The History And Controversy Of Gun Control Legislation

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Darlynn Bumgardner

Etheridge, L

AP Government and Politics

The History and Controversy of Gun Control Legislation

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), death by firearms ranks as the second highest cause of death for American youth today (Cefrey, Gun Violence). Even with this alarming statistic, the people of the United States are deeply divided over the subject of gun control. Recent events such as the 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary and Aurora, Colorado, have sparked tension over what actions should be taken to prevent future homicides and massacres. Many citizens in America believe strict gun control is the only solution, while many gun-owners, liberal and conservative alike, believe this would infringe upon their Second Amendment Right to bear arms and have many unintended effects. Is strict gun control legislation the only way to prevent future homicides and mass shootings, or will severe legislation bring many unintended consequences and restrict the rights of law abiding citizens?

Throughout history we see that not all gun control laws were necessarily effective. Examples of their failing would be Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany during World War II. Both of these nations implemented strict gun control legislation before and during the time of war. In both pre-WWII Germany and Italy, only citizens in the military were allowed to possess firearms. While our founding fathers could not foresee the horrors that would take place in these countries during the 20th Century, they did believe that the best prevention against tyranny was an armed citizenry. Additionally, while the atrocities that occurred in these two nations may never occur in the United States, our founding fathers knew the severity of a government in control over a defenseless people. This is why the Second Amendment of the Constitution was included in the Bill of Rights.

One misconception many citizens have about gun control is that they believe if certain types of guns, such as assault rifles, were outlawed, there would be no more use of illegal guns in the country. History shows us however that when certain desirable items such as drugs, alcohol or guns are banned, people still use them, illegally or not. For example, during the time of prohibition in the United States during the 1920s and early 1930s, people still found ways around the law by creating speakeasies. The illegal sale and consumption was still a very large ongoing business during this time even though it had been outlawed. Another more modern example of this would be the illegal abuse of marijuana by many citizens. While it is against the law to be in possession of marijuana, over 800,000 Americans are prosecuted each year for marijuana abuse (DrugPolicyAlliance).

Many gun-owners today believe that if the right to bear arms is taken away, that it would solve nothing. In certain areas of the country where "gun-free zones" have already been established, the homicide rate by firearms continues to increase. In Chicago alone, there were over 2,300 shooting incidents during 2012 (Washington Post). Even in other nations with strict gun control laws such as Mexico, there are still thousands killed from gun violence each year. Mexico also has one of the highest reported annual gun fatalities rates among nations worldwide. The simple fact is: outlawing something does not prevent a society from abusing it. If this were the case, then strict gun control would be a reasonable solution to the problem. Contrary to the belief of many people today however, criminals will always find a way to get what they need. Outlawing guns will only prevent law abiding citizens from being able to use them.

Most American families own at least one gun. Estimates show that in 2010, there were around 300 million firearms owned by civilians in the United States (Agresti, "Gun Control Facts"). The firearms owned by civilians may range from a hunting rifle for recreational use to a hand gun for personal protection. Concerned gun-owners are worried that if the government passes legislation to ban guns crime rates will sky rocket, and they will no longer to be able to protect their family from criminals who may be carrying illegal firearms. Where many crimes today are stopped by citizens who are able to protect themselves with firearms, this would no longer be a possibility if firearms were outlawed.

Gun control laws and enforcement have been an ongoing issue throughout the history of the United States, starting with the Constitution itself. Many legislative acts have been passed by congress as an attempt to mitigate the disagreement among the United States people. The Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights states "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

For over a century gun control legislation was left up to the interpretation of the Constitution until 1934 when the National Firearms Act was passed. With the rise of lethal weapons, Americans feared the common man being able to possess or easily obtain one of these dangerous guns. A few types of firearms that were banned are the sawed-off long rifles/shot guns and machine guns. With this being the first major piece of legislation passed dealing with firearms, most Americans, gun-owning or not, agreed with this decision made by congress.

Then in 1968 Congress passed the Gun Control Act which prohibited convicted felons from possessing firearms. This was due to the recent assassinations of beloved John F. Kennedy, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Never before in American history had so many prominent people been lost in such a close time proximity due to differing viewpoints on controversial subjects. The United States was in a state of panic and strong measures needed to be taken to ensure that these types of assassinations not occur so frequently, or ever, if the government could help it.

The Comprehensive Crime Control Act and the Armed Career Criminal Act were passed in 1984 and 1986. Basically these laws strengthened penalties for using guns to commit serious drug crimes. For instance, instead of the standard ten year sentence per the Gun Control Act, if a felon is convicted more than twice for a "violent felony" or a "serious" drug crime, a minimum of fifteen years may be applied (Wikipedia.com).

Also in 1986 the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act was passed. This act essentially gave a few selected rights back to licensed gun dealers by allowing them to sell or show products outside of their normal places of business. It also made the selling of ammunition without a license legal. In 1993 the Brady Handgun Violence Act AKA the Brady Law was passed after a seven year battle in congress. This law required background checks in order to buy or sell a firearm.

Three different gun control bills were passed in 1994: The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, The Youth Handgun Safety Act, and the assault weapon ban. The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act prohibited someone from acquiring a dealer’s license without proper photographs and fingerprints. The Youth Handgun Safety Act required handgun owners to be at least 18 or older. In addition, adults were no longer allowed to transfer firearms to adolescents. Finally, the assault weapon ban was simply an extension of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act which "made it unlawful, with a few exceptions, to make, transfer, or possess semiautomatic assault weapons" (cnn.com).

