cover image The Last Gun: How Changes in the Gun Industry Are Killing Americans and What It Will Take to Stop It

The Last Gun: How Changes in the Gun Industry Are Killing Americans and What It Will Take to Stop It

Tom Diaz. The New Press, $26.95 (336p) ISBN 978-1-59558-830-2

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. (Mar.)