8 Another psychiatrist … Sentencing hearing. VA-NE, December 12, 1989, 18.

  9 He told Det. Donald Adams … NES, 8.

  10 “Like fire …” George Sweet, interview.

  11 Billy would call … (Billy Cutter), testimony. VA-NE, February 28, 1989, 105, 107, 114.

  12 At six foot one … Ibid., 106.

  13 “There was some slapping …” Duncan Wallace, testimony. VA-NE, December 12, 1989, 16.

  14 Dr. Wallace found … Ibid., 12.

  15 As Nicholas left … (Billy Cutter). VA-NE, 112.

  16 “I can’t take …” NES, 44–45.

  17 At lunch … William Farley, interview.

  18 His locker … Det. Donald Adams, interview.

  19 One told … Norfolk Ledger-Star, December 18, 1988, 1.

  20 Even the guns … NES, 42.

  21 His mother worried … NES, 43–44.

  22 When she arrived … NES, 2.

  23 His mother, during … Estelle Elliot, sentencing hearing. VA-NE, 6.

  24 In California … Duncan Wallace. Ibid., 17.

  25 On arriving … Estelle Elliot. Ibid., 10, 11.

  26 “The public schools …” Ibid., 7.

  27 “She said something …” NES, 20.

  28 “I’ve heard …” NES, 21.

  29 When Adams asked … NES, 63.

  30 This was clearly evident … Karen Farley, videotape.

  31 The morning of December 16 … William Farley, interview.

  32 She had begun … Ibid.

  33 “Do you think …” Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, December 10, 1988, D1.

  Chapter Three: The Lethal Landscape

  1 “I know several …” Anthony Cobb, letter to author, February 2, 1993.

  2 Over the last … The statistics in this paragraph may be found in: American Academy of Pediatrics, Policy Statement, AAP NEWS (January 1992): 22; Garen Wintemute, “Firearms as a Cause of Death in the United States, 1920–1982,” The Journal of Trauma 27:5 (May 1987): 532; Los Angeles Times, May 17, 1992, 1; Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Special Report (July 1990).

  3 A relatively new … Gary J. Ordog, et al., “Gunshot Wounds in Children Under 10 Years of Age,” American Journal of Diseases of Children 142 (June 1988): 618–22.

  4 No one knows … American Academy of Pediatrics, Policy Statement, 20.

  5 The story is less … Michael Pertschuk, interview.

  6 Over the most … “Civilian Firearms: Domestic Production, Importation, Exportation and Availability for Sale, 1899–1989,” ATF.

  7 As of 1989 … Ibid.

  8 One study of … American Academy of Pediatrics, Policy Statement, 20.

  9 A July 1993 poll … Louis Harris, “A Survey of Experiences, Perceptions, and Apprehensions About Guns Among Young People in America,” LH Research Inc. (July 1993): 12, 13.

  10 The Harris poll … Ibid., 12.

  11 A University of North Carolina … Laura S. Sadowski, “Firearm Ownership Among Nonurban Adolescents,” American Journal of Diseases of Children 143 (December 1989): 1412.

  12 From 1965 to 1990 … “Crime in the United States,” FBI, Uniform Crime Reports, 279.

  13 Anyone inclined … Baltimore Sun, July 20, 1993, 1.

  14 In 1985 stray … New York Times, December 31, 1990, A25.

  15 In 1987, America’s … Lois A. Fingerhut, “International and Interstate Comparisons of Homicide Among Young Males,” JAMA 263:24 (June 27, 1990): 3292–93.

  16 A landmark study … Arthur L. Kellermann and Donald T. Reay, “Protection or Peril?” New England Journal of Medicine 314:24 (June 12, 1986): 1557–60.

  17 A Pittsburgh … David A. Brent, et al., “The Presence and Accessibility of Firearms in the Homes of Adolescent Suicides,” JAMA 266:21 (December 4, 1991): 2989–95.

