Firearms Control In The United States

Running head: FIREARMS CONTROL IN THE UNITED STATES

Firearms Control in the United States

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FIREARMS CONTROL IN THE UNITED STATES 1

Firearms Control in the United States

This research paper is written in accordance with the 2013 data on gun control. However,

for clarity and emphasis of points, data from earlier years are as well cited in the paper.

Moreover, data related to the impacts of gun control policies in various States and geographical

areas represent indiscriminate diverse demographic regions upon which such data was collected.

Several aspects of the gun control debate are best carried out through surveys but the precision of

these surveys are reliant on the responses provided by the respondents with regards to truthful

answers to queries that may at times be potentially controversial and incriminating. Data

regarding gun control must be used critically and in the most cautious way. Besides, with the

involvement of statistical data, distinguishing what amounts to credible facts from what doesn’t

may involve some personal subjectivity. As such, the content of this research paper is rather

based on factual information which certifies the credibility threshold rather than personal

subjectivity.

Firearms are basically categorized into three wide classifications namely; handguns,

shotguns, and rifles. Shotguns and rifles are generally regarded as long guns. A semi-automated

firearm shoots a single bullet every time the trigger is pulled; it then ejects the bullet shell before

automatically loading the next bullet for the next firing. On the other hand, a fully automated

firearm precisely referred to as machine gun shoots several bullets on a one trigger pull. As at

2009, the United States population was 307 million people. From this number, data from firearm

manufacturers in 2010 showed that there were about 300 million firearms in the possession of

the US civilians, 100 million of the firearms being handguns. Surveys done in 2010 showed that

40-45% of the US households had guns which translated to 47-53 million households. Out of

FIREARMS CONTROL IN THE UNITED STATES 2

these households, 30-35% adults had guns which translated to 70-80 million persons with 17-

19% being in possession of the handgun; a number equivalent to 40-45 million people (Collins,

2016).

A nationwide Gallup poll was conducted in 2005 of 1,012 adults which revealed the

following result; 42% households possessed guns, 30% of individuals owned guns, 47% of the

males owned firearms while females were 13%. Of the whites, 33% owned guns while nonwhite

gun owners were 18%; Republican gun owners were 41% while Democrat gun owners were 23%

and independent persons were 27%. This was as of 2005. In the very poll, 67% of the gun

owners claimed they owned the guns for the reason of protecting themselves against crime, 66%

held guns for the reason of target shooting and 58% owned guns for the reason of hunting. From

the surveys, about 67% or 10,886 murders out of the 16,272 murders committed in the United

States in 2008 were as a result of firearms. In 1995, the Journal of criminal Law and

Criminology produced a report of 1993 survey of 4,977 households which showed at least 0.5%

of households over the past five years had people who killed using guns in the name of self-

defense (Downs & Rocke, 1990). This translated to 162,000 similar incidents annually of the

larger U.S population excluding the military service, security guard works or police jobs.

During 2008, the United States Department of Justice produced data showing that

averagely 5,340,000 violent criminal offenses were committed. These were such as robberies,

simple and aggravated assaults, rapes, sexual assaults and murders. Out of this number, 436,000

were aided by gun, an equivalence of 8%. In 2000, the Journal of Quantitative Criminology

conducted a study which showed that civilians of the United States used guns to a tune of not

less than 989,883 times annually for self-defense or defending others from crime (Downs &

FIREARMS CONTROL IN THE UNITED STATES 3

Rocke, 1990). The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention established in 1994

that the Americans used guns about 498,000 times annually in frightening intruders from

breaking into their residences. A 1982 study done in 11 state prisons across the United States of

male felons indicated that 34% were shot at, scared way or captured by a person with a gun or

even wounded.

People have increasingly become vulnerable to violent crimes committed using guns in

the United States. With the rate of homicide in 2013, at least one of every 285 US citizens shall

fall a victim in their lifetime. The United States Department of Justice conducted between 1974

and 1985 which showed that 42% of US citizens will fall victims of violent crimes at some point

in life. 83% would be victims of attempted or executed crime with violence while 52% will fall

victims more than once (Collins, 2016). A survey of over 18,000 prisoners done in 1997

established that of the State offenders, 30% had a firearm at the time of crime while 35% of the

Federal prisoners similarly had firearms at the time of crimes.

With respect to criminal justice system, in 2008, a total of 55% aggravated assaults were

reported nationwide. 27% robbery cases, 64% murder cases, and 40% rape cases were reported

and the offenders were consequently arrested and subjected to ultimate prosecution. Currently,

one out of every twelve aggravated assault cases results to the offenders being incarcerated for

the crime. The study conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2002 of 272,111

lawbreakers released from prisons eight years earlier-1994, showed that 67.5% of these people

had again been arrested for new offenses, 21% for new ferocious offenses (Collins, 2016). These

were people who had initially been charged with committing 2,871 homicide offenses, 2,444

rape offenses, 3,151 sexual assaults, 21,245 robberies and 2,362 kidnappings. 90% of the 1,662

FIREARMS CONTROL IN THE UNITED STATES 4

murders in New York City between 2003 and 2005 were committed by individuals with criminal

records (Muller & Wunderlich, 2013).

