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Arianna Huffington’s book party for ‘Gunfight’

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Adam Winkler has friends in high places, such as Arianna Huffington, who was one of the hosts of a book party Thursday night in Beverly Hills. Winkler, a UCLA law school professor who has blogged for the Huffington Post, made his debut this week with ‘Gunfight,’ a significant book about America’s love/hate relationship with the 2nd Amendment.

In front of an audience of about 75 gathered in a twilight garden, Winkler told a story of meeting with a television agent to see about spreading the word about his book. The agent enthusiastically asked if he was extreme right or extreme left -- but Winkler’s neither. ‘That’s not the way I think of problems,’ Winkler responded. ‘I try to tell a story that’s intellectually honest.’

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Huffington has often sounded a similar note, crossing party lines to debate ideas. She’s not a gun advocate, but she has tried one. ‘I was dating a man who would go to the range and shoot a gun, and I went with him once,’ she told The Times. ‘It was not my thing. It lasted like three minutes.’

The fights over gun control -- not to mention recent upheavals at AOL/HuffPo -- seemed far away from the quiet patio, where caterers urged high-end canapes on the gathered guests. If it was fancier than the average book party -- not many of which have valet parkers, let alone a Mazerati parked in the drive -- chalk that up to Winkler’s father, Irwin, the movie producer (‘Rocky,’ ‘Goodfellas’). ‘How often do you get to throw a book party for your son?’ the elder Winkler asked with a smile.

‘It’s a really amazing book,’ Huffington said in her introduction. ‘There’s something about storytelling, whether you’re making a movie or writing a book, that’s really at the heart of the Winkler family.’

Adam Winkler will be talking about his book ‘Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America’ on Tuesday at the L.A. Public Library’s ALOUD series. He’ll be in conversation with noted constitutional law scholar Erwin Chemerinsky; tickets are free.

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Arianna Huffington and others on the future of media

-- Carolyn Kellogg

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