Gun Violence and Prevention - Connections, Cultures, and Consequences

Book excerpt: People are dying or suffering all over the world from the plague of gun violence, and countries and entire regions are reeling from the damage, instability, and insecurity that gun violence causes. Taking a global perspective on the problem, and identifying correlates such as drug trafficking, gun trafficking, state failure, ethnic and political conflict, terrorism and war, and the consequent rise of personal fear and insecurity leading to more citizens arming themselves or hiring armed security forces, the chapters in this volume look far beyond the United States, which monopolizes public and scholarly attention, to include India, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa. The chapters explore and compare histories of, causes of, correlates of, and responses to gun violence across this broad region, predominantly in the Global South, identifying commonalities and differences in the character, incidence, and attempted prevention of gun violence. The volume aims to inform readers about gun violence in these often-overlooked places and to encourage intensified quantitative and qualitative research into the geographical and historical diversity of such violence and the steps taken by various countries to curb it. Only with a cross-cultural and transhistorical perspective can we hope to lower the personal and social cost that gun violence inflicts on populations around the globe.