Gun control

Gun control attempts to, ownership, or carrying of guns, including those acquired for defensive or sporting purposes. Studies show that increasing lawful access to guns results in less crime,

Most constitutional scholars agree that since the amendment refers to "the right of the People" instead of the right of the militia, it protects an individual right to own guns. The reason for this was the fact that the supplying of guns for thments together, we find that they guarantee the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation.}}

Scalia noted that the ruling should not be interpreted to "cast doubt on long-standing prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons or the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings."

Racism of gun control

In the United States of America, gun control has a strong racist origin and reasoning. Before the Civil War ended, State "Slave Codes" prohibited slaves from owning guns. After President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and after the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery was adopted and the Civil War ended in 1865, States persisted in prohibiting blacks, now freemen, from owning guns under laws renamed "Black Codes." They did so on the basis that blacks were not citizens, and thus did not have the same rights, including the right to keep and bear arms protected in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as whites. This view was specifically articulated by the U.S. Supreme Court in its infamous 1857 decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford to uphold slavery.

The United States Congress overrode most portions of the Black Codes by passing the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The legislative histories of both the Civil Rights Act and the Fourteenth Amendment, as well as The Special Report of the Anti-Slavery Conference of 1867, are replete with denunciations of those particular statutes that denied blacks equal access to firearms. [Kates, "Handgun Prohibition and the Original Meaning of the Second Amendment," 82 Mich. L. Rev. 204, 256 (1983)] However, facially neutral disarming through economic means laws remain in effect.

After the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1878, most States turned to "facially neutral" business or transaction taxes on handgun purchases. However, the intention of these laws was not neutral. An article in Virginia's official university law review called for a "prohibitive tax...on the privilege" of selling handguns as a way of disarming "the son of Ham," whose "cowardly practice of 'toting' guns has been one of the most fruitful sources of crime.... Let a negro board a railroad train with a quart of mean whiskey and a pistol in his grip and the chances are that there will be a murder, or at least a row, before he alights." Thus, many Southern States imposed high taxes or banned inexpensive guns so as to price blacks and poor whites out of the gun market.

Today, "gun control" laws continue to be enacted so as to have a racist effect if not intent:

• Police-issued license and permit laws, unless drafted to require issuance to those not prohibited by law from owning guns, are routinely used to prevent lawful gun ownership among "unpopular" populations.
• Public housing residents, approximately 3 million Americans, are singled out for gun bans.
• "Gun sweeps" by police in "high crime neighborhoods" whereby vehicles and "pedestrians who meet a specific profile that might indicate they are carrying a weapon" are searched are becoming popular, and are being studied by the U.S. Department of Justice as "Operation Ceasefire."
• Some U.S. cities with high minority populations, such as Washington, D.C., are singled out for gun bans.
• "Project Exile" began in the U.S. city of Richmond, Virginia and mandated that people arrested for technical firearms violations (note: not for violent crimes committed with a firearm, but for technical violations of the law) be tried in federal court where they would be subject to lengthy mandatory minimum sentences rather than in state court under the more lenient Virginia laws. As with many other restrictions this was aimed primarily at the city's Black residents. It has since been copied in many other cities.

The Ku Klux Klan began also as a gun-control organization.

Sexism of gun control

Firearms, especially lower recoiling ones such as many handguns, allow any person to wield enough power to stop another person from attacking them. Many women (quite reasonably) fear the threat of attack by a physically stronger man, and a firearm could prevent many of these attacks, but gun bans leave these women vulnerable. Take the case of the “North Side Rapist” in Chicago, a city where hand guns are banned, as an example: The rapist broke in to the womens homes, and at least one of the women heard him break in and then climb the stairs. Had this woman had a handgun, she almost certainly could have stopped the rapist before it was too late. This would have prevented her from enduring such a horrific crime, as well as preventing the rapist’s future victims from experiencing the same thing. Instead, Chicago law prevented her from being able to defend herself, and gave the advantage to the rapist/home-invader. This is not an isolated incident, and similar events happen every day across the county.

Elitism of gun control

Many of the most ardent American anti-gun politicians, such as Chicago’s Mayor Daley, are protected by taxpayer-sponsored armed body guards, but deny law abiding citizens the right to defend themselves with a gun. These politicians seemingly believe themselves to be part of an elite group who deserve to be protected against violent criminals, while ordinary law-abiding citizens are left with less-effective means to defend themselves, and must instead rely on the police arriving in time.

Gun control outside the United States

Gun control advocates cite foreign countries to argue that gun control can reduce crime, but such comparison can be difficult due to the presence of other factors. For example, they cite Singapore as having gun control and a lower crime rate than the United States, but Singapore has less than 5 million persons and one of the highest literacy and average wealth in the world. It lacks many of the freedoms found in the United States and strictly imposes harsh physical punishment, such as caning and the death penalty, for crimes that are not punished so harshly in the United States. The real issue of the security in Singapore is its tight criminal control, not the gun control itself.

Gun control supporters also cite Japan's gun control laws, which severely restrict gun ownership and crime rates are relatively low. But Japan also lacks many freedoms and diversity which exist in the United States, and Japan has strong cultural deterrents to crime. Ironically, Japan is home to Tokyo Marui, the world's largest airsoft gun manufacturer, which designs airsoft guns that are made to the same scale and with the same materials as the real counterpart and which have been mistaken by police for real guns.

