What happens when two intelligent American college students with different attitudes about guns launch into a careful exploration of the ethics of gun policy? What might a European exchange student add to the mix? All three characters in this book are fictional, the creation of author David DeGrazia’s imagination. But their vigorous, respectful conversations over six meetings—well-informed by the latest empirical data and the best available philosophical arguments—shed needed light on the reality of guns in the U.S. today.
These dialogues introduce students, professional academics, and others to the American experience with gun violence and gun policy, articulating ethical arguments supporting and opposing substantial gun control, and specific possibilities for reform. They also demonstrate how those who initially disagree about the place of guns in American society can communicate constructively and agree on many ideas.
Dialogue 1 distinguishes the legal rights to private gun ownership from the ethics of gun policy and illustrates how the U.S. is an outlier with respect to gun violence, gun ownership, and gun politics. Dialogue 2 explores the overall social consequences of high rates of gun ownership and minimal regulation and enforcement. Then, turning to moral rights, Dialogue 3 probes the subtle relationships among a right to self-defense, its possible foundation(s), and alleged gun rights. Dialogue 4 turns to appeals to various liberties as possible bases for gun rights. Next, Dialogue 5 examines the possibility that various other moral rights—such as a right to a reasonably safe environment—can illuminate gun policy ethics. Finally, Dialogue 6 concludes with a fairly detailed exploration of the shape of morally defensible gun policy in the United States.
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