The Gun Control Movement, the latest addition to the Social Movements Past and Present series, provides a map of the social and political landscape of the gun control movement in the United States. It analyzes the relationship between guns and violence, American attitudes about gun control and how those attitudes affect and reflect the movement, and the future of gun control in the United States. Author Gregg Lee Carter discusses at length the letter and spirit of the Second Amendment to the Constitution.

He focuses on the mid-1970s to the present, but also introduces a historical context for guns and gun control in Western cultures, with many cross-national comparisons concerning gun laws, gun prevalence, and gun violence.

The Gun Control Movement is accessible not only to all academic levels but also to activists on both sides of the gun-control debate and to the general public. Carter does not present any easy solutions to the problems of gun violence. This lucid introduction to the key issues surrounding the movement will stimulate readers' careful consideration. Supplementing the text are a preface, tables and figures, notes and references, selected bibliography, and index.