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As this book does not contain reproducible research, I cannot recommend it to any serious individual wanting a reputable source concerning the gun control debate. To try to get the answer he wants (that widespread gun ownership in 19th century America was a myth, not the truth), Bellesiles cites a number of sources. Unfortunately, some of the records (San Francisco probate records) could not have been consulted by Bellesiles as they were destroyed in the earthquake and fire of 1906. Other sources, when checked by other scholars, proved not to say what Bellesiles claimed. When confronted with this, and asked to show his research notes, he claimed that his notebooks were pulped by a sprinkler accident in his office. Problem is, when the sprinkler accident was replicated by others, it was proved that his notebooks (if soaked as claimed) could have been dried out and recovered without much trouble. (Libraries do that sort of thing all the time) ...