Gun control
Gun control refers to all laws enacted at the federal, state, and local level with the intent of placing restrictions on the right of individual private citizens to keep and bear firearms. These laws are often seen to conflict with the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, which recognizes the right to bear arms.
"Gun control" is the use of legislation to place restrictions on this right. This can include:
- Restricting which persons can own firearms
- Restrictions on the number of firearms a person may own, or purchase during a given time period
- Requirements that privately owned firearms be registered with the government. (Often leading to gun confiscation).
- Bans on certain types of firearms; for example, handguns or "assault" rifles
- Restrictions on where firearms may be carried, for example into restaurants or post offices
- Requiring a "background check" and/or a "waiting period" to purchase a firearm
- Restricting when and where firearms may be bought and sold, for example banning their sale through the mail
- Requiring licenses or some other form of permission from the government to buy and/or sell a firearm
- Requiring some form of permission from the government to carry a firearm in public, either concealed or openly
- Laws granting special gun rights for some people, for example retired law enforcement officers, which are denied the rest of the public
- Outright bans on carrying firearms in public
- Outright bans on private possession of firearms
In the United States the three primary federal gun control laws are:
- National Firearms Act (1934)
- Gun Control Act (1968)
- Brady Bill (1993)
These laws have further been amended by other laws such as the Firearms Owners Protection Act (1986) and the Omnibus Crime Bill (1994).
Interestingly enough, the Patriot Act is another law that restricts liberties in the name of safety, yet those in favor of the Patriot Act are often opposed to gun control.
Besides the second amendment, studies by John Lott and others indicate that gun control isn't practical and doesn't help public safety [1]. Washington, D.C. has one of the highest crime rates in America even though it completely bans private handguns [2]. Simply put, crime statistics show that guns don't kill people, gapping holes in vital organs kill people.
After decades of increasing gun control, the current trend is in the direction of more gun rights. The 1994 Omnibus Crime Bill included a ban on certain rifles labeled "assault" rifles solely because of features of their appearance (and lethal fire power). This law recenly expired and was not renewed by Congress. Also, Washington's gun ban was struck down as unconstitutional by the U.S. Court of Appeals on March 9, 2007.[3]
Constitutional Debate
The Second Amendment reads:
"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
The key phrase in the gun control debate is the "right of the People to keep and bear arms." Some debate arises, as the amendment itself seems to be about keeping a militia. In fact, the phrase "to bear arms" was, at the time of the pinning of the Bill of Rights, synonomous with our current-day phrase of "serving in the military."
That is, a man could carry a rifle everywhere he goes for twenty years, never serve in the military, and the framers of the Constitution would say that he had yet to "bear arms" in his life.
The argument for gun control, ignoring the implied safety of a disarmed population and pointing at other nations where personal gun ownership is forbidden, stems from this interpretation and the fact that the United States currently has a standing military. The question is asked then, why would a "well regulated militia" be necessary?