Based on historical archives, interviews, and a survey evidence, this title suggests that the gun control campaign has been stymied by a combination of factors, including the inability to secure patronage resources, difficulties in articulating a message that resonates with supporters, and strategic decisions made in the name of effective policy.

List of Figures ix List of Tables xi Acknowledgments xiii CHAPTER ONE: The Gun Control (Participation) Paradox 1 CHAPTER TWO: A Movement in Theory 31 CHAPTER THREE: Socializing Costs: Patronage and Political Participation 73 CHAPTER FOUR: Personalizing Benefits: Issue Frames and Political Participation 105 CHAPTER FIVE: Changing the Calculation: Policy Incrementalism and Political Participation 145 CHAPTER SIX: Mobilizing around Modest Measures: Three Cases 176 CHAPTER SEVEN: Conclusion: Politics, Participation, and Public Goods 190 Appendix A: Gun-Related Trends 201 Appendix B: Brief Case Studies of Other Social-Reform Movements 204 Appendix C: Survey of Million Mom March Participants 208 Notes 215 References 249 Index 271

"Goss has written an excellent book, useful to all students of lobbying... This thoughtful, well-documented book should be read and examined by would-be gun control activists and other advocates for social reform."--Choice "Rarely does a book make a significant contribution to two separate fields, but this work by Kristin Goss does. Readers interested in social movements and social movement theory will find an interesting case study of a movement that never happened--efforts to strengthen gun control laws in the United States. Those who study gun control will encounter a unique perspective on the interest group politics and policy making of firearms regulation. Well-researched and clearly written, the book is insightful and informative. Goss's journalistic background is evident, both in her prose and in the relative brevity of the book. Her arguments are clearly elucidated in a first chapter that should serve as a model."--Harry L. Wilson, Political Science Quarterly

"Having been involved in the gun safety movement since tragedy struck my family in 1993, I understand full well the history of the gun-control movement and the difficulties it has experienced, particularly in light of today's political environment in Washington. Disarmed is an excellent study of the efforts put forth by so many to reduce gun violence."—U.S. Representative Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), founder of the Carolyn McCarthy Center on Gun Violence and Harm Reduction"Kristin Goss has done important work here that fundamentally tells the history of the gun debate over the past twenty-five years and of the efforts of the opposing sides to outmaneuver each other. She deserves praise for research that is remarkable both in quality and in volume, and for presenting a massive body of facts in an extremely readable fashion."—Sarah Brady, Honorary Chair, Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence"This outstanding book combines theoretical import with a highly topical policy issue in a form that is exceptionally readable, engaging, thoughtful, mature, and insightful. Superb and inventive data analysis brings the book's theoretical formulations to life as they are applied to one of the most intractable, controversial, and interesting policy issues of the last century, gun control. No one has examined the issue from this end of the lens—the pro-control side—with such analytical depth and rigor until now."—Robert J. Spitzer, author of The Politics of Gun Control"This book represents a fantastic project, well argued and well-written and much needed. Focusing on a critical policy topic, Kristin Goss posits a strong new idea for studying social movements—why they don't emerge or maybe why they undermobilize. The smooth, almost seamless movement between social and political theory and case material is, quite frankly, the strongest I have ever seen."—Bryan Jones, author of Politics and the Architecture of Choice, coauthor of Agendas and Instability in American Politics

Having been involved in the gun safety movement since tragedy struck my family in 1993, I understand full well the history of the gun-control movement and the difficulties it has experienced, particularly in light of today's political environment in Washington. Disarmed is an excellent study of the efforts put forth by so many to reduce gun violence. -- U.S. Representative Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), founder of the Carolyn McCarthy Center on Gun Violence and Harm Reduction Kristin Goss has done important work here that fundamentally tells the history of the gun debate over the past twenty-five years and of the efforts of the opposing sides to outmaneuver each other. She deserves praise for research that is remarkable both in quality and in volume, and for presenting a massive body of facts in an extremely readable fashion. -- Sarah Brady, Honorary Chair, Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence This outstanding book combines theoretical import with a highly topical policy issue in a form that is exceptionally readable, engaging, thoughtful, mature, and insightful. Superb and inventive data analysis brings the book's theoretical formulations to life as they are applied to one of the most intractable, controversial, and interesting policy issues of the last century, gun control. No one has examined the issue from this end of the lens--the pro-control side--with such analytical depth and rigor until now. -- Robert J. Spitzer, author of "The Politics of Gun Control" This book represents a fantastic project, well argued and well-written and much needed. Focusing on a critical policy topic, Kristin Goss posits a strong new idea for studying social movements--why they don't emerge or maybe why they undermobilize. The smooth, almost seamless movement between social and political theory and case material is, quite frankly, the strongest I have ever seen. -- Bryan Jones, author of" Politics and the Architecture of Choice", coauthor of "Agendas and Instability in American Politics"