Tom Diaz is a journalist, lawyer and author of four books including his latest, The Last Gun: How Changes in the Gun Industry Are Killing Americans and What It Will Take to Stop It.
In the early 1990’s, Diaz studied and wrote about transnational organized crime and terrorism while at the National Strategy Information Center. In 1993, he served as a Democratic Counsel on the U.S. House of Representatives Crime Subcommittee staff, working for then-Representative Chuck Schumer on legislation and hearings involving terrorism and firearms. Diaz was also assistant managing editor for six years at The Washington Times, where he covered national security matters and the Supreme Court.
Between 1997 and 2012, Diaz served as senior policy analyst with the nonprofit Violence Policy Center. Based in Washington, D.C., the VPC aims to stem the tide of gun violence “through research, advocacy, education, and collaboration.”
Diaz was born into a military family, and grew up in the South. He learned how to shoot in the Boy Scouts, and was on a rifle team in high school. Diaz went to a military prep school, served in the Air National Guard as a small arms specialist, and in the Army National Guard as an anti-tank platoon sergeant. He worked for the Department of Defense in Thailand during the Vietnam War, and later served three years as a District of Columbia Police Department reserve officer.
Diaz graduated from the University of Florida and the Georgetown University Law Center.
