I had not realized that Don Kates, a pioneering scholar of the Second Amendment, had passed away late last year. Two of his abstracts were just posted posthumously:
Don B. Kates, Gun Control: Separating Reality from Symbolism (Journal of Contemporary Law, 1994):
This Essay distills of two speeches whose common themes are the apparent disregard by gun control advocates of civil liberties and civil rights issues, the largely adverse criminological research conclusions, and Second Amendment constitutional scholarship. Criminological research and analysis over the past decade has grown progressively more hostile to arguments for disarming law abiding citizens. But, Constitutional scholarship over the same period erases any doubt that the Second Amendment guarantees law abiding, responsible adults full freedom of choice to possess firearms.
Don B. Kates, Gun Control: A Realistic Assessment (Pacific Research Foundation, 1990):
Until about the mid-1970s academic writing about firearms was virtually monopolized by crusaders seeking to validate their contempt for guns and gun owners. This paper reviews all major data on all cultural aspects of the gun controversy and debunks insupportable anti-gun claims (such as the claim that homicide is a matter of “ordinary law-abiding people” killing a relative or acquaintance because a loaded gun happened to be available in a moment of anger.) We could substantially reduce gun crime by simply enforcing our present laws.