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.

Analysis of a Multi Disciplinary Approach to Gun Misuse and the Need for a Paradigm Shift in Terminology

Abstract: : The threat of gun misuse occurs against the backdrop of historical, cultural, and legal perspectives within which guns are immersed. This thesis explores the potential for collaboration among the medical, legal, and homeland security disciplines when confronting a commonly held threat, such as gun misuse.Currently, each discipline has a unique and sometimes conflicting definitional view of what the term gun control actually means, as well as how it is to be operationally approached. What emerges within this thesis is the position that gun control is not even the correct term to use and should be avoided when addressing issues involving gun misuse. Rather, the use of the term gun misuse prevention appears to be more appropriate. Such a shift in perspective is not only more consistent with the gun misuse data presented, but also serves to dampen the polarization imposed by the use of the term control.Further, it provides a clearer path for stakeholders from both the public and private sectors to approach and make recommendations when confronting the issue of gun misuse that includes legislative, policy, and technological approaches. This type of approach may pave the way for addressing other issues of common interdisciplinary concern.

The illicit firearms trade in North America

Abstract: Gun violence in North American is the subject of much speculation and debate, often based on limited or incomplete empirical evidence. We summarize the regulatory frameworks in Mexico, the United States and Canada, and provide statistics on gun misuse in these countries. Based on our analysis of publicly available information on sources of crime guns, we conclude that while the United States is a major supplier of illegal handguns to Canada and illegal firearms of all types to Mexico, quantifying the extent of its role, particularly in Mexico, is difficult because of data limitations. Still more difficult is to project the consequences of an effective crackdown by US authorities. If the illicit supply from the USA dried up, the criminal gangs could turn to a variety of other sources that already appear to be playing some role. A complete analysis of these issues must await more complete disclosure by the authorities of data on gun sources and trafficking investigations.

Canadian Firearms Legislation and Effects on Homicide 1974 to 2008

Abstract: Canada has implemented legislation covering all firearms since 1977 and presents a model to examine incremental firearms control. The effect of legislation on homicide by firearm and the subcategory, spousal homicide, is controversial and has not been well studied to date. Legislative effects on homicide and spousal homicide were analyzed using data obtained from Statistics Canada from 1974 to 2008. Three statistical methods were applied to search for any associated effects of firearms legislation. Interrupted time series regression, ARIMA, and Joinpoint analysis were performed. Neither were any significant beneficial associations between firearms legislation and homicide or spousal homicide rates found after the passage of three Acts by the Canadian Parliament--Bill C-51 (1977), C-17 (1991), and C-68 (1995)--nor were effects found after the implementation of licensing in 2001 and the registration of rifles and shotguns in 2003. After the passage of C-68, a decrease in the rate of the decline of homicide by firearm was found by interrupted regression. Joinpoint analysis also found an increasing trend in homicide by firearm rate post the enactment of the licensing portion of C-68. Other factors found to be associated with homicide rates were median age, unemployment, immigration rates, percentage of population in low-income bracket, Gini index of income equality, population per police officer, and incarceration rate. This study failed to demonstrate a beneficial association between legislation and firearm homicide rates between 1974 and 2008.

Guns, Fear, the Constitution, and the Public's Health

Abstract: On March 18, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller, a case challenging handgun control statutes adopted in 1976. Dr. Garen Wintemute argues that the overturning of gun control statutes could weaken the framework of ordered liberty that makes civil society possible.

Overcoming the Fear of Guns, the Fear of Gun Control, and the Fear of Cultural Politics: Constructing a Better Gun Debate

Abstract: The question of how strictly to regulate firearms has convulsed the national polity for the better part of four decades, and in this article Donald Braman and Dan M. Kahan conclude that the best way to engender productive debate is to investigate deeper than the statistics and address the competing American social attitudes on guns themselves: guns symbolizing honor, human mastery over nature, and individual self-sufficiency on the one hand, and guns creating the perpetuation of illicit social hierarchies, the elevation of force over reason, and the expression of collective indifference to the well-being of strangers on the other. Braman and Kahan posit that purely instrumental arguments lack the power to persuade either side because they ignore what really motivates individuals to favor or oppose gun control — namely, their competing cultural worldviews and identities. They claim that the only meaningful gun control debate is one that explicitly addresses whether and how the underlying cultural visions at stake should be embodied by American law. Therefore, to improve the quality of the U.S. gun control debate and break its impasse, Braman and Kahan argue for the constructive of a new, culturally pluralistic vocabulary, which embraces the cultural meanings of public policy, rather than eliding or suppressing them.