A law was passed in 1976 by the City Council of Washington D.C. which prohibited

handgun possession and stipulated that all private homes with firearms were to keep the firearms

unloaded and made inoperable through installing a trigger lock into the firearms or completely

disassembling the firearms. This law took effect on September, 24 1976. However, the law was

ruled unconstitutional in 2008 June, 26 by the Supreme Court of the United States. Firearm

murder rate in Washington was averagely 73% during the years in which the gun restriction law

was passed in the State of Washington (Downs & Rocke, 1990).The rate of murder in the entire

U.S was 11% lower during this period. Below is a graph showing the Washington D.C and U.S

murder rates since 1960 to 2008;

Washington and U.S. Murder Rates

(Muller & Wunderlich, 2013)

FIREARMS CONTROL IN THE UNITED STATES 5

Chicago city implemented a prohibition on handguns in 1982 which prohibited civilians

from being in possession of handguns unless it is registered with the Chicago government. The

law furthermore demanded that the handgun holders had to re-register with the government after

every two years lest they lose their gun licenses (Schultz, 1993). This law was thereafter

amended in 1994 where it stipulated that the re-registration be done annually. With the

institution of this law in Chicago, five Chicago suburbs followed suit and similarly instituted the

law. However, in June 2008 the Supreme Court overturned the handgun ban in Columbia District

which led to four of the Chicago suburbs to repeal their bans. In 2010 June, the Supreme Court

of the United States declared the Chicago handgun ban unconstitutional. With the Chicago

handgun ban law, the murder rate in Chicago reduced by 17% compared to how it was before the

law was instituted while the murder rate in the United States on the other hand reduced by 25%

due to this law.

Chicago and the United States Murder Rates, 1965-2008

(Muller & Wunderlich, 2013)

FIREARMS CONTROL IN THE UNITED STATES 6

Since the removal of the law banning handgun in Chicago, deaths arising from handgun murder

have hit an average of 40% above that which it was before the inception of the law. 95% of

deaths resulting from a firearm in 2005 were caused by handguns. This implies that with open

rules regarding gun ownership, several deaths result from gun shots while with gun regulations,

the number of such deaths is reduced. As such, it is thus advisable to have and enforce strict gun

laws and regulations. For a background check, it is a federal regulation that potential gun buyers

present their photo identities from government authorities. It was noted that some individuals

used fake driving licenses with fictitious names to buy firearms. A report released in 2001

indicated that there was no positive identification of firearm purchasers from the federal

background check systems thus individuals using fake identities to acquire firearms are not

identifies from the system (Muller & Wunderlich, 2013). Several gun show exhibitions do take

place in the United States. These are exhibitions where gun parts, guns, ammunition and other

gun accessories are put on display for selling, buying, explanations and descriptions of various

aspects of guns. Around 2000 to 5,200 gun shows and exhibitions are done in the US every year.

These shows are avenues for exchange and sales of firearms by the Federal Firearms

Licensees (FFLs) as well as avenues for other private gun sellers to showcase their ammunitions.

The federal law regulating firearms thus apply to both the private gun sellers and FFLs, however,

the private sellers are not obliged to question the customers’ eligibility of buying or not buying

guns, neither do they have the capacity to verify the legal status of gun purchasers by conducting

background checks. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) did a three-year

period ransacking from 2003 to 2006 on gun legalization upon which they conducted a series of

operations in 195 gun shows and exhibitions where they arrested 121 gun traders and convicted

83 of them (Muller & Wunderlich, 2013). The U.S. Department of Justice established in 1997

FIREARMS CONTROL IN THE UNITED STATES 7

that out of 14,285 State prisoners who were arrested due to gun offenses, 0.7% of them acquired

their firearms from gun shows, 1% did so from flea markets, 3.8% of the number acquired their

firearms from pawn shops, 8.3% did so from retailers while 39.2% illegally acquired firearms

from street sources and 39.6% from either family or friends. This is an indication of how the

acquisition of a firearm in the United States is not such a big task for anybody who wishes to

have one.

There are specific laws put in place for regulation of gun control. Right-to-Carry Law

permits persons who certify the “minimally restrictive” criterion to have hidden guns in public

places so as not to stir tension in public places. Such concealed gun holders are required to

certify the threshold of the federal requirements regarding ownership of guns. There are set laws

regarding right-to-carry in each State in the entire United States; these laws basically fall into

one of these three main right-to-carry regulatory laws; the “shall-issue” states which issue

concealed carry permits to all their qualified gun applicants, secondly, the “may-issue” States

which require that gun holders must furnish the issuing authority with reasons for carrying guns

upon which the issuing authority critically analyzes the reason(s) and then makes a decision

whether to issue a permit or not and finally, the “no-issue” States which basically forbid

concealed carry of firearms.

Moreover, there are parties with political interests regarding guns right and guns control.

