Gun Control the Politics of Gun Control

Gun Control

The Politics of Gun Control

Gun control in America has been a hotly contested issue for several decades. About 80 million Americans, representing half of U.S. homes, own more than 223 million guns. According to Andrew Romano and Pat Wingert the pro-gun lobby, spearheaded by the National Rifle Association (NRA), has out spent the gun-control forces by a margin of 20 to 1 over the last two decades. The NRA has out spent, out organized and out lobbied its opponents to the point that they convinced Democrats to turn a blind eye toward the issue in the 1980s and 1990s and has since pressed for less restrictive local laws. In 1988 only 18 states had laws that made it easy for civilians to carry concealed weapons, today that number is nearing 40. A 1959 Gallop poll found that 60% of those responding were in favor of a ban on Hand guns except for police and other authorized persons. Today more than 70% of voters oppose it.

Discussion

John Moorhouse and Brent Wanner researched the question 'Does gun control reduce crime, or does crime increase gun control?' Using state-level data and that of the District of Columbia the authors examined "30 different facets of state gun laws, enforcement effort, and stringency of local ordinances" to create an index to measure gun control. The authors found that there was no support for the arguement that gun control reduces crime rates. However, the reseach did indicate that high crime rates did generate political denerate support for stronger gun control laws. Furthermore, there were indications that the probability of adopting more gun regulations is positively related to the proportion of Democrats in the state legislature. Their findings revealed that gun control is ineffective in reducing crime rates.

Gun control, while politically attractive because it appears to deal directly with the problem, may in fact be ineffective in reducing crime. Furthermore, effective gun control may entail significant unintended consequences. Many believe a government extensive and intrusive enough to regulate all firearms would raise significant civil liberties issues. Lawerence Rosenththal and Joyce Lee Malcolm look at the issues that surround gun control laws with respect to the Second Amendment of the Constitution. The NRA contends the Constitution guarantees individuals the "right to bear arms" and that any restrictions on that right are inherently unconstitutional. In 2008 the Supreme Court ruled that though the Constitution does establish an individual's right to bear arms it does not rule out the prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms. In 2010 the Supreme Court struck down Chicago's restrictive gun control laws stating that citizens have a Constitutional right to possess firearms to protect themselves.