Thursday, September 13, 2018

Resolution

While laws that prohibit gun ownership would reduce crimes perpetrated by criminals, that benefit would be more than offset by the foregone opportunities for defensive gun use by victims of crime.

For the affirmative:

Gary Kleck is the Emeritus David J. Bordua Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University.  His research has focused on the topics of the impact of firearms and gun control on violence, deterrence, and crime control. He is the author of Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America, which won the 1993 Michael J. Hindelang Award of the American Society of Criminology.  He also wrote Targeting Guns (1997) and, with Don B. Kates, Jr., The Great American Gun Debate (1997) and Armed (2001), and, with Brion Sever, Punishment and Crime (2017).  His articles have been published in the American Sociological Review, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Law & Society Review, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, and many other journals.

For the negative:

Paul Helmke is the former president and CEO of the Brady Center/Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and three-term mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is currently a professor of practice at Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and the founding director of the Civic Leaders Living-Learning Center in Bloomington, IN. Helmke's professional interests include law and public policy, civic education and participation, mayoral and nonprofit leadership, urban issues, and gun control. His experience on gun control issues lands him frequent mentions and interviews in national news stories and programs. Helmke received a Juris Doctor degree from Yale University and a B.A. with highest distinction from Indiana University.