Peter Squires

Private gun ownership for self-defense remains a major personal and public issue in the United States, driven by concerns about crime, vulnerability and a range of ‘ideological’ factors, including race and gender. As media attention centres upon the extent to which women are taking up firearms, with the gun lobby and firearms manufacturers celebrating the ‘new armed woman’, and guns being promoted as ‘Rape Prevention Kits’, this book explores the changing gendered aspects of gun ownership.Can ownership of firearms by women be considered, as some have claimed, the embodiment of what might be termed ‘pioneer feminism’, as women resist male violence in a dangerous world, or are different stories told by the prominence of women in firearms control campaigns, or the fact that women remain frequent victims of male gun ownership? Analysing representations of the ‘armed woman’ in firearm and gun lobby marketing and advertising campaigns, together with television and popular music forms, Gender and Firearms: My Body, My Choice, My Gun examines the directions taken in the public debate on weaponisation in the United States, considering the role of women in the politics of gun safety and gun control. The book draws on statistical evidence in order to shed light on trends in gun ownership, whilst engaging with feminist scholarship on the relationship between gender, violence, risk and vulnerabilities, thus opening up critical new debates surrounding identity, performance, gender and risk in contemporary societies.As such the book will be of likely interest to sociologists and scholars of sociology, criminology, and cultural and media studies with interests in gender, embodiment, risk, crime and violence.

Private gun ownership for self-defense remains a major personal and public issue in the United States, driven by concerns about crime, vulnerability and a range of ‘ideological’ factors, including race and gender. As media attention centres upon the extent to which women are taking up firearms, with the gun lobby and firearms manufacturers celebrating the ‘new armed woman’, and guns being promoted as ‘Rape Prevention Kits’, this book explores the changing gendered aspects of gun ownership.Can ownership of firearms by women be considered, as some have claimed, the embodiment of what might be termed ‘pioneer feminism’, as women resist male violence in a dangerous world, or are different stories told by the prominence of women in firearms control campaigns, or the fact that women remain frequent victims of male gun ownership? Analysing representations of the ‘armed woman’ in firearm and gun lobby marketing and advertising campaigns, together with television and popular music forms, Gender and Firearms: My Body, My Choice, My Gun examines the directions taken in the public debate on weaponisation in the United States, considering the role of women in the politics of gun safety and gun control. The book draws on statistical evidence in order to shed light on trends in gun ownership, whilst engaging with feminist scholarship on the relationship between gender, violence, risk and vulnerabilities, thus opening up critical new debates surrounding identity, performance, gender and risk in contemporary societies.As such the book will be of likely interest to sociologists and scholars of sociology, criminology, and cultural and media studies with interests in gender, embodiment, risk, crime and violence.

This critical textbook looks beyond the immediate data on knife crime to try and make sense of what is a global phenomenon. Yet it especially explores why the UK in particular has become so preoccupied by this form of interpersonal, often youthful, violence. The book explores knife crime in its global and historical context and examines crime patterns including the “second wave” of knife crime in Britain. It then incorporates new empirical data to explore key themes including: police responses, popular narratives, and the various interests benefiting from the 'knife crime industry'. It captures the “voices” of those impacted by knife crime including young people, community leaders, and youth work practitioners. Drawing on criminology, sociology, cultural studies and history, the book argues that the problem is firmly located at the intersection of a series of concerns about class, race, gender and generationthat are a product of British history and its global past. It seeks to trace the several roots of the contemporary knife crime 'epidemic', ultimately to propose newer and alternative strategies for responding to it. It encourages a critical engagement with this subject, with the inclusion of some learning exercises for undergraduate students and above in the the social sciences, whilst also speaking to researchers, policy-makers and practitioners.

This title was first published in 2000: Effective service provisions for young people are often said to be the key to Community Safety planning yet research frequently shows young people as over-controlled yet under-protected. Taking up this dilemma, this work draws upon a large survey of young people's attitudes towards the opportunities facing them and the communities in which they live. The book explores many aspects of young people's lives that adult society finds so disconcerting or threatening or which agency service providers find so difficult to address. The results of these surveys are contrasted with surveys amongst key agency personnel - social services, education, housing, police and the youth service - developing contrasting perspectives on "young people's needs". These findings are then further contrasted with a survey of adult community reactions, revealing markedly different levels of tolerance and intolerance.