In the European Union, gun control is more strict than in the United States, but gun ownership differs widely between member states, from 36 per 100 people in Cyprus to one per 100 in Poland." In Switzerland, on the other hand, gun ownership is quite widespread, which no doubt contributes to its reputation as a peaceful and neutral country. In November 2007, the European Parliament passed legislation to tighten and harmonize gun control across the EU, and oblige each member state to set up a computerized database of firearms, as it "hoped to prevent Europe from becoming a gun-friendly culture like the United States". Parliament wanted to limit cross-border trade from states with less control to those with tougher laws, such as from Lithuania, where replica guns can cost as little as €100 (US$150), to the United Kingdom, where most replicas are outlawed.

In Australia, gun violence has always been significantly lower than other types of violence.. Australia has not experienced considerable violence problems with legally purchased guns. It has always had a much lower homicide rate than the more violent culture in the United States. From 1979 to 1996, 11,110 Australians died by gunshot representing an annual average of 617. In the seven years after new gun laws were announced (1997 to 2003), the yearly average almost halved, to 331. In the decade up to and including Port Arthur There have been 11 mass shootings where 100 people were shot dead and another 52 wounded, while in In the 10 years since 1996 and the new gun laws, not one mass shooting (more than five victims) has occurred in Australia (although in 2002 a gunman killed two and wounded four at Monash University).

Gun control began in Australia in response to fears that guns would be used by home-grown Communist Revolutionaries. The most restrictive reforms were made in 1996 and 2002, following highly publicized shootings.

Both sets of reforms (1996 and 2002) were lead by Prime Minister John Howard of the Coalition(Australia’s conservative government). Howard was well known as an anti-gun advocate. The move offended gun supporters, many of whom had traditionally supported the Coalition. Despite the loss of this voting group, Howard won elections following both reforms (in 1998 and 2004).

There is controversy over the success of Australia’s gun restrictions. Studies suggest overall gun violence has decreased since the 1996 and 2002 bans. However, Australia’s bike and drug gangs, the main perpetrators of gun violence, still easily access illegal firearms. Further, the overall homicide rate remains constant.

Gun Control and Genocide

Gun control "contributes to the probability of its government engaging" in genocide, including the three worst instances in the 20th century:

• In 1911, Turkey imposed gun control and then, from 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million defenseless Armenians were killed.

• In 1929, the Soviet Union imposed gun control and over the next 24 years about 20 million defenseless dissidents were killed.

• In 1935, China established gun control from 1948-1952 20 million political dissidents were killed.

• In 1938, Germany imposed gun control and then over the next seven years 13 million defenseless Jews and other victims were exterminated.

• In 1956, Cambodia established gun control and between 1975 and 1977 one million oppositionals were exterminated.

• In 1970, Uganda imposed gun control. Between 1971 and 1979 300,000 Christians and political oppositionals were killed.

"The Nazis made only two important changes to the Weapons Law that was in place when they came to power. First, they forbade Jews from owning guns or any other weapon. Second, they exempted members of the Sturmabteilung (SA) and many Nazi party officials from the law's strictures." The German Firearms Act of 1937 stated "No civilian is to have a firearm without a permit and permits shall not be issued to persons suspected of acting against the state. For Jews, this permission will not be granted. Those people who do not require permission to carry weapons include the whole of the SS, and the SA - including the Deaths Head group, and the officers of the Hitler youth."

Adolf Hitler said, "The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to permit the conquered eastern peoples to have arms. History teaches that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by doing so."

Josef Stalin, former dictator of the USSR and murderer of over 20 million people, infamously supported gun control in the fear that his evil regime might be torn down and so only soldiers could have firearms.

Gun Control and young mass murderers

Main article: Young mass murderers

Strict gun control failed and still fails to prevent mass murderers from starting killing sprees while the victims are unable to defend themselves.

Compare the cases of Pekka-Eric Auvinen (Finland) and Robert Steinhäuser (Germany) with the case of Matthew Murray. The latter was stopped by an armed citizen before he could harm more victims; Auvinen killed 8 people and Steinhäuser killed 16. Both Finland and Germany have gun control laws.

Other terms

Other terms sometimes used by those who are opposed to gun control include:

• Rights restriction
• Victim disarmament

See Also

• Gun control quotes
• Essay:US Armed Citizens and Crime Control
• John Lott
• Second Amendment
• Gun Control in Nazi Germany
• Ammunition control
• 1994 National Defense Authorization Act

External Links

Opposed to gun control

• Second Amendment Sisters
• The National Rifle Association
• Armed citizens defending themselves.
• A Human Right Discussion of the human right to self defense with a firearm.
• Learn About Guns Firearm information and politics.
• Gun Owners of America A no-compromise pro-gun lobby in Washington, D.C.
• What Liberals Say - Category: Gun Control
• GunCite: Gun Control and Second Amendment Issues
• Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership
• National Shooting Sports Foundation
• Students for Concealed Carry
• The Long, Racist History of Gun Control in America

In favor of gun control

• Gun Control and the Second Amendment
• Myth: Switzerland proves that high gun-ownership doesn't increase murder
• Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
• Violence Policy Center
• League of Women Voters