The Last Gun
How Changes in the Gun Industry Are Killing Americans and What It Will Take to Stop It
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- CHF 21.00
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- CHF 21.00
Beschreibung des Verlags
Newtown, Connecticut. Aurora, Colorado. Both have entered our collective memory as sites of unimaginable heartbreak and mass slaughter perpetrated by lone gunmen. Meanwhile, cities such as Chicago and Washington, D.C., are dealing with the painful, everyday reality of record rates of gun-related deaths. By any account, gun violence in the United States has reached epidemic proportions.
A widely respected activist and policy analyst—as well as a former gun enthusiast and an ex-member of the National Rifle Association—Tom Diaz presents a chilling, up-to-date survey of the changed landscape of gun manufacturing and marketing. The Last Gun explores how the gun industry and the nature of gun violence have changed, including the disturbing rise in military-grade gun models. But Diaz also argues that the once formidable gun lobby has become a "paper tiger," marshaling a range of evidence and case studies to make the case that now is the time for a renewed political effort to attack gun violence at its source—the guns themselves.
In the aftermath of Newtown, a challenging national conversation lies ahead. The Last Gun is an indispensable guide to this debate, and essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how we can finally rid America's streets, schools, and homes of gun violence and prevent future Newtowns.
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Diaz (Making a Killing) leaves no doubt as to his position on gun control. With an avalanche of statistics and narrative accounts drawn from police records and news media, he argues that Second Amendment rights have been taken to ridiculous lengths, as when parents take guns to their children's sports events. While it's difficult to accurately gauge their true defensive utility, guns in private homes are often used to kill family members or commit suicide. Diaz lists the results of Florida laws on gun use and questions the statements of the NRA that only "law-abiding, upstanding" citizens could get concealed gun permits. He also covers the arsenals owned by paramilitary groups who practice warfare at "zombie shoots". But Diaz is most outraged by the legislators who refuse to address the issue, and the courts, particularly Supreme Court Justice Scalia, for being an "ambassador for the gun industry." Most of the book emphasizes the dire state of gun accessibility, though his suggestions for solving the problem are less clear. More importantly, perhaps, Diaz calls out the NRA's doubletalk, urging Americans to support more stringent laws for gun ownership and use.
