Solutions
The sides and viewpoints in our current gun debate are highly polarized and frequently oversimplified. Many times viable solutions take a backseat to political rhetoric. But behind the polarized popular debate, preventing gun violence is a complicated problem with many possible solutions. These solutions deserve to be discussed and analyzed to find ways America can make a difference in its level of gun violence. This page attempts to discuss several solutions, and study the advantages and disadvantages of enacting each one in hopes of opening a productive conversation on reducing gun violence.
Background Checks
Background checks require federal gun dealers to make sure that a potential buyer is not a felon, fugitive, teenager, or seriously mentally ill person.
Background checks require federal gun dealers to make sure that a potential buyer is not a felon, fugitive, teenager, or seriously mentally ill person.
- All federally licensed firearm dealers are required to check identification and keep record of the sale of firearms
- The downfall of this policy is the “secondary” market.
- As defined by Cook and Ludwig in their book Gun Violence: the Real Costs, the secondary market is all firearm sales, legal and otherwise, that don’t go through a federally licensed gun dealer (119).
- “30- 40% of all gun sales” take place on the secondary market (Cook and Ludwig 119).
- Mark Kelly, in his article "Should Congress Pass Stronger Gun Laws?", advises that “Congress should close the private sales loophole and strengthen the background check system by requiring States and the Federal Government to supply the necessary records” (Kelly 26).
- Three states enacted a law that one buyer cannot buy more than one handgun per month to stop these buyers from running a business in illegally providing guns (Cook and Ludwig 119)
- Background checks are not a burden to the freedoms of citizens, because legal buyers can still access their desired firearms
- Studies show that background checks are effective in raising the price of firearms on the secondary market (Cook and Ludwig 119)
Registration
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Bans
- These bans normally cover one of two types of guns: handguns or assault weapons.
- Bans drastically raise the price and effort needed to obtain that type.
- In his law journal article "Keep Off the Grass!: An Alternative Approach to the Gun Control Debate", Lance Lindeen argues that with widespread confiscation measures and effective enforcement near impossible, handgun bans could cause a rise in illegal trade of handguns paralleling the increase of liquor sales during prohibition (25).
- He also points out that handgun bans could cause criminals to “easily substitute a far deadlier weapon”, the sawed-off shot gun, because both would now be illegal (Lindeen 21)
- But according to a study by Colin Loftin and his colleagues, reported in Cook and Ludwig’s book, bans on handguns do reduce gun violence overall (122).
Gun Buybacks
- Buybacks are popular with local campaigns to lower the amount of guns and violence in an area
- Local campaigns normally feature no-questions-asked policies and give money for firearms
- Buybacks generally reduce the amount of impoverished people holding guns
- They are effective because guns in the house are linked to higher risk of suicide or unintentional injuries (Cooks and Ludwig 123)
- Alone a buyback is an optional policy that doesn't restrict freedoms
- But buybacks are not very effective alone
- The Australian government set up a large scale buyback plan for guns that were recently prohibited by the newly passed National Firearms Agreement of 1996 (Hirsh 8).
- Over a 12 month period the Australian buyback program collected and paid market value for 643,726 newly outlawed firearms (Hirsh 8).
- Buybacks are an expensive policy
- There was a buyback program in Washington D.C. in 1999
- The program paid $100 per firearm, but many of the recovered guns were worth less than $30 (Cooks and Ludwig 123).
- Buybacks are open to abuse, as some traded in worthless guns and just used the money to buy better ones
- large scale gun buybacks are extremely expensive and only truly effective when paired with other more restrictive solutions
Regulating Features
- The purpose of laws in this type is to draw a line for what can be considered too dangerous for public consumption
- Typically deals with the capacity of magazines or fully and semiautomatic firing mechanisms for firearms.
- Require a “loaded chamber indicator” or magazine safeties to help prevent accidental shootings from guns thought to be unloaded (Cooks and Ludwig 130).
- Personal technologies, or smart guns, are designed so only the owner can fire the gun.
- Types that exist today include fingerprint technologies, which with further development could make the gun useless in anyone else’s hands (Cooks and Ludwig 131).
Carrying Policies
- Every state has a policy dictating who may carry a concealed weapon.
- With the exception of the Washington D.C, every state has a law that either may issue or shall issue concealed carry permits to citizens.
- Shall issue states will give a concealed carry permit to anyone who applies, passes the background check, and completes other requirements that vary by state.
- May issue state require citizens to demonstrate their need of carrying a concealed weapon and are able to then decide whether to grant the license.
- The specifics of these policies are debated as well as the effectiveness of enforcement
- Searches to enforce concealed carry laws effect both innocents and criminals.
- An experiment in Kansas City where officers cracked down on a crime-ridden section of the city with searches worked in taking many gun-toting criminals off the street (Cooks and Ludwig 124).
- These efforts significantly reduced crimes with guns, proving their worth (Cooks and Ludwig 124).
Sentence Enhancements
- Studies show that sentence enhancements are effective at deterring criminals from using guns in crimes.
- According to Cooks and Ludwig, Project Exile a sentence enhancement program “has been responsible for reductions in gun-assault injuries of about 30% each year” (128).