  18 In 1987, Dr. Garen … Garen J. Wintemute, “Firearms as a Cause of Death in the United States, 1920–1982,” Journal of Trauma 27:5 (May 1987): 535.

  19 A 1986 study … Jeffrey H. Boyd, “Firearms and Youth Suicide,” American Journal of Public Health 76:10 (October 1986): 1240–42.

  20 He established … Franklin E. Zimring, “Firearms, Violence and Public Policy,” Scientific American (November 1991): 50.

  21 In one of … John H. Sloan, et al., “Handgun Regulations, Crime, Assaults, and Homicide,” New England Journal of Medicine 319 (1988): 1256.

  22 “WHAT WILL IT TAKE …” National Rifle Association advertisement, 1992.

  23 The story described … Ed Magnuson, “Do Guns Save Lives,” Time, August 21, 1989, 25–26.

  24 The American Rifleman does not … Associated Press, “Woman Shot in Face With Gun Kept Under Pillow,” Los Angeles Times, October 24, 1991.

  25 A controversial Colt ad … Colt’s Manufacturing Co. advertisement, July 1992.

  26 Even Davis Industries … Davis Industries Inc. advertisement, May 1992; Wall Street Journal, February 28, 1992, 1.

  27 A Smith & Wesson ad … Smith & Wesson advertisement, February 1993.

  28 The company produced … Herschel C. Logan, “The Smith & Wesson Ladysmiths,” American Rifleman, April 1954, 47–48.

  29 “We’re seeing …” Garen Wintemute, interview.

  30 Joyce Mays-Rabbitt … Joyce Mays-Rabbitt, interview.

  31 In fact, she was … Anne Pallie, interview.

  32 “By getting over …” Paxton Quigley, interview.

  33 One of Quigley’s … Noelle Stettner, interview.

  34 Her choice of … Paxton Quigley, interview.

  35 “The first time …” Michelle Sullivan, interview.

  36 “I didn’t know …” Sean Smith, police tape.

  37 “In other words …” Paxton Quigley, Armed & Female (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990), 139.

  38 A study of accidental … Garen J. Wintemute, et al., “When Children Shoot Children,” JAMA 257:22 (June 12, 1987): 3107–9.

  39 In fact, she told … Wayne King, “Target: The Gun Lobby,” New York Times Magazine, December 9, 1990, 42.

  40 A June 1993 … Louis Harris, “A Survey of the American People on Guns as a Children’s Health Issue,” (June 1993): 20.

  41 Another study … Douglas S. Weil and David Hemenway, “Loaded Guns in the Home,” JAMA 267:22 (June 10, 1992): 33–37.

  42 Dr. Kellermann … Arthur L. Kellermann, interview.

  43 A 1991 study by … “Accidental Shootings: Many Deaths and Injuries Caused by Firearms Could be Prevented,” GAO, March 1991, 2.

  44 The GAO began … Ibid., 3, 12, 28.

  45 The GAO report … Ibid., 30–32.

  46 “There’s just so many …” Joanne Welsh, interview.

  47 From 1980 through … FBI, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (May 1991): 2–5.

  48 “The typical NRA …” Leonard Supenski, interview.

  49 Police officers involved … Leonard Supenski, interview.

  50 One of its members … Confidential source, interview.

  51 Lisa Hilliard, the … Lisa Hilliard, interview.

  52 “What people believe …” W. Eugene Hollon, Frontier Violence: Another Look (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974), 195.

  53 For the average resident … Ibid., 197; Frank Richard Prassel, The Western Peace Officer (Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972), 20, 22.

  54 People rarely locked … Hollon, Frontier Violence, 210, 211; Prassel, Western Peace Officer, 22.

  55 Burglary was rare … Roger D. McGrath, Gunfighters, Highwaymen and Vigilantes (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1984), 248, 249; Hollon, Frontier Violence, 203.

