American Carnage

Winner of the 2023 American Spirt Award for Citizen Activism.

Fred Guttenberg, who lost his beloved daughter Jaime in the 2018 Parkland school shooting, and International gun policy consultant Thomas Gabor team up in American Carnage to dismantle some of the most common myths about guns and gun violence.

ContentsChapter 1: Combatting Misinformation on Gun ViolenceChapter 2: The Truth About Guns in US History and CultureMyth: Gun Laws are a Recent DevelopmentMyth: An Increasing Percentage of Americans Are Buying GunsMyth: America Has An All-Encompassing Gun CultureMyth: Most Americans Support an Expansive View of Gun Rights and Generally Oppose Restrictions on Gun OwnershipChapter 3: The Truth About Guns and Public SafetyMyth: An Armed Society is a Polite SocietyMyth: The Only Consequences of Gun Violence are MurdersMyth: Gun Violence Numbers are Inflated Because they Include SuicidesMyth: Guns Make Women SaferMyth: Arming Teachers Will Make Schools SaferMyth: Gun Violence is Just a Problem in the Inner CitiesChapter 4: The Truth About Guns and Assault WeaponsMyth: Guns Don’t Kill People, People Kill PeopleMyth: An AR-15-Style Rifle Is a Sporting GunChapter 5: The Truth About Guns and Self-DefenseMyth: Guns Provide a Net Benefit to Society in That They Are More Likely to be Used for Protection Than to Commit CrimesMyth: There are 2.5 Million Defensive Gun Uses Per Year in the USMyth: Right-to-Carry Laws Reduce CrimeMyth: Training Required of Concealed Weapons Permit Holders Prepares Them for Effective Defensive Gun UseMyth: All Concealed Weapons Permit Holders are “Good Guys”Myth: Stand Your Ground Laws Save LivesMyth: Most Mass Shootings Occur in Gun-Free ZonesChapter 6: The Truth About the Causes of Gun ViolenceMyth: The US has More Gun Deaths Than Other Countries Because It Is More Violent and Not Due to Higher Gun Ownership or Weaker Gun LawsMyth: Mass Shootings and Gun Violence are Primarily Due to the Mental Illness of the PerpetratorChapter 7: The Truth about Guns and the ConstitutionMyth: The Second Amendment Grants Americans the Right to Carry Any Firearm into Any SettingChapter 8: The Truth about Guns and FreedomMyth: Widespread Gun Ownership and Gun Carrying Increases Our FreedomMyth: We Must Choose Between Public Safety and the Freedom to Own GunsMyth: Gun Violence is the Price We Pay for Our FreedomsChapter 9: The Truth As to Why Guns Ought to be RegulatedMyth: We Need to Tackle the Root Causes of Violence and Stop Blaming GunsMyth: Why Ban Guns When People Can Also be Killed with Knives, a Frozen Ham, or Die in a Car or Pool?Myth: Guns Don’t Matter Because People Will Find a Way to Kill Others or Themselves Regardless of Gun AvailabilityChapter 10: The Truth About Gun Laws and Gun Violence PreventionMyth: Gun Violence Prevention Always Involves Changes to Laws and Public MoneyMyth: Switzerland and Israel have Relaxed Gun Laws and Low Murder RatesMyth: Hitler Introduced Strict Gun Control to Repress the PopulationMyth: We Don’t Need More Gun Laws; We Just Need to Enforce the Laws We HaveMyth: Gun Control Doesn’t Work. Chicago has Very Strict Laws and a Huge Gun Violence ProblemMyth: Gun Owners and Nonowners Disagree on Every Form of RegulationMyth: Bans and Restrictions Don’t Work as Criminals Don’t Obey the Law and Can Buy Guns on the Illegal MarketMyth: Banning Firearms is Futile When So Many Weapons Are Already in Civilian HandsMyth: Gun Laws Are a First Step to the Complete Disarmament of the Population (the Slippery Slope Argument)Chapter 11: How to Combat Misinformation and Change the Focus from Gun Rights to Public SafetyAcknowledgmentsAbout the AuthorsAppendix A: A Declaration of the Right to Live Free from Gun ViolenceNotes