For instance, in the 2008 election, those championing for gun rights donated to the federal

candidates $2, 397,743 which was equivalent to 1% of funds donated by law firms to federal

politicians. On the other hand, groups championing for gun control donated to the federal

candidates a total of $57,919 which was an equivalence of 2% of the amounts from gun rights

FIREARMS CONTROL IN THE UNITED STATES 8

faction. In 2008, the Republican Party supported the Supreme Court’s upholding of the Second

Amendment in the case of D.C. v Heller where the Supreme Court overturned the handgun ban

by Washington D.C. terming it unconstitutional (Muller & Wunderlich, 2013). On the other

hand, the Democratic Party called for reasonable regulations of the right to own firearms as well

as closing down of the gun shows and exhibitions which they deemed a loophole while

improving the background check system and bringing back the ban on assault weapons. This was

how the Democrats and the Republicans differed in terms of the Second Amendment in 2008.

In the U.S, the President has the legal mandate to appoint judges of the Supreme Court.

However, the appointments must be approved by three-fifths of the Senate through a vote, which

is typically 60% of the entire Senate. Once gotten into office, the judges offer lifetime services

unless they are either impeached or upon resignation. Impeachment would require majority from

the House of Representatives and two-thirds Senate vote. As such, on 26, June 2008, the

Supreme Court of the US in a 5-4 decision declared the Washington D.C. handgun ban

unconstitutional with the two Justices who were Democrat appointees voting to sustain the ban

while the other five appointed by the Republicans voting to strike down the ban.

Of the Justices who voted against the Washington D.C. handgun ban, the nomination of

two of the five was voted against by President Barack Obama who as well two of the remaining

three as Justices he wouldn’t have nominated. On the other hand, John McCain identified the two

judges who voted in favor of the handgun ban as judges he wouldn’t have nominated. Come

2009 May, President Obama nominated Sonya Sotomayor as his foremost Supreme Court

nominee who was voted in overwhelmingly by the Senate surpassing the three-fifth by getting

68% positive votes. This constituted 100% vote from the Democrats in Sotomayor’s favor while

FIREARMS CONTROL IN THE UNITED STATES 9

78% of the Republicans voted against Sotomayor. Within the first year of joining the Supreme

Court, Sotomayor championed the Democrats’ expectations by giving hand to the opinion that

the handgun ban in Chicago was constitutional (Muller & Wunderlich, 2013). A year later, 2010

May, President Obama announced Elena Kagan as his second Supreme Court nominee. A memo

was written by Elena to Thurgood Marshall, a Supreme Court Judge, recommending that

Marshall rejects hearing of an appeal by one man who was charged with violation of the gun

laws set by Washington D.C. The Senate approved Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court in

a vote of 63-37 with 98% positive votes from Democrats and 88% negative votes from the

Republicans (Downs & Rocke, 1990).

Recently, President Obama was overwhelmed by emotions while addressing the issue of

gun violence in the U.S. Mark Barden the father to Daniel who was murdered at Sandy Hook

Elementary School, Connecticut in the 2012 massacre introduced the President. The President

said with tears rolling down his cheeks that every time he thought about the kids murdered in

gun violence he always got mad. He, in fact, quoted such incidents as being prominent in

Chicago his home city where his political career was nurtured. President Obama said that the

Congress needed to institute fresh measures of gun control and reiterated that his actions were

not aimed at repossessing people’s legally acquired arms as purported by the National rifle

Association but instead to reduce the gun crime evils in the States (Collins, 2016). And these

actions were only possible through legislation

In conclusion, gun control has been a critical issue in the United States. The Obama

administration and the Democrats generally have always championed for institution of legal bans

on gun holding and making the legal gun checks stricter. This is an idea that has always been

FIREARMS CONTROL IN THE UNITED STATES 10

challenged by the Republicans who are always in support of the Second Amendment and gun

possession. In fact, they have even sworn that President Obama’s actions on gun control could be

challenged in the Courts and possibly be changed by a Republican President suppose the

Republicans win the Presidency. Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, however

assured the people of the United States that she would uphold Obama’s push for gun control if

she gets elected to the Oval office.

In December 2015, a poll conducted by the CNN/ORC showed that 48% of the American

population favored the institution of stricter gun laws while 51% of the populace opposed it.

Support for more stringent gun laws has however always been less than 50% since 2013. There

exists an acute partisan disparity in the question of gun control with 74% support from the

Democrats with only 23% support from their Republican counterparts. Among those coming

from households with guns, 29% of them were found to be favoring stricter gun laws with 65%

support from those living in households without guns. In the entire United States, of these

households, only 35% are in support of the manner in which President Obama is handling gun

control. Of this percentage, 56% are Democrats with 55% liberals which are quite low for such a

critical issue. All in all, gun control measures are increasingly becoming a challenging matter in

the United States especially with the two opposing sides of the Democrats and the Republicans.

FIREARMS CONTROL IN THE UNITED STATES 11

References

Collins, A. (2016). Contemporary security studies. Oxford University Press.

Downs, G. W., & Rocke, D. M. (1990). Tacit bargaining, arms races, and arms control.

University of Michigan Press.

Muller, H., & Wunderlich, C. (Eds.). (2013). Norm dynamics in multilateral arms control:

Interests, conflicts, and justice. University of Georgia Press.

Schultz, G. P. (1993). Turmoil and triumph: My years as secretary of state.

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