  56 Frank Prassel, an … Prassel, Western Peace Officer, 20.

  57 One of the great … Hollon, Frontier Violence, 165.

  58 Moments before … Abilene Chronicle, January 5, 1871.

  59 According to historian … McGrath, Gunfighters, 88, 184, 199, 255.

  60 Nonetheless, the homicide rate … Ibid., 268; Hollon, Frontier Violence, 201; Prassel, Western Peace Officer, 47; Elliott West, “Wicked Dodge
City,” American History Illustrated (June 1982): 23–31.

  61 On March 19, 1872 … Missouri Republican, March 19, 1872, 2.

  62 Buffalo Bill Cody was … Joseph G. Rosa and Robin May, Buffalo Bill and His Wild West (Lawrence, Kans.: University Press of Kansas, 1989), 163.

  63 The first book … Peter Lyon, The Wild, Wild West (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1969), 119.

  64 After Jesse James … Robert Sherrill, The Saturday Night Special (New York: Charterhouse, 1973), 39.

  65 After Jesse was murdered … Ibid., 39.

  66 The Gazette described … Lyon, The Wild, 92.

  67 Belle was a … Ibid., 89.

  68 Billy the Kid, far … Ibid., 123.

  69 In a rare act … Hollon, Frontier Violence, 189.

  70 He was discharged … Deborah Berrier, “Clay Allison: Never Killed a Man Willingly,” American History Illustrated (June 1982): 38–39.

  71 Fabled gunfighter … Elliott West, “Wicked”; Ralph Brauer, The Horse, the Gun and the Piece of Property (Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1975), 200.

  72 Contrary to popular … Prassel, Western Peace Officer, 110.

  73 In Leadville … Ibid., 47.

  74 The real marshal … Elliott West, “Wicked,” 30.

  75 In that mythic realm … Ibid., 27.

  76 They were known … Lyon, The Wild, 15, 18, 21.

  77 Morgan Earp, one … Ibid., 20.

  78 A thief named … Ibid., 83.

  79 The police officer … Brian McGinty, “John Wesley Hardin: Gentleman of Guns,” American History Illustrated (June 1982): 32–36.

  80 In one notorious … McGrath, Gunfighters, 90–91.

  81 “Lawmen and …” Prassel, Western Peace Officer, 248.

  82 The Colt Peacemaker … A. C. Gould, Modern American Pistols and Revolvers (Boston: Bradlee Whidden, 1894), 203. See also Wall Street Journal, June 24, 1993, 1.

  83 On one journey … Glenda Riley, “The Specter of a Savage: Rumors and Alarmism on the Overland Trail,” Western History Quarterly 15:4 (October 1984): 427–44.

  84 In Bodie … McGrath, Gunfighters, 192.

  85 Clay Allison shot … Berrier, “Clay Allison,” 38.

  86 Wild Bill Hickok … Hollon, Frontier Violence, 200.

  87 On January 9, 1876 … Nyle H. Miller and Joseph W. Snell, Great Gunfighters of the Texas Cowtowns, 1867–1886 (Lincoln, Nebr.: University of Nebraska, 1963), 83–84.

  88 When Pat Garret … Prassel, Western Peace Officer, 104.

  89 Jesse James’s brother … Albert Castel, “The James Brothers,” American History Illustrated (June 1982): 10–18.

  90 Bill Tilghman … Prassel, Western Peace Officer, 247.

  91 A former train robber … Jack Lewis, The Gun Digest Book of Single-Action Revolvers (Northbrook, Ill.: DBI Books Inc, 1982), 201; Richard Slotkin, Gunfighter Nation (New York: Atheneum, 1992), 236.

  92 Cody’s fame was … Slotkin, Ibid., 72–73.

  93 As if to dispel … Ibid., 68.

  94 Sitting Bull, the … Ibid., 74; Rosa and May, Buffalo Bill, 83.

  95 Richard Slotkin, author … Slotkin, Gunfighter Nation, 87.

  96 The proliferation of … Ibid., 77.

  97 In 1903 … Ibid., 231; John G. Cawelti, The Six-Gun Mystique (Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1971), 3.

