'Big Guns:' Congressman Steve Israel's East End Poltical Satire Is Laced With A Dose Of Truth

On March 15, a gunman opened fire at two mosques in New Zealand killing 50 people and wounding another 50. Within a week, New Zealand had changed its gun laws to ban the types of weapons used in the massacre.

During Congressman Steve Israel’s 16 years in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001 to 2016, there were 52 mass shootings in the United States and no meaningful legislation passed related to firearms.

“The most frequent question asked was when will Congress do something?” recalled Mr. Israel in a recent phone interview. “These were people on both sides of the issue … the NRA too. They wanted us to pass something. But I realized the honest answer was, ‘never.’

“This book is my explanation of why, using a historically successful genre in literature,” he added.

The book is Mr. Israel’s “Big Guns,” and the genre is political satire. On Thursday, April 4, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Mr. Israel, who represented Long Island’s 2nd and later the 3rd congressional districts, will take part in a book and author event hosted by the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons at Seasons of Southampton on Prospect Street. Former East End Congressman Tim Bishop will serve as emcee.

“Big Guns,” published by Simon and Schuster last summer, is set in Washington, D.C., and the fictional wealthy summer enclave of Asabogue (described by Mr. Israel as a conflation of Mattituck’s Love Lane and Amagansett on the South Fork). The book offers a wryly humorous look at the gun debate through a cast of characters with extreme views on both sides of the issue.

On the left is Asabogue’s mayor, Birkenstock-wearing septuagenarian Lois Liebowitz, who has joined a national movement to make the village a gun-free zone. On the right are Asabogue’s powerful summer residents—firearms manufacturer Otis Cogsworth, and arms-bearing action movie hero Jack Steele. Also on their side is Liebowitz’s daughter, Sunny McCarthy, a shrewd D.C. lobbyist working to pass AFFA (the American Freedom from Fear Act) which would require that every American (with the exception of children under a certain age) own a gun.

As one might expect with such a plot, acronyms, acrimony and aspirations abound in the book. Tensions in Asabogue reach a boiling point after Steele challenges Liebowitz in a mayoral recall election and the armed militias show up to support his cause (while the media shows up to document it). Things get heated at the local bakery when the pastries run low and somebody gets hurt. Eventually, even the Asabogue League of Women Voters plays a pivotal role.

Though “Big Guns” is pure fiction and clearly satire, Mr. Israel finds that the plot of his book is not nearly as far-fetched as it once was. Though he worked on a range of issues during his time in congress, including many pieces of legislation related to national security, it was in the debate over guns where he encountered the biggest roadblocks.

“Guns represent the single greatest impasse on Capitol Hill,” said Mr. Israel. “On health care you can compromise, on tax cuts you can compromise, but there’s no meaningful compromise on gun safety.”

“It was the one issue where I saw no ability to find some common ground,” he added. “It’s really about one thing. The gun lobby has been very successful at convincing members of Congress if you vote for something like increased background checks, you’ll lose your next election. With this book, I wanted to take people through the dynamic from the inside, tongue in cheek.”

“Big Guns” is Mr. Israel’s second political satire. His 2015 debut novel, “The Global War on Morris,” told the story of a hapless introvert who finds himself in the crosshairs of a federal investigation. That book was optioned by Rob Reiner for television development while “Big Guns” has already been fast-tracked for film development by Branded Pictures.

For Mr. Israel, the decision to step away from politics and focus more on writing came in late 2015 and he left office at the end of his term in January 2017. After 16 years in Congress, including in the senior leadership of the House, there were two events that crystallized his decision to leave.

“One was my fundamental belief there comes a time you should pass the torch. Secondly, I realized the politics of Capitol Hill had grown so polarized, it was unlikely I’d be able to write a meaningful bill that would become law,” he said. “Instead, I wanted to write meaningful books that happen to make people think, especially with ‘Big Guns.’

“Congress won’t pass—nor will this president sign—any sensible gun safety laws. I would be wasting time trying,” he added. “The purpose of ‘Big Guns’ was to get people to think through satire about the impact of politics on the gun debate.”

At this point in his life, Mr. Israel admits that he is glad to be away from the partisan political atmosphere of Washington and is quite happy that he left office when he did.

“In politics, timing is everything. I timed my exit perfectly,” he said. “But I do miss the quiet camaraderie that people don’t know enough about. They turn on the TV and see Democrats and Republicans in a fight, but that’s not really the Capitol Hill I knew.

“Like an ocean storm, it’s turbulent on the surface, but below the surface there are deep partisan partnerships. I miss sitting with the representative from Oklahoma talking about the differences in our districts,” he added. “Our media has become tribalized, congressional districts are now gerrymandered, and we are more polarized than we’ve been in a long time. I had the joy of representing almost as many Democrats as Republicans and understood what the middle was about. Compromise was valued and not vilified.”

Though he admittedly misses some aspects of life in Congress, these days Mr. Israel is able to pursue a range of curiosities and speak out on issues like gun control in ways that he felt he couldn’t while in office. His October 2017 New York Times op-ed, “Nothing Will Change After The Las Vegas Shooting” went viral, as did his Mic.Com video on gun violence, which received nearly 3.5 million views.

“I felt I was always honest, but now I don’t have to calculate how much trouble I could get into,” said Mr. Israel. “Shortly after leaving Congress, I went to my doctor complaining of sharp pains in my face … He told me it was a smile. I hadn’t done it in 16 years.”

Congressman Steve Israel, author of “Big Guns,” takes part in the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons’ “Book and Author” event on Thursday, April 4, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Seasons of Southampton, 15 Prospect Street. The cost is $65 until March 28, $70 after that date. Admission includes hors d’oeuvres and there will be a cash bar. To pay by credit card, call the LWVH at 631-324-4637.