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Absolutist politics in a moderate package: prohibitionist intentions of the gun control movement

Gary Kleck
TLDR
The gun control debate is carried out at two levels: (1) the overt debate over whatever moderate regulatory control is currently being considered, and (2) the subterranean or background debate over prohibition measures that are not even under formal consideration as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract
The gun control debate is carried out at two levels: (1) the overt debate over whatever moderate regulatory control is currently being considered, and (2) the subterranean or background debate over prohibition measures that are not even under formal consideration. To stop the overt debate from being distorted by the subterranean debate, prominent gun control organizations claiming to support only moderate "commonsense" measures will have to formally, and convincingly, commit themselves to permanent opposition to any future "control" measures that would disarm most of the American population.

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Mass Shootings in Schools: The Worst Possible Case for Gun Control

TL;DR: A review of the details of both Columbine and other contemporary school shootings indicates that the specific gun control measures proposed in their aftermath were largely irrelevant and almost certainly could not have prevented the incidents or reduced their death tolls as discussed by the authors.
References
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Deaths: Final Data for 1998.

TL;DR: The overall improvements in general mortality and life expectancy in 1998 continue the long-term downward trend in U.S. mortality.
Journal ArticleDOI

Effects of restrictive licensing of handguns on homicide and suicide in the District of Columbia.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluated the effect of implementing this law on the frequency of homicides and suicides in Washington, D.C. from 1968 through 1987 and found that the adoption of the gun-licensing law coincided with an abrupt increase in suicides and homicides.
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Homicide and suicide rates associated with implementation of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act.

TL;DR: Implementation of the Brady Act appears to have been associated with reductions in the firearm suicide rate for persons aged 55 years or older but not with reduction in homicide rates or overall suicide rates.