Making a Killing; The Business of Guns in America
New York: The New Press, 1999. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. ix, [1], 258, [4] pages. Tables. Notes. Index. Some red marks on rep. Tom Diaz is an American writer, lawyer, and public speaker on the gun industry and gun control issues. He was formerly senior policy analyst at the Violence Policy Center and is one of the more prominent advocates for a strict system of federal gun control in the United States. His father was a career soldier but spending most of his time in the military. Tom Diaz is a graduate of the University of Florida and the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was an editor of the Law Journal. He has been in private and government practice since 1972. He was a gun enthusiast and NRA member until while working as a Congressional staffer he did research on gun legislation and interviewed victims of gun violence. Mr. Diaz was counsel to the Congressional House Subcommittee on Crime and Criminal Justice from August 1993 to January 1997. During that time, he was the lead Democratic counsel in the House on firearms and terrorism, but worked on a range of other issues. Diaz was assistant managing editor of The Washington Times from 1985 to 1991. From 1991 to 1993 he worked at a think tank specializing in international organized crime and counter-terrorism. From 1993 to 1997 he was the lead Democratic counsel on counterterrorism and firearms issues for the Crime Subcommittee of the U.S. House of representatives, helping write key antiterrorism and gun control legislation. He was also the lead Democratic counsel during 10 days of House hearings in 1995 on the events at the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas in 1993. Provides an overview of the gun industry while offering an analysis of gun violence in today's society in relation to the manufacturing of new guns that are becoming increasingly more lethal and more easily concealed. The gun industry is the last unregulated manufacturer of a consumer product in America, with a level of secrecy that makes the tobacco industry look like a model of transparency. Making a Killing blows away the smoke and offers a provocative new analysis of gun violence in our society. Tom Diaz argues that despite endless rhetoric about the right to bear arms, the real story behind the epidemic gun violence in America is the systematic increase in lethality by manufacturers. Diaz shows how over the last two decades the gun industry has sought to reverse declining profits by dramatically increasing the killing power of its products; designed and distributed guns with more ammunition and greater concealability; and aggressively sought to build a wider market by collaborating with the “gun press” and by targeting women and minorities as vital new consumers. Making a Killing goes in depth to explore the fascinating but little known business side of this $1.4-billion-a-year industry, revealing the inner workings of what one executive described as “a little moneymaking machine.” Finally, it outlines a series of practical regulations that would help clean up the mess. Condition: Good / Very good.
Keywords: Guns, Firearms, Second Amendment, Ammunition, Lethality, ATF, Concealed Carry, Semiautomatic, Law Enforcement, Self-defense, Assault Weapons, Smith & Wesson, Ruger
ISBN: 156584470X
[Book #81768]
Price: $45.00