William R. Tonso (September 26 1933 – November 16 2016), was a professor

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at the University of Evansville. He taught at the university from 1969 through 1999, specializing in minority and ethnic group relations, social deviance, social theory, and the sociology of sport. He formerly served as head of the departments of

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, Criminal Justice, and

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. He was a native of Herrin, Illinois, and his Ph.D. in Sociology (1976), M.S. in Business Administration specializing in Personnel Management (1966), and B.S. in Industrial Education (1955) were all from Southern Illinois University in nearby Carbondale. Before becoming a professor, he served as a

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officer in the North American Air Defense Command and worked in industry. His articles appeared as chapters in Don B. Kates, Jr.'s ''Firearms and Violence'', Lee Nisbet's ''The Gun Control Debate: You Decide'', and Robert K. Miller's ''The Informed Argument'', and in periodicals and newspapers such as ''Academic Questions'', ''Law & Policy Quarterly'', ''Quarterly Journal of Ideology'', ''

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'', ''

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'', '' Chronicles'', ''The Quill'', ''

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'', '' American Rifleman'', ''

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'', ''Gun News Digest'', ''Gun Week'', ''

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'', '' Washington Times'', ''

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'' (

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), and the ''

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''. He died at the age of 83 in Evansville, Indiana on .

Partial list of publications

"Social Science and Sagecraft in the Debate over Gun Control"
''Law and Policy Quarterly'', vol. 5, no. 3, 1983: 325'

''Reason'' magazine, December 1985
"Shooting Blind"
''Reason'' magazine, June 2000 * ''Gun and Society; The Social and Existential Roots of the American Attachment to Firearms'' – * ''Gun Control = People Control'' – * ''The Gun Culture and Its Enemies'' –

References

American sociologists 1933 births 2016 deaths People from Herrin, Illinois People from Evansville, Indiana {{US-sociologist-stub