Why It's OK to Own a Gun explores the right to self-defense, but also looks beyond it to what gun ownership fundamentally means in American life. Guns can provide a source of meaning that doesn't depend on how much money you have or how important your job is. Guns can offer a sense of shared identity that's not hung up on intellectual credentials or ideological orthodoxy. For many responsible gun owners, owning a gun is a way of positively reclaiming one's own agency in the world.
It's true that guns matter to only a minority of Americans, but the same could be said for many important political liberties. Like freedom of religion and freedom of expression, guns should be on the list of basic rights. In fact, they are: as some in America's founding generation anticipated, gun rights have offered a bulwark for republican freedom. Because there is nothing morally wrong with any of these values, owning a gun is OK.
Key Features:
Discusses the grounds of the political rights of gun ownership
Connects the debate over guns with the sociology of gun ownership
Describes genuinely worthwhile features of a way of life that's unfamiliar to many readers
Considers empirical and normative aspects of the gun debate
Thinks about individual rights in the context of state power
"Why It's OK to Own a Gun is a model of civil, intelligent, and persuasive discourse on a hot-button issue. It breaks new ground and offers a novel argument for the permissibility of gun ownership that should interest researchers, journalists and the general public. It is a joy to read."
John Thrasher, Chapman University
"An excellent book, rigorously argued but sprinkled with personality throughout. A good example of philosophical analysis on a hot-button issue, the book works both as a general introduction to the topic and as an original contribution to the philosophical literature on gun rights/prohibition. Extremely well-written, it discusses sometimes conceptually difficult material with a very light touch."
Dan Waxman, National University of Singapore
Ryan W. Davis is Associate Professor of Political Science at Brigham Young University. He is interested in how moral disagreements affect relationships and reasoning. Most of his work is connected to the value of autonomy in morality and politics. He has a PhD from Princeton University.
1.Introduction 2. Guns, Concepts, and Meaning I: The Value of Shared Identity 3. Guns, Concepts, and Meaning II: The Prospect of Cultural Devastation 4. Guns as a Deontological Right 5. Guns as a Liberal Right. Liberty rights are based on protecting agency 6. Empirical Overview I: What Are the Effects of Gun Ownership in America? 7. Empirical Overview II: Policy Prescriptions 8. Guns and Republicanism I: Undermining the Neo-Republican Case Against Guns 9. Guns and Republicanism II: Can Private Gun Ownership Protect Freedom? 10. Conclusion
