Citation

Kopel DB. New York Law School journal of international and comparative law 1995; 15(1): 355-398.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Book review of Lethal Laws. By Jay Simkin, Aaron Zelman, & Alan M. Rice. Published by Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. This book ought to be a non-controversial item that will quickly find its way onto the shelves of all libraries with an interest in international law. The authors‟ method is quite standard: a compilation from seven nations of statutes on a particular subject. The translation of the statutes into English is meticulous, and each of the statutes is accompanied by commentary explaining its significance. In addition, as the legal academy works to improve itself at hearing voices which have too long been ignored, this book makes a profound effort to bring to our attention the lives of people, such as persecuted ethnic minorities, who have been marginalized by scholarly research. But in fact, this book will likely be bought by few law school libraries. It is unlikely to be reviewed in the usual international law journals, because in a number of ways, the book is so politically incorrect. What is "wrong" with this book? First, its lead author is an economist, not a law professor or even an attorney. Second, the topic of the book is gun control statutes in nations which have perpetrated genocide in the twentieth century. Third, the book‟s insistent thesis is that gun control paves the way for genocide. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1272846

Keywords: Genocide, gun control, Germany, Soviet Union, China, Cambodia, Guatemala, Uganda, Armenia

Language: en