This title was first published in 2000: Effective service provisions for young people are often said to be the key to Community Safety planning yet research frequently shows young people as over-controlled yet under-protected. Taking up this dilemma, this work draws upon a large survey of young people's attitudes towards the opportunities facing them and the communities in which they live. The book explores many aspects of young people's lives that adult society finds so disconcerting or threatening or which agency service providers find so difficult to address. The results of these surveys are contrasted with surveys amongst key agency personnel - social services, education, housing, police and the youth service - developing contrasting perspectives on "young people's needs". These findings are then further contrasted with a survey of adult community reactions, revealing markedly different levels of tolerance and intolerance. Discussion of the research findings is situated within a critical review of existing youth diversion and community safety policy initiatives which, by listening to young people and resisting the "demonization" of the young, attempts to take a fresh look at the contemporary "youth question".

Anti-social behaviour has become a major political preoccupation of government and combating it is now a major plank of criminal justice policy. Yet anti-social behaviour as a concept has been little studied, and the notion has often been accepted uncritically. This book aims to meet this need, providing a critique of the government's use of the concept of anti-social behaviour and of youth justice strategy more generally. Rougher Justice foregrounds the perspectives and experiences of young people themselves. It draws upon recent developments within the field of cultural criminology to provide an alternative interpretation of the construction of 'youthful criminal careers'. It is underpinned by research in three separate areas which focus on the new youth justice, youthful criminal careers, and anti-social behaviour and acceptable behaviour enforcement. Central to the book is an ambition to understand youthful delinquency from the inside and to recover what is lost in much of New Labour's youth justice strategy --and the methods adopted by the Youth Justice Board to evaluate this strategy, that is to say a situated and interpretive understanding of youthful delinquency drawn from the perspective of and in the voices of young people themselves.

Every year around three-quarters of a million people die (directly or indirectly) as a result of gun violence, with most deaths occurring in the poorest, yet also most highly weaponized parts of the world. Firearm proliferation -- 875 million global firearms -- is a direct contributor to both regional conflicts and to crime. This book attempts to understand the inter-related dynamics of supply and demand which are weaponizing the world.Now over ten years after Peter Squires’s Gun Culture or Gun Control?, the issues pertaining to gun violence and gun control have developed dramatically. With Gun Crime in Global Contexts, Peter Squires offers a cutting-edge account of contemporary developments in the politics of gun crime and the social and theoretical issues that surround the problem. This book contains: an innovative political analysis of neo-liberal globalization and weapon proliferation; an overview of recent gun control debates and gang strategies in the UK; an updated analysis of US gun politics: self-defence, race and the ‘culture war’; a critical analysis of US school and rampage shootings, how they have impacted the gun debate and how different societies have responded to mass shootings; an examination of the UN's development of an Arms Trade Treaty (2001--13); a discussion of weapon trafficking; discussions about youth gangs around the world, including those in Brazil, Kenya, West Africa, Mexico and South Africa. With its interdisciplinary perspective and global reach, this book will be important reading for academics and students interested in youth and gang crime, violent crime and comparative criminal justice, as well as peace and security studies and international relations.

