Gun Crime in Global Contexts

`In the hyperbolic issue of gun control, comparisons of gun habits across nations are too often made based on too little credible analysis. Squires's sensible cross-national examination of the gun issue from a truly international perspective brings welcome sobriety and thoughtfulness to this pressing and timely subject.' - Robert J. Spitzer, Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science, The State University of New York College at Cortland, USA

`Peter Squires's impressive new book provides a rigorous and authoritative examination of recent developments in gun crime and gun control and their inter-relationships. Applying a criminologist's perspective, the book not only provides a detailed and revealing analysis of trends in gun crime and control measures in the contrasting cases of USA and UK, but also situates these in the wider context of firearms deaths and injuries across the world, in developed, industrialising, fragile and conflict prone states, and of global efforts to improve regulations on gun flows. Strongly recommended.' - Owen Greene, Director, Centre for International Co-operation and Security, University of Bradford, UK

`Admirable for its international perspective and scope of thought, this is a must-read for anyone who wonders where the world is heading with guns. Squires examines current debates: gun crime and spree shootings, domestic violence and gun culture , the UN and global gun trafficking - then breaks open emerging discussions: the militarisation of self-defence and the neo-liberalisation of firearm ownership. This is the breadth of canvas we need to draw effective policy.' - Philip Alpers, GunPolicy.org

'Synthesizing five communities of academic interpretation in the gun proliferation and violence debate - criminology of gun violence, conflict studies of failed states, studies of weapon proliferation or trade, ethnography of violence and peacemaking, and the inter/national politics of gun control - Squires concludes that the metaphor of the authoritarian Western game of chance - rock, paper, scissors - may be used to illustrate the concept of the separation of unequal powers in liberal democracies that permit the hegemony of the powerful gun lobby, despite overwhelming evidence that the gun is a defective product that does more harm than good to the social contract... Summing up:Highly recommended.' - Onwubiko Agozino, Professor of Sociology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Choice Review, January 2015

Peter Squires is one of the leading criminologists focusing on gun crime, and his latest book is a substantial global survey of the issue. Running to 400 pages, this impressive volume draws on an extensive and growing literature covering the extent of gun crime, the dynamics of the international small arms trade, and the political debates and legislative attempts to regulate gun proliferation and use. This book will likely serve for several years to come as the most useful starting point for anyone seeking an introduction to the area. Squires rightly advocates an interdisciplinary approach, arguing that only the combined efforts of such disciplines as criminology, politics, war studies, international relations and development studies can hope to grasp the dynamics of what has become a truly global phenomenon. - John Lea, Honorary Professor, University of Leicester, British Journal of Criminology