The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment

Description

Thom Hartmann, the most popular progressive radio host in America and a New York Times bestselling author, looks at the real history of guns in America and what we can do to limit both their lethal impact and the power of the gun lobby. Taking his typically in-depth, historically informed view, Thom Hartmann examines how guns have played important roles throughout American history, from early European settlement to the Revolutionary War and Manifest Destiny, through the use of Slave Patrols in the Deep South (which became the "well-regulated militias" so debated in 1787), to the assassination of John F. Kennedy and recent school massacres. Looking at the present, Hartmann documents how inequality in America and the number of people killed in mass shootings have grown together over the last fifty years. Finally, he identifies a handful of common-sense and powerful solutions that would address the issue at different levels: from getting money out of politics to get the National Rifle Association out of lobbying, to passing laws that would treat gun ownership like car ownership (title, license, insurance), to addressing the social despair and economic inequality that drive violent crime and mass shootings. “34,000 REASONS TO READ THIS BOOK: That’s the number of gun-related deaths annually in America.” —Norman Lear “No one does a better job of rolling out the Constitution, opening up the historical records, and separating fact from fiction than Thom Hartmann. This book is brilliant. So brilliant that if every American were to read it and take its message to heart, the lies that are used to divide could lose their power. And we might just find the common ground that so frequently eludes us.” —John Nichols, National Affairs Correspondent, The Natio