Carol Vinzant

Lawyers, Guns & Money

A survivor of the 1993 Long Island Railroad shooting, Tom McDermott vowed to do something for the people who didn’t make it off that train. This book follows his journey from victim to advocate, as he learns gun industry history and takes on the NRA. He argued on talk shows and lobbied Congress, but ultimately gave up on meaningful gun laws. Instead, this former white collar crime prosecutor spent years investigating an insurance scheme that touched on more Caribbean islands than a Princess Cruise and enabled transient gun companies to dump millions of low quality, low cost guns on American streets, fueling a crime wave.

Tom McDermott exposed a financial fraud that allowed low-end gun companies to flood the market in the 1980s and 1990s. Real insurance companies would have demanded more safety features or exorbitant rates, either of which would have driven up prices. By helping shut down the insurance company, Tom helped shut down the companies flooding America with cheap handguns. Like many Americans, Tom was first overwhelmed and put off by the topic of guns, but this level-headed shooting victim leads us on a tour of American gun history and culture.

Firearms expert Whit Collins calls Lawyers, Guns & Money an “unauthorized history of the American gun industry.” People tend to see guns as black or white, this book calls out who’s been responsible and who’s been despicable. What may surprise Americans is that gun companies have a long history of dependence government assistance, going out of business after a few years and rascals producing cheap guns.