Book Reviews: A Nation of Cowards and The Origin of the Second Amendment
http://www.davekopel.com/2A/Mags/NationOfCowards.htm
by Dave Kopel

This is an expanded version of a review that ran in the March 2002 issue of Ideas on Liberty, on
pages 55-55.

Jeff Snyder, A Nation of Cowards: Essays on the Ethics of Gun Control (Accurate Pr., St. Louis ,
2001). 170 pages. $24.95

and

David Young, editor, The Origin of the Second Amendment: A Documentary History of the Bill of Rights
(Golden Oak Books; Ontonagon , Michigan , 2001). 838 pages. $55.00. (Update of 1995 paperback
edition.)

While there are many books on empirical, sociological, historical, legal, or political aspects of
gun policy, A Nation of Cowards is the first full-length book focused on philosophical questions.

The first, and best essay in the book is “A Nation of Cowards,” originally published in The Public
Interest in 1993. Perhaps the most influential article ever written about gun ownership, Snyder’s
original public interest essay challenged the notion that reliance on government employees for
protection is morally superior to protecting oneself.