We’ve heard often that guns don’t kill people—people with guns kill people. But think about Sandy Hook, Aurora, Virginia Tech, Tucson, Columbine. None would have happened without each shooter’s access to a gun (or, often, guns). That seems as good a reason as any for more restrictive gun-control laws, if not an outright ban.
Thank goodness we have Dan Baum to guide us through this morass. Baum is a journalist with impeccable blue-state credentials. He grew up in New Jersey, currently lives in Boulder, Colorado, and has written for a variety of left-leaning publications, including Harper‘s, Rolling Stone, and the New Yorker, where he became uniquely acquainted with the nature of a society plunged into violence and chaos while covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He wears glasses, as he’s fond of reminding his readers, and makes nerdy fashion choices, like pleated pants.
He’s done an admirable job of assembling a wide range of voices that reflect the many experiences it’s possible to have with a gun in America. Some—the Angry White Man—are cliches. But others have rarely been heard, like Aaron Zelman, the Milwaukee-based founder of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership; or Jeremy Parker, the recreational shooter in Kentucky who uses his iPhone to calculate bullet trajectories; or Rick Ector, the African-American man in Detroit who finds unexpected solace in gun ownership after he gets divorced, loses his job, and is mugged at gunpoint.
In American Honor Killings, David McConnell explores male violence.
Karen Russell spins pain into parable in Vampires in the Lemon Grove.
In The Round House, Louise Erdrich settles for an easy target.
A conversation with Natalie Y. Moore and Lance Williams, authors of The Almighty Black P Stone Nation.
Plus: Short takes on new books by local authors.
