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2nd Amendment

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This Article explains who should be able to have hold of a gun. The article talks about there should be limitations and how it can effect people

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Of the 50,000 or more violent deaths occurring in the United States each year, the overwhelming majority involve death by firearm. According to Center for Disease Control statistics, 30 firearm-related homicides and 53 firearm-related suicides take place each day and those statistics don't even include deaths occurring due to accidental shootings. Since the entire issue of gun safety in the United States continues to be a major source of controversy, both politically and socially, actual policies that can reduce gun deaths tend to be difficult to implement and even harder to enforce.

Whatever your stand happens to be regarding gun control, one thing that we can all agree on is that there are some people who simply cannot be trusted with guns. Virtually all of the recent tragic incidents which have taken place in recent years, including the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the Colorado movie theatre, the Tuscon, Arizona constituents' meeting, and at Virginia Tech have certain common elements. They all involve mentally ill shooters using large-capacity firearms to kill as many people as possible before authorities could intervene. Many of these shooters also have a history of social isolation, emotional abuse, and often have a history of being bullied as well.

Could these kind of tragedies be prevented with better psychological screening in place to weed out potential mass shooters? Even though media attention surrounding shootings tend to focus on mental illness, there is no clear link between mental health problems and violence. Most violent offenders aren't mentally ill and the overwhelming majority of people with mental illness don't commit violent offenses. Still, the perception of mentally ill people as being inherently dangerous is affecting gun laws in many states. Though having a history of violence usually disqualifies people from purchasing guns, some state and federal legislation are now extending that to include anyone with a history of mental disorders, including substance abuse, from owning or purchasing a firearm. There are also calls to restrict people who are regarded as suicide risks from owning guns but this is controversial as well.

Despite the controversy though, opinion polls show that most Americans favour laws limiting access to firearms to people with a history of violence or mental illness. Much like the old slogan, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people", screening people applying for gun licenses would put more emphasis on responsible gun ownership rather than restricting guns outright, something that seems impossible in today's political climate.

Unfortunately, laws like the Brady Bill, which allows for background checks on people trying to purchase firearms, are notoriously hard to enforce. Though the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is supposed to allow licensed firearm dealers to identify people prohibited from owning guns, participation by individual states is strictly voluntary with many states refusing to participate. Also, people can purchase guns privately without involving the NICS at all.

While preventing people with mental problems from buying guns is hard to enforce in many places, many states are still pushing for more stringent rules, including requiring psychological assessments for anyone whose firearm certificate has been revoked. This includes a formal risk assessment looking at likelihood of suicide or violence before granting access to guns. There are problems with this kind of risk assessment since most instruments for measuring risk of violence or suicide are usually intended for people who already have a history of violent offenses or suicide attempts. How can psychologists catch the kind of people who are likely to go on to commit offenses such as the Virginia Tech or Sandy Hook shootings?

Even though Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza and Virginia Tech shooter Seung Hui Cho both had a history of psychological problems, their violent rampages still caught everyone by surprise. Are there specific guidelines that mental health professionals could follow to weigh the risk of allowing certain people to own guns?

A new article published in the journal Professional Psychology: Research and Practice provides some practical guidelines for firearm assessments and the sort of questions that professionals should ask prospective gun owners and people seeking to have their gun licenses restored after having it revoked for some reason. According to lead author Gianni Pirelli and the team of colleagues who helped him develop the guidelines, people performinng firearm assessments need tofocus on ten specific domains to address risk of violence or suicide. These domains include:

What is the specific reason for getting a gun license? - If someone had their gun license suspended, the reasons involved should be weighed carefully. Also, if someone is applying for a gun for the first time, what are the reasons for buying a gun? Someone who wants to purchase a gun for protection or for hunting might have different types of guns in mind. Most people who want to buy guns for protection usually purchase handguns while hunters favour rifles.

How much experience or exposure to firearms does the applicant have? - While some people may have been around guns all their lives, such as through hunting, other people may have different ideas about what guns are and what they can do.

Has the applicant been trained in proper gun safety, including how they can be stored safely? - According to the National Rifle Association's own Gun Safety Rules, it is important to ask basic questions about how the gun and the ammunition will be stored, and how frequently the gun is expected to be used, and who will have access to it. If there are children in the house, the applicant should be questioned about their safety. Also, if there are people in the house who might have access to the gun who have a history of mental illness or violence, this needs to be taken into consideration as well. Proper storage and preventing access to firearms can curb most gun-related injuries, particularly when children are involved.

How competent is the gun owner, and are there plans for continued gun education? Some states require prospective gun owners to do a safe handling demonstration along with completing a firearms safety course before being issued a license. Continuing education is also important to ensure that gun owners keep their gun skills sharp and to ensure that they are aware of any changes to legislation and requirements linked to owning and operating a firearm.

Knowledge of local firearm regulations and perspectives on the law. Gun owners need to be aware of federal and state law relating to gun use and also need to be aware of their responsibilities if they travel with a gun. Many gun owners crossing the border to other countries or even other states are often surprised to find that they are breaking the law by having a gun in a jurisdiction in which their license isn't valid.

