Reforming America with a Shotgun: A Study of Prohibition Killings.

[Washington, D. C.]: [The Association against the Prohibition Amendment], 1929. 9 x 3-1/2 inches. 44pp. Stapled light grey wrappers printed in black. Light bumping/crease to lower corner of front wrapper and first leaf; slight staining to gutters of some leaves from binding staples; center bifolium separated from upper binding staple. Good+.

Pamphlet arguing that enforcement of the National Prohibition Act by armed officers and agents has, essentially, led to an unforeseen loss of life that defeats the purported merits of Prohibition. Noting that, between the passing of the Act in 1920 and this pamphlet's publication in 1929, upwards of 1,000 fatalities occurred, the authors bluntly and starkly list numerous cases in which strict enforcement of the law resulted in often accidental fatalities: the lethal shooting of suspects in cars by police purportedly aiming at their tires; of people running away from police or other agents; of innocent bystanders; of legally armed or only theoretically armed civilians in their own homes; of Federal agents by other Federal agents; and so on. Although obviously the authors of the pamphlet selected the most unnecessary and tragic examples, the sheer number of examples provided -- which include the full names and ages of victimes, as well as the circumstances of their deaths -- weighs heavily in their favor.

Not wildly uncommon institutionally, but scarce in the trade.