Making a Killing

The gun industry is the last unregulated manufacturer of a consumer product in America, with a level of secrecy that makes the tobacco industry look like a model of transparency. This text blows away the smoke and offers a provocative analysis of gun violence in American society. Tom Diaz argues that despite endless rhetoric about the right to bear arms, the real story behind the epidemic of gun violence in America is the systematic increase in lethality by manufacturers. Diaz shows how during the 1980s and 90s the gun industry has sought to reverse declining profits by dramatically increasing the killing power of its products; designed and distributed guns with more ammunition and greater concealability; and aggressively sought to build a wider market by collaborating with the "gun press" and by targetting women and minorities as vital new consumers. This text goes in depth to explore the interesting but little known business side of this $1.4 billion-a-year industry, revealing the inner workings of what one executive described as "a little money-making machine". Finally, it outlines a series of practical regulations that would help clean up the mess.