Gun control

About: Gun control is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1211 publications have been published within this topic receiving 16516 citations. The topic is also known as: firearms control & gun law.

Do bans on carrying firearms work for violence reduction? Evidence from a department-level ban in Colombia

Abstract: This paper aims to fill a gap in the assessment of armed violence reduction programming by evaluating the impact of a ban on gun-carrying licenses in Colombia. Exploiting regional and temporal variations, and controlling by enforcement levels we found a large and significant violence reduction impact, both in terms of firearm homicides and firearms-related intentional injuries. These positive effects seem to diminish as time passes by and rely on continuous and significant enforcement of the restriction. This gun control intervention operates by extending law enforcement to previously uncontrolled territories and periods, thus increasing gun availability costs for violent criminals.

Historical Development and Subsequent Erosion of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

Abstract: Two serious challenges exist to the effectiveness of any form of firearms control program One has been tested in the courts and the other has not If either or both are accepted, then no firearms control legislation will be effective First, there is the question of prior restraint which would apply primarily to firearms registration or licensing legislation In 1931 the Supreme Court held that the states cannot preclude the publication of a newspaper simply because that publication had a history of libelous activity In short, prior censorship was not permitted regardless of the circumstances Instead of enjoining an individual from publishing, the most the state can do in the exercise of its police power is to exercise its power to punish individuals for violations of the law as these breaches occur If the principle of prior restraint is applicable to the right to keep and bear arms, and no court has yet held that it is, then the states could not enjoin the citizen-soldier from owning firearms as would be allowed under court definitions The state could then punish at will violations of the law when and if a citizen used his firearm illegally, but it could not prevent him from owning a firearm through some form of prior restraint mechanism Because of the grave dangers which firearms can present, the courts might allow the states or the federal government to prevent certain classes of people from bearing or keeping arms within the mitigated doctrine of prior restraint provided that this decision is made on a rational basis Such groups could include, for example, former convicted felons, drug addicts or alcoholics The second challenge to the effectiveness of firearm control programs involves a citizen's right against self-incrimination In a series of 1968 decisions the Supreme Court invalidated a federal gambling tax stamp on the grounds that to identify one's self as a gambler pursuant to federal law might subject an individual to state prosecution The Court also indicated that a criminal might not have to follow certain provisions of the 1968 Federal Gun Control Act for the same reason This might mean, as it is interpreted further by the courts, that only law abiding citizens would have to abide by provisions of this law and any similar subsequent legislation If this principle is judiciously continued the right against self-incrimination could be more significant in the protection of the right to keep and bear arms than the second amendment Presumably, the same protection could be offered against state controls since the fifth amendment has been incorporated through the fourteenth amendment and is thus applicable to the states

Social science: The mathematics of murder

Abstract: A mathematical model of gun ownership has been developed that clarifies the debate on gun control and tentatively suggests that firearms restrictions may reduce the homicide rate.

The Illusion of Tradition: Spurious Quotations and the Gun Control Debate

Abstract: Opponents of gun control often attribute pro-gun quotations to the nation's founders. Of these, Thomas Jefferson's supposed statements that “The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not b...