  98 By 1925, William Hart … Lewis, Gun Digest Book, 199, 212, 214.

  99 Fourteen feature-length … Slotkin, Gunfighter Nation, 347.

  100 The underlying message … Ibid., 396.

  101 In 1959, the networks … Brauer, The Horse, 54.

  102 In 1959, eight … Cawelti, Six-Gun, 2.

  103 An advertisement … American Sales & Manufacturing advertisement, July 1993.

  104 In the “Wyatt Earp” … Lewis, Gun Digest Book, 27-28.

  105 In 1982, Colt … Ibid., 31.

  106 In 1992, Colt introduced … Colt’s Manufacturing Co. advertisement, 1992.

  107 The master … Wall Street Journal, June 24, 1993, 1.

  108 In the autumn … Leighton Rockafellow, interview. Rockafellow represented the Nix family in a lawsuit against Sturm, Ruger. The family agreed to accept a settlement of $150,000.

  109 Ruger continues … Sturm, Ruger & Co., catalog, 1993, 28.

  110 A report in … Sturm, Ruger & Co., product liability log, entry dated March 14, 1980.

  111 “It is quite …” Prassel, Western Peace Officer, 252.

  112 “… Since the Western …” Slotkin, Gunfighter Nation, 352.

  113 In 1970, historian … Richard Hofstadter, “Reflections on Violence in the United States,” American Violence (New York: Knopf, 1970), 24.

  114 Sturm, Ruger & Co.… Wall Street Journal, June 24, 1993, 1.

  115 Why else … Frank W. James, “Snubnose Revolvers,” American Handgunner (Combat Annual 1992): 29036. Photo: 34.

  116 The company whose … ATF, Firearms Tracing Database Report, February 20, 1992.

  117 By 1989 … “Handgun Production by U.S. Manufacturers, 1973–1989,” Shooting Industry, 1991.

  118 It fondly … Cox Newspapers, “Firepower: Assault Weapons in America,” 1989, 2; Edward M. Owen, interview; Earl Taylor, interview.

  119 “We’ve got technology …” Leonard Supenski, interview.

  Chapter Four: Nicholas

  1 “I didn’t feel …” NES, 32.

  2 “I was scared …” Ibid., 82.

  3 “I was looking …” Ibid., 77, 80.

  4 “I was scared …” Ibid., 81.

  5 “I was kind of …” Ibid., 81–82.

  6 “I was thinking …” Ibid., 82.

  Chapter Five: The Gun

  1 “I grew up …” Leonard Supenski, interview.

  2 A 1989 study … Cox Newspapers, “Firepower: Assault Weapons in America,” 1989, 2.

  3 A study of all … ATF, “Project Detroit,” April 19, 1992, 4–5.

  4 The head of … Thomas W. Stokes, interview.

  5 Shortly after nine … Homicide Report, Denver Police Department; George I. Ogura, Autopsy Report, County of Denver, June 19, 1984; Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt, The Silent Brotherhood (New York: Signet, 1990), 244–250.

  6 During a sweeping … U.S. vs Pierce, et al., Second Superseding Indictment. CR85–001M, 43, 48, 64, 65, 78.

  7 Later, on April 15 … Flynn and Gerhardt, Silent Brotherhood, 472.

  8 “It slices …” Cox Newspapers, “Firepower,” 12.

  9 In March 1989 … Ibid., 8.

  10 The same month … St. Petersburg Times, March 2, 1989, 12A.

  11 Six months later … Det. Cheryl Jackman, interview.

  12 “It’s a terrible …” Cornelius J. Behan, tape of Maryland Handgun Roster Board Meeting, February 5, 1990.

