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One bitter cold morning a sixteen-year-old boy named Nicholas Elliot walked into his Virginia high school with a Cobray M-11/9 - touted by its manufacturer as "the gun that made the eighties roar" - stuffed in his backpack. By mid-morning he had killed one teacher and severely wounded another. Only sheer luck kept his rampage from becoming one of the worst in America's long and bloody infatuation with guns.
By tracing the history of the Cobray from its design and manufacture to the final, illegal transaction that placed it in Elliot's hands, Lethal Passage provides a stunning expose that will completely reframe the debate surrounding America's gun crisis.
Erik Larson immersed himself in America's gun culture. He learned to shoot and to appreciate the sheer fun of the sport, and he even acquired a federal gun-dealer's license. In following Elliot's gun, he uncovered the lax regulations and skewed interest that have perpetuated handgun violence, which has grown to account for 22,000 deaths and thousands more injuries every year.
He questions the political and economic forces that allowed the Cobray - originally designed as a battlefield weapon - to be marketed to the public. And he explores the broader cultural forces that nurture our fascination with violence and make gunshot death a routine feature of American life
- Compelling, balanced, and timely, Lethal Passage pinpoints one important source of the violence. The Brady Bill may help reduce firearms violence, but its recent passage is only a small step toward stemming the unimpeded flow of guns to America's new generation of killers. Erik Larson offers realistic solutions to a crisis that has now reached epic proportions.
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Previews available in: English
Showing 4 featured editions. View all 4 editions?
Edition | Availability |
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1
Lethal Passage
November 24, 1997, Random House Value Publishing
Hardcover
in English
0517197855 9780517197851
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2
Lethal passage: the story of a gun
1995, Vintage Books
in English
- 1st Vintage Books ed.
0679759271 9780679759270
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3 |
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4
Lethal passage: how the travels of a single handgun expose the roots of America's gun crisis
1994, Crown Publishers
in English
- 1st ed.
0517596776 9780517596777
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- Created April 30, 2008
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December 26, 2021 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
April 24, 2010 | Edited by Open Library Bot | Fixed duplicate goodreads IDs. |
April 16, 2010 | Edited by bgimpertBot | Added goodreads ID. |
October 18, 2009 | Edited by WorkBot | add edition to work page |
April 30, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from amazon.com record |