The Last Gun

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

Author: Tom Diaz

Hardcover | April 2, 2013

FROM THE INFLUENTIAL GUN CONTROL ADVOCATE AND AUTHOR, A STARTLING NEW ANALYSIS OF GUNS AND GUN VIOLENCE—IN A BOOK THAT SHOWS THE PATH TO A SAFER FUTURE

"In his eminently readable style, mixing science and anecdote, Diaz shows how our leaders have created gun policies that are good for the gun industry but horrific for our nation. He also describes solutions worthy of the name. What a timely book!" —DAVID HEMENWAY, PROFESSOR OF HEALTH POLICY, HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Newtown, Connecticut. Aurora, Colorado. Both have entered our collective memory as sites of unimaginable heartbreak and mass slaughter, perpetrated by lone gunmen. Meanwhile, cities like Chicago and Washington, D.C. are dealing with the painful, everyday reality of record rates of gun-related deaths. By any account, gun violence in the United States has reached epidemic proportions: we are by far the most armed nation on earth, and we have the deaths to show for it. But how did we get here, and where do we go next?

In The Last Gun, Tom Diaz lays out a lucid, incisive account of why we are facing this epidemic—and what we can do to stop it. A widely respected activist and policy analyst—as well as a former gun enthusiast and ex-member of the National Rifle Association—Diaz presents a chilling, up-to-date survey of the changed landscape of gun manufacturing and marketing. The Last Gun explores how the gun industry has shifted dramatically in the last decade and how the nature of gun violence has changed in step with industry trends, including the disturbing rise in the military-grade gun models that have brought us to a numbing new level of violence. But Diaz also argues that the once formidable gun lobby has become a “paper tiger,” marshaling a range of stunning evidence and case studies to eloquently make the case that now is the time for a renewed political effort to attack gun violence at its source—the guns themselves. Because, despite all the rhetoric, guns do kill people.

In the aftermath of Newtown, a challenging national conversation lies ahead. The Last Gun is an indispensable guide to this debate, and essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how we can finally rid America’s streets, schools, and homes of gun violence and prevent future Newtowns.

Tom Diaz is a writer, lawyer, and public speaker on the gun industry and gun control. Formerly senior policy analyst at the Violence Policy Center, he has been featured on MSNBC, NPR, and other national media. His books include Making a Killing (The New Press). He lives in Washington, D.C.