- Kelly suggests that America should implement a “Federal gun trafficking statute with real penalties for people in the business of helping criminals get guns” (Kelly 26).
- A federal policy would bear a significant cost in expanding prisons and housing longer sentences, but, if effective, it could drastically reduce the cost of gun violence to our society.
Research
- The current state of research on how to effectively control gun violence is lacking.
- Multitudes of studies relate to individual solutions or supporting a side of the debate.
- But as discussed in Allison Terry’s "Do Gun Laws Reduce Gun Deaths?” the few national studies can only confirm general trends, like states with stricter laws tend to have less gun related deaths (par. 5).
- But these studies have many outside variables, such as the number of gun owners in a state, the specific high crime areas within the state and their gun laws, and the different types of gun laws in the state.
- Studies lack the data to tell which types of laws are most effective overall.
- In 1996 the CDC was banned from researching causes and prevention of gun violence (Terry par. 22).
- Congress still has not appropriated funds to change this lack of reliable research
These solutions are just a few of the possible measures to reduce gun violence. We need some level of change in our gun control systems. Further developing research and enforcing current laws are the two solutions I wholly agree with. But most importantly, the views on whether each solution is reliable and effective deserve to take the spotlight in our gun debate. We need to find solutions that the people of America can agree on, solutions that offer the most protection for the least loss of freedom, to stop this ineffective debate raging across our country.
The website smartgunlaws.org has detailed information on many of the policies covered above.
The website smartgunlaws.org has detailed information on many of the policies covered above.
References
Books:
Cook, Philip J., and Jens Ludwig. "Remedies." Gun Violence - The Real Costs. New York: Oxford UP, 2000. 117-134. Print.
Vizzard, William J. "Where We Are Going." Shots in the Dark: The Policy, Politics, and Symbolism of Gun Control. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000. 153-180. Print.
Journals:
Hirsh, Lauren. “Brothers in Arms Control: Introducing Australian-Style Gun Control in the United States.” Macquarie Law Journal 12 (2013): 81-108. University of Kentucky Libraries. Web. 22 Oct. 2014
Lindeen, Lance. "Keep Off the Grass!: An Alternative Approach to the Gun Control Debate." Indiana Law Journal 85.4 (2010): 1659-697. University of Kentucky Libraries. Web. 9 Sept. 2014.
Periodical:
Kelly, Mark. "Should Congress Pass Stronger Gun Laws?" Congressional Digest 1 Mar. 2013. Print.
Articles:
Terry, Allison. "Do Gun Laws Reduce Gun Deaths? New Study Says 'yes,' but Data Are Thin.; Researchers on Both Sides of the Great Gun Debate Note That There Isn't Yet Adequate Data on the Link between Gun Deaths and Gun Laws, but President Obama Aims to Fund New Research." The Christian Science Monitor 7 Sept. 2013. Web. 9 Sept. 2014. <http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic/>.
Williams, Byron. "Cannot Ignore Urban Violence Committed with Unregistered Guns." Contra Costa Times (California) 16 Feb. 2013. Web. 9 Sept. 2014. <http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic/>.
Webpage:
"Registration of Firearms Policy Summary." Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence RSS. 1 Jan. 2012. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
<http://smartgunlaws.org/registration-of-firearms-policy-summary/>
Books:
Cook, Philip J., and Jens Ludwig. "Remedies." Gun Violence - The Real Costs. New York: Oxford UP, 2000. 117-134. Print.
Vizzard, William J. "Where We Are Going." Shots in the Dark: The Policy, Politics, and Symbolism of Gun Control. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000. 153-180. Print.
Journals:
Hirsh, Lauren. “Brothers in Arms Control: Introducing Australian-Style Gun Control in the United States.” Macquarie Law Journal 12 (2013): 81-108. University of Kentucky Libraries. Web. 22 Oct. 2014
Lindeen, Lance. "Keep Off the Grass!: An Alternative Approach to the Gun Control Debate." Indiana Law Journal 85.4 (2010): 1659-697. University of Kentucky Libraries. Web. 9 Sept. 2014.
Periodical:
Kelly, Mark. "Should Congress Pass Stronger Gun Laws?" Congressional Digest 1 Mar. 2013. Print.
Articles:
Terry, Allison. "Do Gun Laws Reduce Gun Deaths? New Study Says 'yes,' but Data Are Thin.; Researchers on Both Sides of the Great Gun Debate Note That There Isn't Yet Adequate Data on the Link between Gun Deaths and Gun Laws, but President Obama Aims to Fund New Research." The Christian Science Monitor 7 Sept. 2013. Web. 9 Sept. 2014. <http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic/>.
Williams, Byron. "Cannot Ignore Urban Violence Committed with Unregistered Guns." Contra Costa Times (California) 16 Feb. 2013. Web. 9 Sept. 2014. <http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic/>.
Webpage:
"Registration of Firearms Policy Summary." Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence RSS. 1 Jan. 2012. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
<http://smartgunlaws.org/registration-of-firearms-policy-summary/>