Micro Review of Washington Post eBook and Audiobook on Guns in America

I am always looking for audio books about guns on Audible.com. There are preciously few, though over the years there have been some good ones like Paul Barrett’s Glock, Dan Baum’s Gun Guys, Chris Kyle’s American Sniper, and (surprisingly) Kathy Jackson’s The Cornered Cat.

Recently, a 2013 compilation of Washington Post articles, Guns in America, was released as an audiobook. It contains articles written from about 2010 through most of 2013. Its publication as a book was of course occasioned by the Newtown mass murder. (The WaPo also maintains an ongoing special reports section of its website on guns in America.)

I am not sure what exactly I was expecting, but I didn’t have to listen past the first paragraph to get the point:

Adam Lanza shot his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School. Armed with a Bushmaster assault rifle, high-capacity magazines and two semi-automatic handguns, he fired at least 154 rounds and executed 20 first-grade students and six educator. As police closed in, the 20-year-old gunman shot and killed himself.

I will finish the book, but once you read the words “Bushmaster assault rifle” and “high-capacity magazines” — 14 words into the book and without any scare quotes to indicate critical distance from the terms — you really have read it all.

 

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