What We've Become: Living and Dying in a Country of Arms
- New York, USA: W. W. Norton & Company; 2024
- 384 pages; 24 cm.
What We've Become: Living and Dying in a Country of Arms by Jonathan M. Metzl examines the complexities of gun violence in America through the lens of the 2018 Nashville Waffle House shooting, where a white gunman killed four young people of color. Metzl, a physician and gun policy scholar, reflects on the limitations of addressing gun violence solely as a public health issue. He argues that this approach fails to account for deeper social, racial, and political factors that fuel the nation's gun culture. The book advocates for a broader strategy that includes alliance-building, racial reckoning, and political action to effectively tackle the pervasive issue of gun violence in the United States.