About Gary Kleck
Gary Kleck is a criminologist and the David J. Bordua Professor Emeritus of Criminology at Florida State University. He earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in sociology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, finishing his Ph.D. in 1979 with a dissertation on homicide, capital punishment and gun ownership.
His 1991 book Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America won the American Society of Criminology’s Michael J. Hindelang Award in 1993. With Marc Gertz he conducted the National Self-Defense Survey, a 1994 survey of about 5,000 households published in 1995, which estimated roughly 2.5 million defensive gun uses in a year. The estimate is far higher than federal victimization survey figures, and the gap between the two remains one of the most debated questions in firearms research. Even critics of his conclusions, including criminologist Marvin Wolfgang, praised the care of his methods, and his work was cited in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008).
Key Facts
- 1951: Born in Lombard, Illinois
- 1979: Ph.D. in sociology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- 1991: Publishes Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America
- 1993: Receives the Michael J. Hindelang Award from the American Society of Criminology
- 1995: Publishes the National Self-Defense Survey results with Marc Gertz
- 1997: Publishes Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control
- 2001: Co-authors Armed: New Perspectives on Gun Control with Don Kates
Books
Point Blank: Guns and Violence in AmericaView on Amazon ›
Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their ControlView on Amazon ›
Armed: New Perspectives on Gun Control (with Don B. Kates)View on Amazon ›
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Credited as one of the Data Pioneers of the 2A Community on 2A Maps.
Sources
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