Off Target - by Noah S Schwartz (Hardcover)

About the Book

Since 2019, Canada has enacted strict gun laws, freezing handgun sales and banning many assault-style rifles. Schwartz examines whether these changes improved safety, outlining the laws' failures, their harms, and alternatives like community policing and violence interruption.

Book Synopsis

The government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was as ambitious as it was contentious - and few policy areas illustrate this as well as gun control.
Since 2019, Canada has seen the implementation of significant new laws: the freezing of handgun sales, the prohibition of a long list of 'assault-style' rifles, and the creation of what critics have labelled a "back door" gun registry. But have these changes made Canadians safer? What can they tell us about gun control policy, or public policy more broadly?
In Off Target, Noah S. Schwartz evaluates these new laws, drawing on interviews with law enforcement, community workers and key stakeholders, as well as publicly available data and scholarship. Finding little evidence that these policies have made Canadians safer, Schwartz documents the harm that they have done to businesses, leisure communities and individuals across Canada. He argues that rather than enforcing strict gun laws, policymakers will get more bang for their buck investing resources in less glamorous but more effective tools like community policing and violence interruption programs. These programs tackle the root causes of crime while providing support and employment to the communities suffering the most from gun violence.

Review Quotes

"Off Target by Professor Schwartz offers an astute look at Justin Trudeau's controversial "buyback" and the freeze on legal sales of handguns to licenced owners. His even-handed approach is eye-opening. Professor Schwartz skilfully assesses the likely public safety benefits, and harms, of the Trudeau-era legislation, as well as considering the devastating impacts it imposes upon hunters, sports shooters, and Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. Off Target is a must read to determine if the Trudeau era firearms restrictions should be considered "security theatre" or effective public policy." --Gary Mauser, Professor Emeritus, Simon Fraser University, Canada

"Schwartz begins his sharp analysis from the sensible, but generally overlooked, premise that gun control legislation is the product of specific political incentive structures and thought is rarely given to seriously examining the effectiveness of the policies that result from those political dynamics. He fills this gap with a solid evidence-based evaluation of recent Canadian gun control policies, largely finding them ineffective. Furthermore, he clearly articulates the real challenge Canadian policy needs to confront, gun smuggling, and he reviews locally successful gun violence interventions that can be strengthened and expanded. Overall, Off Target is an important and persuasive examination of recent Canadian gun control, combining careful policy evaluation with insights that will resonate across political science and public policy." --Dylan S. McLean, University of West Georgia, USA

"In Off Target Schwartz has produced the rarest of all things: a book that provides a balanced and nuanced examination of gun control, without falling for political rhetoric or attempting to win favour from the government, the gun lobby, or anti-gun activists. This work cuts through the myths, misinformation, and outright lies that so often characterize the firearms policy debate not only in Canada but around the world. Using carefully compiled facts and evidence, and a refreshingly critical perspective, this important book shows that measures advanced under the banner of gun control all too often have little to do with genuine public health and safety outcomes, and everything to do with games of power and politics." --Samara McPhedran, Violence Prevention Institute Australia

About the Author

Noah S. Schwartz is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, British Columbia.