Critics say the National Rifle Association, in its efforts to block gun-control laws it says are unconstitutional, has used many of the strategies pioneered by the tobacco lobby.
Those tactics include suppressing information, blocking research, and pushing for state laws that prohibit cities and counties from passing their own gun measures, says Mark Pertschuk, director of Grassroots Change, a national support network for public health movements.
"The gun lobby has been amazingly successful in keeping research from being done," says researcher Stanton Glantz...
http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20130202/NEWS05/302020018/Similar-paths-tobacco-gun-lobby-
Scientists argue the gun lobby has thwarted attempts to explore factors behind misuse of guns, following a familiar and largely successful playbook: that of the tobacco companies.
While scientists have welcomed President Obama's efforts to restart gun-violence research, many say that passing even modest gun-safety measures will be an uphill battle.
That's because the gun lobby, researchers say, has followed a familiar and largely successful playbook: that of the tobacco companies.
Critics say the National Rifle Association, in its efforts to block gun-control laws it says are unconstitutional, has used many of the strategies pioneered by the tobacco lobby, at least until a national settlement with state attorneys general forced cigarette makers to change some of their ways. Those tactics include suppressing information, blocking research, targeting individual scientists and pushing for state laws that prohibit cities and counties from passing their own gun measures, says Mark Pertschuk, director of Grassroots Change, a national support network for public health movements.
Like the NRA, cigarette companies "employed a scorched-earth, take-no-prisoners approach to threats to tobacco use," says Tom Glynn, director of cancer science and trends at the American Cancer Society, who spent two decades at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). "They denied harm, publicly attacked any person or organization which questioned them, discredited science and brooked no compromise whatsoever — all tactics which the gun lobby seems to be using now."
Two weeks ago, President Obama addressed one of the gun lobby's tactics — a 17-year-old ban on research that could be used to "advocate or promote gun control" — by instructing scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and NIH to immediately resume studying causes of and solutions to gun violence.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/31/nra-guns-tobacco-research/1859385/
While scientists have welcomed President Obama's efforts to restart gun-violence research, many say that passing even modest gun-safety measures will be an uphill battle.
That's because the gun lobby, researchers say, has followed a familiar and largely successful playbook: that of the tobacco companies.
Critics say the National Rifle Association, in its efforts to block gun-control laws it says are unconstitutional, has used many of the strategies pioneered by the tobacco lobby, at least until a national settlement with state attorneys general forced cigarette makers to change some of their ways. Those tactics include suppressing information, blocking research, targeting individual scientists and pushing for state laws that prohibit cities and counties from passing their own gun measures, says Mark Pertschuk, director of Grassroots Change, a national support network for public health movements.
Like the NRA, cigarette companies "employed a scorched-earth, take-no-prisoners approach to threats to tobacco use," says Tom Glynn, director of cancer science and trends at the American Cancer Society, who spent two decades at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). "They denied harm, publicly attacked any person or organization which questioned them, discredited science and brooked no compromise whatsoever — all tactics which the gun lobby seems to be using now."
Two weeks ago, President Obama addressed one of the gun lobby's tactics — a 17-year-old ban on research that could be used to "advocate or promote gun control" — by instructing scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and NIH to immediately resume studying causes of and solutions to gun violence.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/31/nra-guns-tobacco-research/1859385/
Newtown, Connecticut. Aurora, Colorado. Both have entered our collective memory as sites of unimaginable heartbreak and mass slaughter, perpetrated by lone gunmen. Meanwhile, cities like Chicago and Washington, D.C. are dealing with the painful, everyday reality of record rates of gun-related deaths. By any account, gun violence in the United States has reached epidemic proportions: we are by far the most armed nation on earth, and we have the deaths to show for it. But how did we get here, and where do we go next?
In The Last Gun, Tom Diaz lays out a lucid, incisive account of why we are facing this epidemic—and what we can do to stop it. A widely respected activist and policy analyst—as well as a former gun enthusiast and ex-member of the National Rifle Association—Diaz presents a chilling, up-to-date survey of the changed landscape of gun manufacturing and marketing.
The Last Gun explores how the gun industry has shifted dramatically in the last decade and how the nature of gun violence has changed in step with industry trends, including the disturbing rise in the military-grade gun models that have brought us to a numbing new level of violence.
But Diaz also argues that the once formidable gun lobby has become a "paper tiger," marshaling a range of stunning evidence and case studies to eloquently make the case that now is the time for a renewed political effort to attack gun violence at its source—the guns themselves. Because, despite all the rhetoric, guns do kill people.
In the aftermath of Newtown, a challenging national conversation lies ahead. The Last Gun is an indispensable guide to this debate, and essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how we can finally rid America's streets, schools, and homes of gun violence and prevent future Newtowns.
Tom Diaz is a writer, lawyer, and public speaker on the gun industry and gun control. Formerly senior policy analyst at the Violence Policy Center, he has been featured on MSNBC, NPR, and other national media. His books include Making a Killing (The New Press). He lives in Washington, D.C.
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