Malcolm Gladwell on “The American Way of Killing”
Summary
Malcolm Gladwell discusses his new book, The American Way of Killing, with David Remnick, arguing that the U.S. gun crisis is driven by expressive violence and a lack of effective policing rather than just gun control. Gladwell reveals that the Second Amendment was originally intended to protect slave patrols, not individual rights, and criticizes the focus on homicide rates, which mask the true scale of gun violence due to improved medical care. He highlights Baltimore’s successful community-based strategy to reduce homicides and compares U.S. police resources unfavorably to Europe, sugges…
Topics discussed
Sponsor: New York Philharmonic
Introduction to Malcolm Gladwell and his new book
Gun violence statistics and the outlier status of the US
Why homicide rates are a misleading metric for violence
The original intent of the Second Amendment and militias
Instrumental vs. expressive violence in gun deaths
Critique of assault rifle bans and handgun lethality
Sponsors: NY Community Trust, NYC Elections, Mint Mobile
Discussion on American gun culture and frontier myths
Baltimore's community-based strategy to reduce homicides
The limits of legislative gun control efforts
Police staffing levels and the inverse relationship with brutality
Reforming police: response times and community presence
De-escalation tactics and why youth carry guns
Closing remarks and book promotion
Credits and Sponsors: NYC Elections
Sponsor: In the Dark podcast series
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