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Lethal Passage: The Story of a Gun By Erik Larson ( Vintage )
Release Date: 1995-01-15
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Product Description
This devastating book begins with an account of a crime that is by now almost commonplace: on December 16, 1988, sixteen-year-old Nicholas Elliot walked into his Virginia high school with a Cobray M-11/9 and several hundred rounds of ammunition tucked in his backpack. By day's end, he had killed one teacher and severely wounded another.
In Lethal Passage Erik Larson shows us how a disturbed teenager was able to buy a weapon advertised as "the gun that made the eighties roar." In so doing, he not only illuminates America's gun culture -- its manufacturers, dealers, buffs, and propagandists -- but also offers concrete solutions to our national epidemic of death by firearm. The result is a book that can -- and should -- save lives, and that has already become an essential text in the gun-control debate.
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 A Flawed Study of a Crime ( reclusive )
Erik Larson wrote this 1994 book to study the commerce in guns. He picked the worst case example where a sixteen-year old boy shot a teacher at school. In December 1988 Nicholas Elliot brought a gun to school to scare the teenage boy who was tormenting him (p.55). This true crime book lacks photographs of the people and places, as if it was a work of fiction. The flaw is its blame of an inanimate object for the problem, and totally disregards the political and economic situation where these crimes occur. Gun Prohibition is a form of political oppression that leads to higher taxes and lower wages. The resulting poverty causes crime. Larson is aware of this (p.2), but ignores it!
Larson telegraphs his bias by his choice of subject matter for this story. Choosing a gun used in a crime is like a loaded question. What if he studied a gun that was not used in a crime? The corporations that oppress people pay for biased studies against your right to keep and bear arms. Is Larson being honest when he claims gun laws "could be fixed to the increased satisfaction of gun owners and gun opponents alike" (p.3)? Who believes that? Note that gun owners are real people unlike the paid lobbyists for Gun Control Inc. Larson can't help "begging the question": why is it so easy for the bad guys to get guns" (p.3). Is it really easy to get a Federal gun-dealer license (p.4)? [You can try to do this at home.] If not, why say so? Larson writes well but this book skips around a lot. Larson's complaint about "no federal agency is empowered to oversee ... and investigate safety defects" (p.4) is an attempt to attack people's rights. Does he want the FDA to get involved? Knowledgable buyers are the best safeguard for product safety.
Why are there "profoundly dangerous conditions in urban public schools" (p.7)? Is that part of the policy of `dumbing down' the students? Why didn't the teachers control the classrooms (Chapter 2). Was Nicholas helped in school (p.13)? Was he ready to explode when pushed far enough? Larson ignores the reality of students who need help but don't get it. What happens to thousands more like Nicholas? Larson uses a bad example to argue for the oppression of the many who do no harm. But he doesn't explain why. Larson finally acknowledges his bias against guns (p.15). "I am not opposed to guns" but all of his words say differently. [This lie is also used by Gun Control Inc.] Is it an attempt to appear neutral and unbiased? They're not fooling those who know. Larson says a gun owner should go through a licensing process like a driver's license (p.16). But you can buy a car without any driver's license. You can even operate them without a license as long as you don't use a public road. In the past you did not need a license to operate a motor vehicle anymore than you needed a license to buy arms and ammunition. Driving licenses do not prevent accidents and deaths. You might as well ask for a license for buying and consuming alcohol!
Those statistics about the UCLA Medical Center (p.22) shows the bad effects that followed the 1968 Gun Control law. Deaths by firearms skyrocketed from 7,000 a year to over 22,000 a year! Larson seems quite wrong in claiming there are no statistics on gunshot injuries. All have to be reported to the police! The rates of violent death are higher in Japan, and slightly lower in Canada (p.20). Can he be more accurate? How many errors can you find in this chapter (p.21)? This shows the bias of this book. Larson may do better in the future by writing about century old history where people don't know any more than what they read in his books. Those stories about the "Wild West" were likely just attempts to reduce migration to the free western lands (p.42).
Those statistics on page 211 are suspect, given the drop in population in 1977 Washington. That "wild surge of homicides" deserves research not a simple-minded assumption. If guns were readily available before 1977 what cause this surge? Surely Larson should know that polls are designed to get the results the sponsor wants (p.215)! Why does Larson ignore the fact that cities with the most gun control have the highest homicide rates (p.217)? Areas with the highest rates of gun ownership have the lowest homicide rates. These are the sparsely populated rural areas with more democracy, small businesses, and less corporate control.
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 Ironic Passage ( terikarma )
When I read Erik Larson, I know I'm in for a treat, and this was no exception. This book not only tells the story of how a bullied boy takes his anger out using a gun at school, but the story of the inadequicies of gun legislation and the winding road the NRA has taken interpreting the 2nd Amendment. The one irony I found that Larson points out is that it's harder to get a driver's license than it is to get a gun in the United States. What I like most about the book is that Larson provides a solution to the gun problem and outlines a very reasonable and comprehensive bill regarding the use and regulations of guns. But I have to agree it would be impossible to get through legislation, not because it's unworthy, but because our current government is a messy monolith of a bureacracy where nothing gets done due to poor representation, egos, and political shortsightedness--in my humble opinion. Our forefathers would roll over in their graves if they could see what has become of our sacred 2nd Amendment. Excellent book by an author who does his homework.
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Well-written, but biased
This is a reasonably well written, but undeniably biased tale. The statistics are slanted and untrustworthy, and the rhetoric is tough to wade through for anyone on the pro-rights side of this issue.
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 One sided view point
Larson does show that straw purchasers of handguns contribute to crime. He spends little or no time on the contributing factors for such gun purchases. He does not address guns obtained by theft, or illegal sales or the lending of firearms within extended families, gangs or circles of acquaintances.If your mind is already made up, you'll like this book.
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 Should be required reading for anyone joining the NRA!
This is a very well written and researched account of a tragic event of the nature we encounter too often in the daily news. At the same time, it illuminates the tragic and absurd situation in which the country has placed itself on the subject of gun control.
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