Gun Control Act Research Paper

As the technology, build, and practicality of the hand gun changed over the past couple of hundred years, so has the increased want and demand. Of course, as more people started owning guns, the crime rate and deaths by gun shot up. Basically, it used to be every man for himself. As the government started worrying farther than just setting the rules but actually having people abide by the rules, laws and restrictions were set to try to regulate who owned guns and why they would use them. In 1934, Congress first started regulating the sale of automatic firearms. Not until four years later did the government think to make it federal law to require gun sellers to be licensed and to prohibit felons from purchasing them (Policy Issue p1). Even with rules that shops were supposed to follow, there are loopholes. The problem with some people in the U.S. is they will go buy guns because they have no criminal record, and then sell it to someone who is willing to pay them for the gun. Different laws over the years, still standing and also withdrawn, have spelled out different ideas of regulations, “The Gun Control Act of 1968 regulated imported guns, expanded gun-dealer licensing requirements, and expanded the list of persons not eligible to buy guns to include person convicted of any non-business related felony, minors, persons found to be mentally incompetent, and users of illegal drugs,” (Policy Issue p1). Gun

There are many places that forbid people from carrying guns such as schools, publicly owned buildings, and businesses. According to the Crime Prevention Research Center, over 98% of mass shootings happened in a zone where guns were prohibited. Even though there are many restrictions on firearms sale and possession, there are extensive loopholes that make it possible for people who should not be able to own gun, to be able to purchase one. One of the most common used loopholes is buying from a small scale seller, or going to a gun show. These kinds of deals do not require that an extensive background check be performed. Another blurry loophole involves the mentally ill being able to get their hands on a gun. The current law that prevents mentally handicapped people from owning a gun requires that a person must be adjudicated as mentally defective in a court of law. A majority of mentally handicapped people are never adjudicated and can petition the court to overturn the ruling. The purpose of these laws and its likely effect is not the same thing. Gun control laws are usually more of a state decision than a federal decision. Many states gun laws differ, such as in Rhode Island, any person with a concealed weapons permit can enter a public school, but in a state over in Massachusetts, you must have extensive written permission from the school

In the article, We stop the next Aurora not with gun control but with better mental health by David Dow a tense message is delivered. Dow argues that the two most common policy positions on mass shootings are lacking in thought. One policy is that there should be stricter gun laws and the other is that more people should be able to carry and conceal firearms. Dow states that both of these policies should be discarded. Dow believes that the guns are not the problem, but a person with severe mental illness is the problem .The core message behind the passage is that the mental illness inside of a person is to blame for these tragedies, not the guns in the hand

Furthermore, mental illness is turning out to be a major cause of gun violence, in order to reduce gun crimes and instead of creating more laws and stipulations, steps must be taken. A professor at the University of Virginia and clinical psychologist, Dewey G. Cornell stated, ''We need to focus on prevention more broadly, before the violence, to have a real impact.'' (qtd. In Broader Approach). Some interpret that as, Americans need to stop focusing on the laws, and start realizing that dangerous situations, such as a mass shooting, can be prevented by recognizing the signs. Countless individuals are beginning to share his feelings. Some mentally ill people are starting to have a major part in mass shootings and those

A major topic being discussed in gun control today has to do with how mental illness factors into these shootings and what should be done pertaining to mental health gun restrictions.

Gun control debates of the past have led to the passage of some legislation, the most prominent measure being the Brady Bill, which required that background checks be run on potential customers before they were sold a gun. However, this national legislation concerning gun control only applies to licensed gun dealers. This has left a huge “gun control loophole,” the sale of firearms by unlicensed dealers and private collectors at gun shows, at the national level, which has recently become the center of intense debate. Those who support gun control (generally liberals) argue that it is necessary to regulate this area, while the other side of the debate (generally conservatives) contends that the enforcement of gun control

“The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” A gun license grants a user the right to own and use a firearm. Gun-right supporters strongly oppose federally mandated licensing or registration. They see both as dangerous steps toward revoking Second Amendment rights. They say that with mandated licensing or registration, a right guaranteed by the Constitution becomes a privilege granted by the government (Doeden). The topic of gun control/rights in the United States has a long history, which some see as unconstitutional, and could easily be relaxed by requiring background checks.

