National Rifle Association: Money, Firepower & Fear [Hardcover]

Josh Sugarman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1992 | ISBN-10: 0915765888 | ISBN-13: 978-0915765881 | Edition: 1st

Reveals the many connections the powerful gun-lobbying group has in Washington, exposing how the group works, the death threats that have been sent to pro-gun control advocates, the NRA's involvement in arming felons, and more.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this slashing attack, the executive director of the Violence Policy Center depicts the National Rifle Association as a sinister organization of immense power. Sugarmann establishes that the group is not monolithic but embraces members who view it as a force to encourage hunting, target-shooting and comparable activities as well as others who see in any curb on the ownership of any firearm an attempt to undermine the American way of life. He reports that the latter faction has dominated the NRA for some time, adding that the association has hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of members and lots of money for lobbying, and is in bed with the federal government, which continually sells its adherents "surplus" weapons and ammunition. Set back by the 1991 passage of the Brady bill, the NRA is now trying to recruit more women, children and blacks. Sugarmann offers a new agenda for the NRA, including a call to end its lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C., which most readers will likely find unrealistic. A chilling expose. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The National Rifle Association will not be happy with this book. Sugarmann carefully marshals the evidence against the NRA and its positions on gun control legislation. He includes a chapter on the infamous "teflon-coated bullet," which is capable of piercing police body armor, and the falling out between the major police associations and the NRA over its failure to support legislation banning sale of the bullet. Lead shot is forbidden to duck hunters because lead-filled ducks might be ingested by endangered eagles, but police receive no such protection from armor-piercing bullets. Guns are one of the few products sold in the United States that do not come under regulating power of a specific federal agency. The debate will end only when this is corrected. Fairness requires that this book be on the shelf next to the NRA literature.
- John Broderick, Stonehill Coll., North Easton, Mass.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 285 pages
• Publisher: Natl Pr Books; 1st edition (May 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0915765888
• ISBN-13: 978-0915765881
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,833,974 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Trying to get at the truth, but where's the references?, September 12, 2002

By 

Glen Engel Cox (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: National Rifle Association: Money, Firepower & Fear (Hardcover)

I recently found myself in a gun control debate on co.general. Wishing to back myself up with facts, I started to delve into the books and journals dedicated to this only-slightly-less-hot-than-abortion debate. Josh Sugarmann's book isn't exactly useful as a debate tool for either side of the gun control debate, because he's as damning of the organized gun control organizations as he is of the NRA and the gun lobby (which Sugarmann shows to be virtually synonymous). Sugarmann, who himself is a gun control advocate with the Violence Policy Center, thinks that "the truth lies somewhere in the middle" of the debate, and that the average American should beware of the fanatics on both sides who misuse and misconstrue the evidence of violence in our society for their own agendas. He does this by giving us the history of the National Rifle Association, which is also the history of gun control in America, and shows how the organization has shifted over the years from a sporting idea to "Second Amendment fundamentalism" that characterizes it today. Along the way he visits the topics of whether or not the Second Amendment does indeed guarantee the right for an individual to bear arms, what the real problem of firearms in society is, and the lies told by both the NRA and Handgun Control, Inc. Sugarmann's book is easily read, and damn near necessary reading for anyone who is a member of the NRA. However, I fear that any true "Second Amendment fundamentalist" will be put off by Sugarmann's book, because he often doesn't provide the necessary references for his supposedly objective statements of statistics. Which is too bad, because his book has the potential of getting at the truth in the middle.

12 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Sugarman, professional liar, March 6, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: National Rifle Association: Money, Firepower & Fear (Hardcover)

Josh Sugarman makes his living by deceiving people who know little or nothing about firearms.He tries to win with false rhetoric an argument he can never win based on facts. This book made me almost physically ill.

10 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What a load of crap!!, October 8, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: National Rifle Association: Money, Firepower & Fear (Hardcover)

Sugarman unloads both barrels at the organization responsible for exposing the junk science published in his earlier works on gun control.