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Outgunned: Up Against the NRA-- The First Complete Insider Account of the Battle Over Gun Control
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.
- GenresNonfiction
352 pages, Hardcover
First published December 31, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 1, 2011
BORING!!! Not worth reading. It's a he said she said daily account of a group of lawyers who after taking on the tobacco industry and wining, decided to go after the gun industry. Very slow and boring writing style and is an effort to get through. What they didn't realize is that they were going against the majority will of the American people. The book is radically left wing and speaks of the NRA as the most evil organization in America. The NRA did a good job of preventing a lot of bad anti-gun laws. After hearing how the NRA was able to stand up to these dirty lawyers I think I'm going to join the NRA.
I thought it was funny how after the Columbine shooting, the lawyers got all excited thinking that now their lawsuits will be backed by the people. Instead, parents who had children killed at Columbine gave speeches about how guns did not kill their children, kids with evil hearts killed their children. Here is a quote from one of the father's speeches who was the father of two columbine victims.
"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.
In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA.
I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA-because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.
I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy - it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of that blame lies here in this room. Much of that blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves...
And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs-politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that continue to erode away our personal and private liberties.
We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts. Political posturing and restrictive legislation are not the answers."
I thought it was funny how after the Columbine shooting, the lawyers got all excited thinking that now their lawsuits will be backed by the people. Instead, parents who had children killed at Columbine gave speeches about how guns did not kill their children, kids with evil hearts killed their children. Here is a quote from one of the father's speeches who was the father of two columbine victims.
"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.
In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA.
I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA-because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.
I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy - it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of that blame lies here in this room. Much of that blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves...
And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs-politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that continue to erode away our personal and private liberties.
We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts. Political posturing and restrictive legislation are not the answers."
November 15, 2021
A person who made a fortune out of other people's suffering doing his fear ritual. Emotion devoid of reason.
August 19, 2016
On the one hand, our colonizing ancestors used guns as a tool to exercise Manifest Destiny—the Bible's decree that God granted them dominion over nature. Armed, and fueled with this religious righteousness, some of our ancestral legacy includes systematic genocide against native American peoples, and systematic kidnapping and enslavement of native African peoples. On the other hand, Early gun manufacturers were the first to develop and apply technological innovations that formed the foundation for the industrial revolution. Guns—as has been said—are as American as apple pie.
Focusing on handguns, "Outgunned" tells the story about a group of lawyers that, using the threat of litigation, sought to force U.S. handgun manufacturers to agree to adopt a set of business practices designed to leverage the interconnectedness between handgun manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers, to slow down the black-market flow of handguns to criminals. "Outgunned" includes background history of major U.S. handgun manufacturers, of efforts by various governmental and anti-gun organizations to get legislative enactments to regulate gun sales, and the surprisingly successful counter efforts of the National Rifle Association, and related organizations to keep that from happening.
Apart from the ideological hysteria that surrounds this issue, after reading "Outgunned", a few things are clear: 1) Handgun manufacturers depend on robust handgun sales to stay in business. 2) Handgun manufacturers design and build handguns that are cheap, and easy to hide on your person. 3) Handguns, and the amount of, and kind of bullets they use, are designed to kill people. That is their primary purpose.
Outgunned notes: “Overwhelming majorities of Americans favor more stringent restrictions on handguns, even among gun owners. But the NRA beats back all attempts to strengthen gun statutes. There is something about the culture and contemporary politics that feeds this and we should all be paying attention to it.” I sense that contemporary American society is at a tipping point when it comes to tolerating gun violence, and the NRA's rigidity and refusal to compromise may well cause the gun regulation pendulum to swing much further than is necessary to provide meaningful handgun regulation.
Focusing on handguns, "Outgunned" tells the story about a group of lawyers that, using the threat of litigation, sought to force U.S. handgun manufacturers to agree to adopt a set of business practices designed to leverage the interconnectedness between handgun manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers, to slow down the black-market flow of handguns to criminals. "Outgunned" includes background history of major U.S. handgun manufacturers, of efforts by various governmental and anti-gun organizations to get legislative enactments to regulate gun sales, and the surprisingly successful counter efforts of the National Rifle Association, and related organizations to keep that from happening.
Apart from the ideological hysteria that surrounds this issue, after reading "Outgunned", a few things are clear: 1) Handgun manufacturers depend on robust handgun sales to stay in business. 2) Handgun manufacturers design and build handguns that are cheap, and easy to hide on your person. 3) Handguns, and the amount of, and kind of bullets they use, are designed to kill people. That is their primary purpose.
Outgunned notes: “Overwhelming majorities of Americans favor more stringent restrictions on handguns, even among gun owners. But the NRA beats back all attempts to strengthen gun statutes. There is something about the culture and contemporary politics that feeds this and we should all be paying attention to it.” I sense that contemporary American society is at a tipping point when it comes to tolerating gun violence, and the NRA's rigidity and refusal to compromise may well cause the gun regulation pendulum to swing much further than is necessary to provide meaningful handgun regulation.
March 29, 2012
Written from the "gun-grabbers" point of view, the authors pine over the failure of the plaintiff's bar (ambulance chasers), the Clinton administration and various municipalities to bring gun manufacturers to court to pay damages caused by gun deaths.
It started with the lawyers who won megabuck damages awards and concessions from the tobacco industry. They decided to do the same thing to the gun industry. In the case of the tobacco industry, the defendants knew that hat they were distributing was deadly, but claimed it was not. The gun manfacturers knew they were distributing something that could be deadly and everyone else knew it as well!
The first legal theory the tort lawyers tried to invoke was one of public nuisance, which is not legally viable. When that did not work they tried to claim gun manufacturers were negligent in the management of who eventually came to own a gun and how it was used. Courts dismissed the cases because there was no way to link the manufacture of a gun with its use.
The central theme (lament) of the book is that the lawyers, Clinton's admin and the cities would have been successful in their pursuit of the ruin of the gun industry except for the interference of the mighty NRA. The NRA would like to take the credit, but it was really the federal courts that saw through the charade of the administration trying to enforce by extortion what they could not achieve by legislation.
It started with the lawyers who won megabuck damages awards and concessions from the tobacco industry. They decided to do the same thing to the gun industry. In the case of the tobacco industry, the defendants knew that hat they were distributing was deadly, but claimed it was not. The gun manfacturers knew they were distributing something that could be deadly and everyone else knew it as well!
The first legal theory the tort lawyers tried to invoke was one of public nuisance, which is not legally viable. When that did not work they tried to claim gun manufacturers were negligent in the management of who eventually came to own a gun and how it was used. Courts dismissed the cases because there was no way to link the manufacture of a gun with its use.
The central theme (lament) of the book is that the lawyers, Clinton's admin and the cities would have been successful in their pursuit of the ruin of the gun industry except for the interference of the mighty NRA. The NRA would like to take the credit, but it was really the federal courts that saw through the charade of the administration trying to enforce by extortion what they could not achieve by legislation.
June 26, 2017
This book does give you a picture of the workings and power of the NRA and the shocking and unreasonable recalcitrance of their resistance to any imposition of quite reasonable safety measures. It's quite frightening. The book focuses on a series of worthy lawsuits brought by various cities against the NRA. I'm glad to have read it, but it does not have information about who the NRA really are and what their interests are. It was clear I think that the interests of the NRA go well beyond protecting the right of gun manufacturers to make money from selling guns. Whatever their agenda, it's considerably more and it seemed considerably more sinister than that.
January 30, 2013
Well written. Best I have found to show how closely the NRA works with the gun manufactures and what is blocking gun control progress.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews