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Gun Guys: A Road Trip (Vintage Departures) Paperback – December 3, 2013

4.4 out of 5 stars 167

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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0307742504
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage (December 3, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780307742506
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0307742506
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.5 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.17 x 0.74 x 7.98 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 167

About the author

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Dan Baum
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I'm a writer of non-fiction, the author of Gun Guys: A Road Trip (Knopf, 2013); Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans (Spiegel & Grau, 2009); Smoke and Mirrors: The War on Drugs and the Politics of Failure (Little, Brown 1996); and Citizen Coors: An American Dynasty (Morrow/HarperCollins, 2000). I've been a staff writer for the New Yorker, and have written for Rolling Stone, Playboy, the New York Times Magazine and many others. I work with my wife, Margaret Knox, and we live in Boulder, Colorado. You can read about us -- and avail yourself of our editing and writing coaching -- at www.danbaum.com, www.margaretknox.com, or www.freelancersclinic.com

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
167 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2014
I love Baum’s style as a writer. I first encountered his work in Popular Science, and I’ll read anything he writes. His work is vivid, lyrical, and solidly grounded in fact, concrete details, compelling ideas and memorable characters.

So when I heard that Gun Guys was coming out, I snapped it up. I was not disappointed.

Gun Guys is a wild ride, addressing a serious topic with a healthy dose of humor, as in this, my favorite line, about a guy stuffing a loaded gun down his pants:

“It seemed to me that clawing that thing out during the panic of a gun fight would be a good way for Bill to shoot off his wedding tackle.”

Besides providing a read that is as enjoyable as any work of fiction, Gun Guys makes some very strong arguments in favor of both extreme sides of the gun-control issue taking it down a few notches. Yes, some regulation of guns is a good idea, but, no, outright bans aren’t going to significantly reduce violence and are therefore needlessly provoking to law-abiding citizens who happen to dig guns.

Baum argues that more tolerance is in order, on both sides. My favorite character in the book, Janet Bewley, a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, sums up this point of view nicely:

“People want to be able to drive their ATVs through town to go ice fishing, and there’s a whole lot of people against it because they don’t like ‘those people.’ Some people are just so antigun their brains explode when you try to talk about it. Same thing: it’s ‘those people.’ My own husband, he’s a UCC minister and he says, ‘I don’t like guns.’ And I tell him, ‘It does’t matter what you like or don’t like. That’s not how we make law!’”

Gun Guys is an enjoyable read about a polarizing topic. Whatever side of the issue you’re on, you’ll find something to think about here.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2013
Dan Baum's new book titled "Gun Guys" is a journal of his travels through "gun country". It's a mixture of Dan's own history with guns, a little soul searching, and connecting with various people on both sides of the gun debate. He sets out in the hope of better understanding the passion and hatred we, as a country, have for guns. Because let's face it, our legislature and different rights groups all want you to fit into the two categories; you love them or you hate them. There is no in between. But that's exactly what Dan sets out to prove. That there is middle ground and it's attainable. We can do that only if we as a people come to recognize that manipulation by the groups mentioned above will do us no good.

Unlike his book "Nine Lives", he sets out cross-country on this one and meets a whole cast of characters. He visits gun-show guys in the mid-west that are purists to the 2nd Amendment. He stops at every gun store he can even though it's a problem as many have closed. He talks to folks who compete at local and national tournaments. He meets gun instructors, some good and some bad. He talks to representatives of both the NRA and Brady Center. Most of all he's out there talking to the "every day" citizens to get their views. From the "simple" hunter to the folks who get together throughout the year to fire off their automatic weapons.

It's a great ride across America, trying to get into the minds of people...something Dan always does well. He generally has a knack for getting people to open up and discuss the topic of guns freely. The stories were at times funny, some sad, others a little scary but one thing for sure. They were always intriguing. With the recent chain of events that have happened, he couldn't have picked a better time to release a piece of rationally thought out literature such as this. I hope you'll scroll up, click the "Buy" button and join the discussion.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2013
I am a criminal defense lawyer and despise firearms because of the consequences their use too often yields in my clients' lives: I cannot recall the number of murder cases I've had in which a young man, usually inner city and Black, kills a rival over a girl, a bottle of whiskey, or some imagined "disrespect." When I was a kid, these contests got resolved with fists. Now, two lives are lost -- the decendent and his too often impuslive killer.

Where'd all these guns come from? Isn't there some way to get them off of the street? I fume sometimes about repealing the Second Amendment. No one is serious about the use of guns to combat tyranny. Government is more powerful and all-encompassing than ever in the 21st century. What's more, the power of government to suppress any challenge with force is overwhelming. Instead of using guns to fight government, we kill each other and tell ourselves patriotic lies to justify it all.

So I read this book to learn about the other side after reading an interview of the author with Joe Nocera, a columnist in The New York Times. I thought the author handled himself well in the interview.

I am glad I read the book. It did not change my mind about the scourage that guns have become in our society. But it did make me realize how my blinders have kept me from appreciating the appeal of guns to so many Americans. Frankly, the book even got me a little curious abuot guns, truth be told.

I doubt we will ever get rid of guns in the United States. I did not know that some folks buy guns, and then bury them in protective covers to make them harder to find should the government ever try to seize them all.

I'm not sure guns are a necessary part of the American psyche; I am sure that dislodging them from the place they hold in the minds of many Americans will be a task even more difficult than the battle to transform cigarettes from indicia of what's cool into cancer sticks.

I recommend this book to anyone curious about the ubiquity of guns and what makes guns so controversial in American life. The writing is always good, and the author is always fair. He did not change my mind, but I now look at those on the other side with a respect and understanding I did not have before reading this book.
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Top reviews from other countries

Henry Gladwyn
4.0 out of 5 stars Gun don't kill people, liberals kill people
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 9, 2013
The press around this book made allot of the 'liberal gun nut' schtick. The author makes even more of it, which to an outsider becomes boring. However, that is my only criticism of this fascinating run through American gun sub-culture (and as the author points out, it truly is a sub-culture).

Whether intentional or not the point that stood out for me was the fundamental disconnect between those who oppose gun control and those who support it. The people who legally own guns are, for the most part, law abiding rural/small towners who cannot understand why their rights and pleasure are being targetted. They are described eloquently and are deeply personable. Those who want to control them are equally law abiding urbanites, who see the damages of illegal guns, and cannot understand why no one will do something about it.

I am not sure if I agree with the fundamental conceit of the book that the white middle and working class is holding onto guns because it makes tham part of the 'sheepdog class', in a world where they are of decreasing importance and standing. The analysis seems Marxian, and although he presents evidence in favour, such evidence is necessarily selective. I would not say though that this detracts in any way from the book, I was simple unpersuaded in the end.