  13 The day before … Advertisement. New York Times, February 4, 1990; Baltimore Sun, February 6, 1990, 1A.

  14 The third speaker … Elmer H. Tippet, tape of Maryland Handgun Roster Board Meeting, February 5, 1990.

  15 The gun joined … Maryland Handgun Roster Board, Determination of Petition. Docket P-89085, February 13, 1990.

  16 At about midnight … Oakland Tribune, October 11, 1990, A-11.

  17 In May 1990 … Vancouver Sun, May 22, 1990, B1.

  18 On October 20, 1991 … Vancouver Sun, March 7, 1992, A7.

  19 The same month … The Record (Bergen County), October 11, 1991, A-1.

  20 In 1991, New York … The Record (Bergen County), July 16, 1991, A-7.

  21 The following year … Denver Post, October 1, 1992, 2-B.

  22 A Baltimore rapper … Baltimore Sun, November 29, 1992, 1A.

  23 At least two gangs … Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 17, 1992, 16; Arkansas Gazette, January 25, 1991, 4B.

  24 Detailed renderings … Baton Rouge State Times, June 15, 1990, 1-A.

  25 Let me get … Indianapolis News, June 25, 1992, A-1.

  26 “I’ll make it up …” Boston Globe, November 25, 1992, 19.

  27 “When
you look …” Leonard Supenski, interview.

  28 The gun’s direct lineage … Thomas R. Nelson and Daniel D. Musgrave, The World’s Machine Pistols and Submachine Guns, vol IIA (Hong Kong: Chesa Limited, undated): 501, 504, 507.

  29 Ingram saw … Ibid., 508.

  30 The United States had … Ibid., 503–4.

  31 The Army bought … Ibid., 508.

  32 WerBell, who … Ibid., 509.

  33 In 1969 Ingram … Ibid., 512.

  34 To best capitalize … Ibid., 512.

  35 From 1969 … Ibid., 512.

  36 The investors … Ibid., 512.

  37 It was McQ … Edward M. Owen, interview.

  38 “Hey, Lon,” the … McQ, Warner Brothers, 1974.

  39 This enthusiastic bit … Nelson and Musgrave, Machine Pistols, 515, 517.

  40 Under Wayne Daniel … Ibid., 521.

  41 An operating manual … RPB Industries Inc., Ingram Submachine Gun Operating Manual, 1, 43.

  42 One partner was … Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 21, 1989, A-9.

  43 Two others … US-PEG, 12, 13, 14.

  44 Morgan was … Florida vs. Robert Morgan, Judgment and sentence, 20th Judicial Circuit of Florida. Case no. 79–86, June 2, 1980.

  45 Leibolt, according to … US-PEG, 28.

  46 “It became available …” Earl Taylor, interview.

  47 At one point … Thomas W. Stokes, interview.

  48 By the autumn … RPB Inc., minutes. “Special Meeting of Shareholders,” December 28, 1981; RPB Inc., minutes. “Meeting of Stockholders,” December 14, 1981; RPB Inc., minutes. “Special Meeting of Board of Directors,” January 6, 1982.

  49 Two weeks later … RPB Inc., minutes. “Special Meeting of Shareholders,” December 28, 1981.

  50 The minutes of … RPB Inc., minutes. “Special Meeting of Board of Directors,” January 20, 1982.

  51 ATF, meanwhile … Edward M. Owen, interview.

  52 Any gun assembled … ATF, Ruling 82–8. Federal Firearms Regulations, 1988–89.

  53 The threat … Earl Taylor, interview.

  54 June proved … RPB Inc., Statement of income, six months ended June 30, 1982; Statement of income, seven months ended July 31, 1982.

  55 They succeeded … Edward M. Owen, interview.

  56 The company also … Edward M. Owen, interview; S.W. Daniel Inc., advertisement, “Beat the Heat.”

  57 The Daniels knew … Earl Taylor, interview.