Salon.com > Shaun Randol

Salman Rushdie: Artists are more vulnerable than ever

Wed, 01 May 2013 21:02:00 +0000

PERHAPS TO HIS DISMAY, the prolific novelist and essayist Salman Rushdie may be best known for the fatwa Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued against him for his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses (1988). He is, of course, more than a once-persecuted writer. Mr. Rushdie is the author of 11 novels, three collections of essays (one co-written), two children’s books, one book of nonfiction, numerous essays, and most recently Joseph Anton: A Memoir. A man of many accolades, he is a public intellectual, a father, a citizen, a man.

We need to make the gun control debate about crime control

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 18:00:00 +0000

WHEN I FIRST INTERVIEWED Paul Barrett, author of Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun, for this publication (“Happiness Is A Warm Glock”), the mass shootings in Aurora, CO and Oak Creek, WI were recent events. This time, Barrett and I met under the long shadow of the Newtown, CT massacre, where, on December 14, Adam Lanza fatally shot his own mother, 20 children and six school employees before taking his own life. The world mourned for the losses at Sandy Hook Elementary School. In the wake of the country’s second deadliest mass shooting, the United States is once again forced to confront its aggrandized gun culture. The question is: will anything be different this time?

With 300 million-plus weapons in private hands, the United States has the highest rate of gun ownership in the OECD countries, and the second highest number of homicides (second only to Mexico, which has a lot related to drug trafficking. See here for some interesting analysis of OECD and non-OECD gun ownership and deaths).

America’s favorite handgun

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Paul Barrett will make you think twice about gun control in this country. He may even get you to change your position, or at least better understand the other side’s point of view.

"Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun" works on two levels: In terms of business, "Glock" is a fascinating story about a foreign upstart overtaking a domestic heavyweight, à la Toyota upending Ford in the 1980s. The book is also a microcosm of the gun debate in the United States, covering gun violence, policing, lobbying and legislation.

Leading up to my interview with Barrett, I carried a copy of "Glock" around with me, using his words as a weapon, so to speak, to challenge preconceived notions on gun control issues. After our interview, I found myself playing devil’s advocate in at least one conversation, vigorously defending gun ownership, a position I had never before taken seriously.