Guns and gun control are a big issue as the 2006 elections loom. We talked with Dave Kopel, author of The Samurai, the Mountie, and the Cowboy: Should America Adopt the Gun Controls of Other Democracies?, Guns: Who Should Have Them?, and Gun Control and Gun Rights: A Reader and Guide. He’s also research director at the Independence Institute, and a regular blogger at The Volokh Conspiracy. (He’s also got a page with lots of gun information at DaveKopel.com).

Dave talks with us about violence and nonviolence, whether legalizing marijuana would cut down on gun crime, ways to prevent school shootings, questions of whether the right to keep and bear arms should be part of international law, and the likely impact of gun rights issues on the 2006 elections, and vice versa. Plus, discussion of which Second Amendment writers are “hotties.”

You can listen directly — no downloading needed — by going here and clicking on the gray Flash player. Or you can download the file directly right here. You can get a lo-fi version for dialup by going here and selecting “lofi,” and you can subscribe via iTunes by going here. Show archives and updates can be found at GlennandHelenShow.com.

This podcast is brought to you by VolvoCars.us. If you buy a Volvo, tell ’em it’s all because of this show!