Outgunned : up against the NRA : the first complete insider account of the battle over gun control / Peter Harry Brown, Daniel G. Abel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brown, Peter H.

Contributor:

Abel, Daniel G.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gun control--United States.

Gun control.

United States.

Firearms industry and trade--United States.

Firearms industry and trade.

National Rifle Association of America.

Physical Description:

xi, 338 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Free Press, [2003]

Summary:

Ours is a nation in the grip of a strange kind of mania. Why after President Reagan was shot was there virtually no handgun legislation? Why after the Columbine massacre in Littleton, Colorado, was nothing done to regulate the tools that children most frequently use to kill one another? Why was there no legislative response after a six-year-old in Flint, Michigan, shot a classmate with a .32 caliber "pocket rocket"? Tragedy follows tragedy, with twelve children shot dead every day in America, but guns remain less regulated than automobiles. Why? As authors Peter Harry Brown and Daniel G. Abel in this powerful book demonstrate, it is because of the terrible power of the gun coalition. Outgunned begins with the story of Wendell Gauthier, the "master of disaster" attorney, who brought down the tobacco industry to the tune of billions and then turned his attention to guns. He struck fear into the hearts of the gun manufacturers as he set out to make gunmakers bear some liability for the killings caused by the often poorly made, inaccurate handguns they marketed to criminals. Coauthor Daniel G. Abel worked for Gauthier, along with other attorneys, as the gun-control campaign gathered momentum. This legal initiative seemed to be about to make history and change the face of violence in America, but sadly, Wendell Gauthier died of cancer before meaningful gun control could be established. More than thirty class-action suits against gun manufacturers now languish in courtroom paralysis while as many Saturday night specials as ever are being made. What happened? Brown and Abel demonstrate how the pro-gun forces once again curbed the will of a nation.

This book shows the enomous power of the NRA -- how it killed pending legislation in Congress, hijacked the Campaign Act to fund the George W. Bush presidential election victory, and eviscerated the American Shooting Sports Council. That association and the gun manufacturers actually wanted to compromise and agree to new handgun laws, implicitly accepting some liability, but the NRA leadership, with Charlton Heston as their president, crushed them. In Outgunned, Brown and Abel uncover how NRA lobbyists were instrumental in stopping Smith & Wesson in its tracks. They show how the tendrils of the NRA reach into the Christian Alliance and Republican Party, and how men like John McCain have fought back and been undermined. Outgunned reveals how the NRA began dealing with President George W. Bush when he was still governor of Texas -- prodding him into signing a shocking prohibition against the kind of suits Gauthier brought against the gun manufacturers. Outgunned is the story of a legal crusade with up-close accounts of the people who fought every step of the way. For those who believe in the importance of stopping unnecessary bloodshed, this book is essential, powerful, and urgent.

Contents:

Introduction: a shooting in Faubourg Marigny

Mission impossible: assembling the team

Trails of blood: guns passed from hand to hand to killer

The sleeping giant: and its ad agency

Moneymakers: mandarins of the gun

Washington snipers: a tobacco haze

The guns of April: tragedy in Littleton

High noon: Baker boys take on Congress

The summer of blood: and the trouble with Colt

Scences from the barricades: from Rosie O'Donnell to a courtroom in Ohio

Fresh horses: the housing secretary's posse

Riding into the valley of death: Smith & Wesson attempt to be independent

Mobbed: the NRA destroys any hope of compromise

Election fever: mothers take to the streets and a child goes to jail

On the front lines: the end of one beginning

Terror gallops on: from IRA to Al Qaeda

Epilogue: a death and the changing of the guard.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0743215613

OCLC:

50339589

Online:

Publisher description