Firearms other than those including handguns can only be purchased by people over the age of 21. Holders must conduct a background check because of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993. “The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence estimates that around 114,994 people are shot each year in the U.S. This includes murders, assaults, accidents, police intervention, suicide attempts and suicides”(Deutsche). This shows why all these restrictions were put into place. People that have been involuntarily placed in mental institutions, people that have been deemed a danger, and fugitives are not allowed to purchase firearms. This also includes people with misdemeanor charges, with a sentence more than two years, and people that have prior felonies with a sentence of over one year. People that have been found guilty of possession or using controlled substances within the past year cannot purchase guns due to the federal law that blocks the sale. Although marijuana is

a law repealed by Congress in February that would have required the registration of Social Security recipients with mental disabilities to prevent gun ownership. They state that because the mentally disabled are more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violence, fear about them owning guns is prejudiced and as a result, obstructs their civil rights. In my rebuttal, I counter their statistic about mentally disabled victims, arguing its irrelevance in mass shooter situations and the subsequent unsoundness of their argument. Finally, I explain how unhealthy mental conditions can lead to unsafe consequences in day-to-day situations

Backgrounds checks are the most effective way of preventing gun related crimes. A study, done by the National Library of Medicine, examines the relationship between the types of background-information check required by states prior to firearm purchases, and firearm deaths and the results of the study concluded that more background checks are associated with fewer deaths. The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act is an Act of the United States Congress that mandated federal background checks on the purchasers of

“Most gun owners buy their guns legally and use them safely, whether for self-defense, hunting, or sport shooting. Yet too often, irresponsible and dangerous individuals have been able to easily get their hands on firearms, we must strengthen our efforts to keep guns from falling into the wrong hands” (whitehouse.gov, President Obama). He believes the absolute most essential thing we can do to stop firearm brutality and mass shootings, similar to the one in Newtown, Connecticut, is to ensure the individuals who commit acts of violence cannot access guns. Although that statement is very vague, there are some steps that can be made in order to decrease the occurring of these types of events. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System or the NICS, established in 1998 by the Brady Law, is a background check system that determines if a gun should be sold to a specific person. “NICS is used by Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) to instantly determine whether a prospective buyer is eligible to buy firearms” (fbi.gov). The NICS has a guarantee that weapons will not be sold to those who are banned from purchasing them, including criminals. In the course of the most recent 18 years NICS has kept more than “1.5 million” (fbi.gov) weapons out of the wrong hands. President Obama believes we have to reinforce the framework that requires each firearm purchaser to have a background check.

Some people believe that mental illness is linked with gun violence and that people with mental illness who own a gun are more likely to shoot another person than a normal person with a gun. They believe that people with mental illness don’t have much control of their actions. Gun ownership shouldn’t be restricted only to the people with mental illness but to everyone else as well. They should either let everyone own a gun or not let anyone own a gun.

Laws passed such as the Brady Handgun Violence Act and the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 had good intentions on keeping Americans safe in theory but failed to do so in practice. The Brady Act states, “… five day waiting period for all handgun purchases from federally licensed sellers… law enforcement officer must make reasonable effort to check purchaser’s personal history” (Weigleb). Although the Brady Act imposed background checks for all gun purchases from federally licensed dealers, it excluded private or other party type

To reduce the potential of harming another by gun violence, a universal background check with an extensive mental health evaluation should be taken into consideration before allowing somebody to purchase a firearm. Currently, a mental health evaluation would be violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services), but there should be an exception made to this Act that allows the distributor not only the ability to conduct a mental health evaluation and view the results, but also able to review any past evaluations.

This study brings up the connections of the mass shooting over the past years and now many of them have mental illnesses. This study breaks down the gun control laws related to people with mental illnesses. This also has cases about parents who contacted the authorities when their children had thoughts of acting out but no one did anything about it until they had already done so. This study explains a lot about how it reformed laws and added laws as more shootings happened and it explains why these laws were made or changed.