Bellesiles, then a history professor at Emory University, contended that guns were uncommon during peacetime and that a culture of gun ownership did not arise until the mid-nineteenth century. The book was awarded the prestigious Bancroft Prize in 2001. The award was rescinded though following a decision of Columbia University's Board of Trustees that Bellesiles had "violated basic norms of scholarship and the high standards expected of Bancroft Prize winners."
Yes. That’s the book. The corporate media jumped all over it and just loved it because it was politically useful to them. They could cite it to try to claim America didn’t have such deep roots with individual firearms ownership after all. The problem was it was all fake. So they quietly dropped it and never mentioned it was all bunk from the start.