Gun Rights

Statistics

13,286 people were killed in the US by firearms in 2015, according to the Gun Violence Archive, and 26,819 people were injured.   The number of gun murders per capita in the US in 2012 - the most recent year for comparable statistics - was nearly 30 times that in the UK, at 2.9 per 100,000 compared with just 0.1.  In the wake of recent shootings in Las Vegas as well as San Bernardino and Orlando some have called for increased gun control.  Is this possible in America?

If you wanted to look at more statistics on gun crime then you can this BBC article.

Gun Rights in the Constitution

It states in the American Constitution “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

This Amendment was brought about as part of the Bill of Rights, the ten amendments which sought to take the political structural framework of the Constitution and extend it to personal rights.  They were written by James Madison.  All ten amendments were ratified by 1791.

The militia mentioned in the amendment use to refer to the militias which were set up to protect local communities before the American War of Independence.  Just before the American War of Independence the British had tried to confiscate large amounts of weaponry from these militia, for fear they would be used in a rebellion.  These militia would go on to fight the British during the War.

What does the amendment actually mean?

Much debate has been in American history as to what actually the amendment means in practice.  Three possible interpretations have been created.

1. "States' rights" or "collective right" model would suggest the Second Amendment gives the right of each state to arm its militia.

2. "Sophisticated collective right model" where people can have weapons but only in the context of being in a militia not for general home defence.

3. "Standard model" everyone has the right to possess a firearm.

Can everyone own a gun?

The 2nd amendment had not been fully defined by the Supreme Court until six residents of Washington, D.C. filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975. This law made it illegal to own a handgun in the District of Columbia. It also went on to say that all firearms including rifles and shotguns be kept "unloaded and disassembled.”

The Supreme Court Ruled in 2008 in the case known as Heller v District of Columbia that this was unconstitutional.   By passing the law the District of Columbia had broken the Second Amendment.  As Justice Scalia stated, “The "militia" comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense.” Therefore everyone can own a firearm.

This has led to former Supreme Court Judge John Paul Stevens to state that the amendment needed to be changed.  He explained that the founding fathers could not have conceived of the advanced nature of the weaponry that people could now own.  In his book "Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change The Constitution he said if he could he would change the Second Amendment to,  “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of the free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms when serving in the militia shall not be infringed.”

How do gun rights vary between states?

Due to the Federal nature of the USA.  Each state creates their own gun laws so if you live in Mississippi

You don’t need a license to sell guns

You don’t need a licence to own a gun

You don’t need to have any form of background check to buy a gun

There are no restrictions on what kind of gun you can buy for example you can purchase a semi automatic weapon.

By contrast in California there are more restrictions.  There is a ten day waiting period in order to purchase a gun and background checks will be performed.

For more on the differences between states you can look at The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence which gives a score for every states gun control laws.

You could read this CNN article if you wished to learn how Nevada gun laws work.

Can people own any kind of gun?

Obviously there is a difference between what the founding fathers had in mind in terms of arms and what is available now.  This dichotomy was addressed in the Supreme Court ruling Caetano v Massachusetts in 2016.

Jaime Caetano was a mother living in Massachusetts she had received several severe beatings from her boyfriend and she was worried she was going to be killed.  A friend lent her a stun gun.  The next time she was threatened she pulled out the stun gun and her boyfriend backed down. Soon after however Caetano was arrested by the police for owning a stun gun, which is illegal under Massachusetts law.

She took her case to the courts in Massachusetts and then finally all the way up to the Supreme Court.  They ruled that "the Second Amendment extends, prima facie, to all instruments that constitute bearable arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of the founding."  Meaning that Americans were free to possess any kind of gun.

Why have attempts at gun control failed?

John Hinckley had been arrested previously and was undergoing psychiatric counselling, when he tried to board a plane with three hand guns in his hand luggage.  He then went on to buy a revolver from a pawn shop.  He need to fill in a permit where lied about his address and gave an old drivers license as proof.  Technically that was a crime.

He would use the gun he bought to try and kill Ronald Reagan.  In the attack he injured Reagan, Jim Brady (the president's spokesman) and a secret service agent.

Many argued that if there was some kind of national federalised procedure to buying firearms he would not have been able to buy the gun that nearly killed the president.

The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act or the Brady Act or was a law named after Jim Brady and his wife Sarah who campaigned for more gun control. It stated that before a computerised system was brought in there would be background checks carried out by local law enforcement on anyone seeking to buy a firearm.

The National Rifle Association opposed the law and campaigned to end it.  Eventually they brought a case to the Supreme Court entitled Printz (Jay Printz was a sheriff from Montana) v United States.  The NRA argued that the Brady Act violated the 10th amendment.

The 10th amendment states that the federal government possesses only those powers given to it by the United States Constitution. All remaining powers are reserved for the states or the people.  Which means as it is not stated in the Constitution that the president cannot order local enforcement to do gun checks.  Only the states can order their employees to do that.  The Supreme Court agreed with their analysis so the Brady Act was deemed unconstitutional.

If you are interested you can look at this website from Oyez on the Printz ruling.

Sandy Hook

On December 14, 2012 Adam Lanza walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School and shot 20 six years and six of their teachers. There were calls for increased gun controls.  However despite Obama's best efforts there were no changes to gun controls.

America's reluctance to part with their guns could be explained by the fact that:

• In some areas there is a keen hunting culture.
• America won its freedom through armed rebellion against the Britis
• There is a distrust of the federal government amongst some people. So they are reluctant to give up their weapons in case the government becomes tyrannical, as unlikely as this may seem.

National Rifle Association

This does not fully explain as to why in the face of when horrendous atrocities happen there is no change. To explain that you need to look at the National Rifle Association the NRA.

The National Rifle Association claim to have 5 million members and an annual campaign budget of $250,000,000.  According to this New Yorker Article between 2000 and 2010 it spent fifteen times as much on campaign contributions as gun-control advocates did.  

In the 2016 Presidential Election they provided $30 million on Donald Trump's campaign.

For more on the power of the NRA you can read this New Yorker Article or this LA Times one.

When the Obama Administration tried to pass a law that meant any person on the government’s list for suspected terrorist list (known as the no-flight list) would not be able to purchase guns.  The vote was defeated. the 54 Senators who voted against the bill received $37 billion from the National Rifle Association.

The Washington Post have researched how much the NRA donates to individual Representatives their findings can be found here.

If you wanted to learn more about the attempts by Congress to ban people on the no-flight list from purchasing guns then you can read this article by the Atlantic.