However, a few flaws are still present in these pieces of legislation. While pro-gun control legislators are fighting to take away the common man’s sense of protection, a potential terrorist is still allowed to obtain a firearm. Effective since 2010, federal law does not prohibit members of terrorist organizations from purchasing or possessing firearms or explosives (Agresti, "Gun Control Facts"). Also, an individual who has been convicted of a felony that gets their civil rights restored is permitted under federal law to lawfully possess firearms again (Agresti, "Gun Control Facts").

Generally, firearms are classified into three types: handguns, rifles, and shotguns. Rifles and shotguns are "long guns" (Agresti, "Gun Control Facts"). Additionally, there are two types of automatic firearms: a semi-automatic and a fully automatic (machine gun). Each time the trigger is pulled on a semi-automatic gun one bullet is fired while another bullet is loaded simultaneously. Whereas a fully automatic gun fires bullets continuously with one pull of the trigger (Agresti, "Gun Control Facts").

Much of the unrest for stricter gun legislation is due to the increase of mass shootings in America. Tragedies caused by firearms have worried American citizens for years, however it was not until recently that the deadliest shootings in United States history have occurred, only adding to the people’s fear of firearms. Here is a list of public shootings since 1999 (Shen, A Timeline of Mass Shootings in the US Since Columbine):

April 20, 1999- The deadliest high school shooting in history occurred when Eric Haris and Dylan Klebold open fired on their school of Columbine High School (Hasday, "Columbine High School Shooting: Student Violence").

July 29, 1999- Mark Orrin Barton killed twelve people including his wife and two kids. He also injured thirteen others.

September 15, 1999- Larry Gene Ashbrode shot seven people and wounded another seven before taking his own life.

December 26, 2000- Michael "Mucko" McDermott shot and killed seven of his coworkers.

July 8, 2003- Doug Williams shot fourteen people and killed seven others.

March 12, 2005- Terry Michael Ratzman murdered nine people.

March 21, 2005- Jeffrey Weise open fired on Red Lake High School.

March 25, 2006- Kyle Aaron huff killed seven and wounded two after open firing on Capitol Hill Seattle, Washington.

October 2, 2006- Charles Carl Roberts gunned down an Amish school house.

February 12, 2007- Sulejman Talovic entered Salt Lake City’s Trolly Square Mall and killed five people. Four others were wounded.

April 16, 2007- Seung-Hui Choi shot thirty-two people at what came to be the deadliest school shooting in United States history.

December 5, 2007- Robert Hawkins went into a department store and killed nine people and injured four.

February 7, 2008- Charles Lee Thornton open fired on a public meeting at the Kirkwood, Missouri City Hall.

February 14, 2008- Steven Kazmierczak wounded twenty-one and killed six students at Northern Illinois University.

March 29, 2009- Robert Stewart shot eight people at the nursing home where his wife worked.

April 3, 2009- Jiverly Wong killed thirteen people and injured four at an immigration center.

November 5, 2009- Nidal Malik an army psychiatrist shot forty-three people.

August 3, 2010- Omar S. Thornton killed nine people including himself and wounded two.

January 8, 2011- Jared Loughner shot and killed former Representative Gabby Giffords along with nineteen other people. A total of six people were killed.

September 6, 2011- Eduardo Sencion killed five people and shot twelve others at an IHOP in Carson City, Nevada.

October 14, 2011- Scott Evans Dekraai killed eight people at a hair salon in Seal Beach, California.

February 27, 2012- Thomas "TJ" Lane killed three of his classmates and wounded three others at Chardon High School.

April 2, 2012- One L. Goh killed two people at Oikos University.

April 6, 2012- Jake England and Alvin Watts shot five black men and killed three in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

May 29, 2012- Ian Stawicki open fires and killed five people including himself in Seattle, Washington.

July 20, 2012 James Holmes killed twelve people and wounded fifty-eight during the Midnight Premier of The Dark Knight Rises.

August 5, 2012- Wade Mienael Page killed six Silch temple members and injured four others.

September 27, 2012- Andrew Engeldinger killed five people and wounded five others at Accent Sinage Systems in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

December 11, 2012- Jacob Tyler Roberts killed two people in Clackamas Town Center, Oregon.

December 14, 2012- Twenty-seven people were killed by at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Citizens that are pro-gun control legislation believe that the increasing number of firearms owned by citizens is devastatingly unnerving. "The country is awash in firearms, and, thanks to the obstruction of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and it’s political allies, we have not done nearly enough to keep weapons out of the hands of the most dangerous members of society" (Rosen, 47). While this may be true, it is not logical to blame the lack of gun control laws on a single association. It is relevant to point out, however, that the NRA does have a significant amount of influence in politics, but accusing the National Rifle Association of being the primary reason that criminals abuse their Second Amendment right is absurd.

Additionally, whenever gun control legislation is proposed, the nation easily becomes divided in half. "The Democrats learned the perils of reviving the gun control issue during the 2000 presidential campaign when Al Gore pledged to limit hand gun sales" (Schwartz, "In Congress, The Uphill Battle for Gun Control"). Some people believe that if Al Gore had not promised to impose stricter gun legislation that he might have won the election against Bush. Most politicians today realize that being more neutral on controversial issues will have a greater chance of getting them the seat in office they are seeking than being like Gore and professing his views so concretely.

While it is true that there are valid arguments for both sides of this controversy, clearly there is no easy or concrete solution to this problem. The facts are simple: gun control legislation has not worked before and it will not work now. Proposing legislation to restrict law abiding citizens from protecting themselves will not fix anything. To reinforce this idea, a common saying can be quoted: "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns." Based on the culture of this country, which is derived from its conservative, independent nature, it is not the appropriate time to introduce such a radical deviation from not only the basis of our founding principles, but also the United States Constitution itself.