Every year around three-quarters of a million people die (directly or indirectly) as a result of gun violence, with most deaths occurring in the poorest, yet also most highly weaponized parts of the world. Firearm proliferation -- 875 million global firearms -- is a direct contributor to both regional conflicts and to crime. This book attempts to understand the inter-related dynamics of supply and demand which are weaponizing the world.Now over ten years after Peter Squires’s Gun Culture or Gun Control?, the issues pertaining to gun violence and gun control have developed dramatically. With Gun Crime in Global Contexts, Peter Squires offers a cutting-edge account of contemporary developments in the politics of gun crime and the social and theoretical issues that surround the problem. This book contains: an innovative political analysis of neo-liberal globalization and weapon proliferation; an overview of recent gun control debates and gang strategies in the UK; an updated analysis of US gun politics: self-defence, race and the ‘culture war’; a critical analysis of US school and rampage shootings, how they have impacted the gun debate and how different societies have responded to mass shootings; an examination of the UN's development of an Arms Trade Treaty (2001--13); a discussion of weapon trafficking; discussions about youth gangs around the world, including those in Brazil, Kenya, West Africa, Mexico and South Africa. With its interdisciplinary perspective and global reach, this book will be important reading for academics and students interested in youth and gang crime, violent crime and comparative criminal justice, as well as peace and security studies and international relations.

Shooting to Kill? Policing, Firearms and Armed Response explores the dilemma of armed response policing in the UK, and policing in a gun culture. Offers the first critical exploration of the ACPO code of guidance on Police Use of Firearms and other tactical manualsIncludes interviews with senior police firearms managers and critical case studies of police firearms incidentsFeatures the first in-depth, academic analysis of the Stockwell shooting incident and the Kratos policyProvides a review of key developments in armed response policing around the worldDescribes the crucial phases in armed response policy development in Britain and explores the consequences of arming the police

Shooting to Kill? Policing, Firearms and Armed Response explores the dilemma of armed response policing in the UK, and policing in a gun culture. Offers the first critical exploration of the ACPO code of guidance on Police Use of Firearms and other tactical manualsIncludes interviews with senior police firearms managers and critical case studies of police firearms incidentsFeatures the first in-depth, academic analysis of the Stockwell shooting incident and the Kratos policyProvides a review of key developments in armed response policing around the worldDescribes the crucial phases in armed response policy development in Britain and explores the consequences of arming the police

Anti-social behaviour has become a major political preoccupation of government and combating it is now a major plank of criminal justice policy. Yet anti-social behaviour as a concept has been little studied, and the notion has often been accepted uncritically. This book aims to meet this need, providing a critique of the government's use of the concept of anti-social behaviour and of youth justice strategy more generally. Rougher Justice foregrounds the perspectives and experiences of young people themselves. It draws upon recent developments within the field of cultural criminology to provide an alternative interpretation of the construction of 'youthful criminal careers'. It is underpinned by research in three separate areas which focus on the new youth justice, youthful criminal careers, and anti-social behaviour and acceptable behaviour enforcement. Central to the book is an ambition to understand youthful delinquency from the inside and to recover what is lost in much of New Labour's youth justice strategy --and the methods adopted by the Youth Justice Board to evaluate this strategy, that is to say a situated and interpretive understanding of youthful delinquency drawn from the perspective of and in the voices of young people themselves.

n 1996 the shooting and killing of 16 young children in a Dunblane primary school provoked wide reaching parliamentary reform to British gun laws. Within months virtually all privately owned handguns had been outlawed. Gun Culture or Gun Control? presents the first substantial analysis of the social and political reactions to events in Dunblane and also examines many of the wider issues relating to gun control in the United Kingdom.Rigorously comparative throughout, Peter Squires provides a non-partisan exploration of the differences between attitudes to firearms and their control in Britain and in the United States. Amongst the topics the author considers are:* the social history of firearms on both sides of the atlantic* the differing policy directions adopted in Britain and the USA* media coverage of the gun question* firearms and policing* the future of the gun in society.

n 1996 the shooting and killing of 16 young children in a Dunblane primary school provoked wide reaching parliamentary reform to British gun laws. Within months virtually all privately owned handguns had been outlawed. Gun Culture or Gun Control? presents the first substantial analysis of the social and political reactions to events in Dunblane and also examines many of the wider issues relating to gun control in the United Kingdom.Rigorously comparative throughout, Peter Squires provides a non-partisan exploration of the differences between attitudes to firearms and their control in Britain and in the United States. Amongst the topics the author considers are:* the social history of firearms on both sides of the atlantic* the differing policy directions adopted in Britain and the USA* media coverage of the gun question* firearms and policing* the future of the gun in society.