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Breaking News from America's Progressive Community... Latest
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The press releases posted here have been provided to NewsCenter by the one of the many progressive organizations we have selected to participate. If you would like more information about this press release, you should contact the organization directly. |
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| JANUARY
20, 1999 10:53 AM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Violence Policy Center Bill McGeveran 202-822-8200, ext. 105 |
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| VPC Analyst's New Book Shows How Gun Industry Uses Lethality as Marketing Tool | ||||
| WASHINGTON
- January 20 - In a book published by The New Press this month, Violence Policy Center
(VPC) senior policy analyst Tom Diaz reveals how the gun industry has
responded to stagnation in the firearms market by producing increasingly
deadly guns just as breezily as car companies once introduced tailfins.
"Making a Killing: The Business of Guns in America" is a startling expose' of the secretive gun industry and its cavalier use of lethality as a marketing tool. "Lethality is the nicotine of the gun industry," Diaz said. "Even more than the tobacco companies, firearm manufacturers have been shielded from public scrutiny and exempt from health and safety laws that govern other products. Once you look behind that veil, you discover a cynical business that earns its profits by making deadlier weapons, while the rest of us pay the tragic price." "Making a Killing" moves beyond the more familiar arguments of the gun control debate to offer the first-ever comprehensive examination of the $1.4 billion gun industry. This new focus coincides with recent efforts by big-city mayors to file litigation and recover the enormous costs of firearms violence. The book uses gun makers' own words to demonstrate their calculated lethality strategy, systematically dissecting each aspect of the industry from manufacturers to importers to retailers. It also recounts efforts to build a wider market for guns by collaborating with the fawning "gun press," capitalizing on sales to law enforcement, and callously targeting women, youth, and minorities. Diaz is himself a former member of the National Rifle Association,
a
one-time competitive shooter, and a self-described "reformed gun nut." Before coming to the
VPC, he worked as a journalist, an attorney, and counsel to the House Crime Subcommittee under
now-Senator
Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). -0- |
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