadets. The intervention training contained theoretical and practical training on tactical gaze control, situational awareness, and visual attention, (...) while the control training focused on precision and speed. In a pre- and posttest, we measured decision-making performance as well as response preparation and execution to evaluate the training. Concerning cognitive performance training, the number of correct decisions increased from pre- to posttest. In shoot scenarios, correct decisions improved significantly more in the intervention group than in the control group. In don’t-shoot scenarios, there were no considerable differences. Concerning the training of response preparation and execution in shoot scenarios, the intervention group’s response time, but not hit time, decreased significantly from pre- to posttest. The control group was significantly faster than the intervention group, with their response and hit time remaining constant across pre- and posttest. Concerning the training of tactical action control, the intervention group performed significantly better than the control group. Moreover, the intervention group improved the tactical handling of muzzle position significantly. The results indicate that a single 90-min session of targeted gaze control and visual attention training improves decision-making performance, response time, and tactical handling of muzzle position in shoot scenarios. However, these faster response times do not necessarily translate to faster hit times – presumably due to the motor complexity of hitting an armed attacker with live ammunition. We conclude that theory-based training on tactical gaze control and visual attention has a higher impact on police officers’ decision-making performance than traditional firearms training. Therefore, we recommend law enforcement agencies include perception-based shoot/don’t-shoot exercises in training and regular tests for officers’ annual firearm requalification. (shrink)