Outgunned: Up Against the NRA: The First Complete Insider Account of the Battle Over Gun Control

by Peter Harry Brown

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743215613
• ISBN13: 9780743215619
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating and scary.

An insider's view of the movement to force gun reform in the courts, bypassing the impotent state legislatures and Congress which have shown themselves to be puppets of the NRA. After the Columbine massacre, the mood of the US people turned sharply in favor of gun regulation and victory seemed in reach. The NRA went into overdrive and recovered within weeks, getting Congress to eviscerate a juvenile justice bill which was introduced in response to Columbine. The power, arrogance and extremism of this organization are very frightening. They routinely take the most knee-jerk intransigent approach to every attempt to bring some semblance of sanity to this country's gun situation, reacting to even the most modest and reasonable proposal with hysterical rants about jackbooted feds kicking down the front door. When Ed Schulz, the CEO of Smith & Wesson, tried to reach a compromise with the federal government and the litigation group, the NRA orchestrated a massive smear campaign of hate mail and character assassination which made him fear for his life.Today, the senseless carnage continues and gun reform is more elusive than ever. Old-school gunmakers are firmly under the NRA thumb while bottom-feeding sweatshops continue to churn out vast numbers of cheap, shoddy Saturday night specials and blatantly market them to criminals. (The TEK-9 used by Klebold and Harris at Columbine was touted as having "excellent resistance to fingerprints".) Gun dealers continue to turn a blind eye while juveniles and felons purchase massive quantities of weapons that give them greater firepower than SWAT teams.This is a well-written and balanced book which, while obviously sympathetic to the gun reform side, does not simply present things in black and white. Ed Schulz comes across as a pragmatic businessman with a genuine desire to do the right thing, while some of the federal negotiators seem officious and naive, and the litigating lawyers are presented with warts and all, ambulance chasers who expect to do well but also feel they are doing good. Charlton Heston's record in supporting civil rights during the 60's is noted, but ultimately his own words condemn him as a racist and misogynist. Reading this book will give you a good understanding of gun politics over the last few years, but if you care about gun reform, it will probably leave you despairing of ever seeing meaningful change.[...]