An Approach to Gun Control That Focuses on Personal Choice

Gun violence kills some 40,000 Americans every year. And while mass shootings spring immediately to mind when we talk about this issue, nearly two-thirds of gun-related deaths in America are suicides. So that’s the issue that legal scholars Frederick Vars and Ian Ayres suggest we start with in trying to reduce gun deaths. But the right to bear arms is such a firmly held constitutional right in America that most efforts to restrict them fail. Vars, who is a law professor at the University of Alabama, and Ayres, who’s a professor at Yale, think the solution is to let people decide for themselves. And you may be thinking that nobody would forfeit a Constitutional right. But Vars and Ayres think people will, with the right incentives. Their new book is “Weapon of Choice.”