Violence and/or suicide risk. This is often the hardest issue to determine since people wanting to purchase guns aren't likely to admit to violent or suicidal impulses when being questioned by an evaluator. Most formal risk assessment measures aren't going to be useful since they are designed for people who have a history of violent offenses or mental disorders. Someone with no history of criminal offenses or suicide attempts won't display any of the standard warning signs of potential violence. Still, there are things that evaluators can watch for including whether the person being evaluated is showing signs of emotional distress or is experiencing significant stress due to something like job loss or divorce.

Mental health history and/or substance abuse. Simply being diagnosed with a mental disorder shouldn't automatically disqualify someone from owning a gun since most forms of mental illness aren't really related to risk of violence or likelihood of misusing a gun. Still, people who suffer from depression, bipolar disorder, or problems with impulse control need to be questioned about what they plan to do with the gun they purchase. This also applies to drug or alcohol abuse, especially if there are criminal offenses relating to substance abuse on record.

There have been many high-profile cases involving violence, suicide, or even accidental deaths relating to firearm over the past decade. Though gun control remains controversial, there seems to be fairly broad agreement that certain people should not be allowed to have access to guns. Over the next few years, we are likely to see greater political pressure to change current federal and state gun laws to keep guns out of the hands of those who might misuse guns. That also means that mental health professionals are going to become more involved in assessing potential gun owners or people who are trying to have their gun license reinstated. The ten domains suggested by Gianni Pirelli and his colleagues can help these professionals to screen these applicants and eliminate the ones who have the highest risk of violence or suicide.

Curbing the horrendous number of gun-related deaths that have been happening across the United States won't be easy, but it can be possible with enough political will.

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Are there specific guidelines for mental health professionals to follow in judging the risk of allowing certain people to own guns? A new article published in the journal Professional Psychology: Research and Practice provides practical guidelines for firearm assessments and the sort of questions that professionals should ask prospective gun owners.

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on the third page in 3rd paragraph someone was give gun even though he was called ill. also page 1 talks about the Parkland Shooting and Sandy Hook Shooting.

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The only clear message in this complex issue is that violent crime overall does not increase with the availability of guns, but gun-related violence does [sources: Kates and Mauser; Liptak; Luo].

Some opponents of gun control, including NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, say, "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun" [source: Lichtblau and Rich]. But at least one study has shown that defensive gun use succeeds only rarely, and that gun owners are 4.5 times more likely to be shot during an assault [source: Branas, et al.]

It's hard to say how many mass shootings might have been prevented with tighter gun control laws. Because of the gun show loophole, the woman who bought three of the four guns used by the Columbine killers was never prosecuted, despite making a "straw purchase" for two minors [source: Violence Policy Center]. 2007 Virginia Tech massacre gunman Seung-Hui Cho passed a background check to purchase his weapons, even after a state judge had declared him mentally ill [source: Schmidt and Savage].

But work by University of Massachusetts researcher Louis Klarevas suggests that revival of the federal assault weapons ban might reduce the number of mass killings. For his 2016 book "Rampage Nation," Klarevas gathered data on every mass shooting incident in which six or more people were killed between 1966 and 2016. He found that compared to the 10-year period before the 1994 ban took effect, the number of such massacres dropped by 37 percent, and the number of fatalities decreased by 43 percent. But after the ban expired in 2004, the number of mass killing incidents increased by a startling 183 percent, and fatalities jumped by 239 percent [source: Ingraham].

But to really limit mass shootings, some say that it also will be necessary to find effective ways to identify and treat the mentally ill, and to limit their access to sensitive areas and weapons. Proponents of closer screening have complained that states aren't always diligent in submitting mental health records to the federal background check database, despite a 2007 federal law requiring it. They can point to the example of Jared Lee Loughner, who killed six people and wounded 18 others, including then-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-AZ, in 2011. Though Loughner was suspended from a community college because of mental health problems, he still managed to pass a federal background check and purchase a weapon. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a gun control group, estimated at the time that millions of mental health records were missing [source: Feldmann]. Preventing violent acts like this will require understanding and defusing the pathology that drives these killers -- a feat far easier said than done.

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Yaccino, Steven, Michael Schwirtz and Marc Santora. "Gunman Kills 6 at a Sikh Temple Near Milwaukee." The New York Times. August 5, 2012. (Jan. 18, 2013) http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/06/us/shooting-reported-at-temple-in-wisconsin.html?pagewanted=all

Zimring, Franklin E. "Games with Guns and Statistics." Wisconsin Law Review. 1968. (Jan. 18, 2013) http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1314&context=facpubs

Zimring, Franklin E. "Is Gun Control Likely to Reduce Violent Killings?" University of Chicago Law Review. Vol. 35, no. 4. Page 721. 1968.

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Do countries with stricter gun laws really have less crime or fewer homicides?

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The only clear message in this complex issue is that violent crime overall does not increase with the availability of guns, but gun-related violence does [sources: Kates and Mauser; Liptak; Luo]. Some opponents of gun control, including NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, say, "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun" [source: Lichtblau and Rich].

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History of Gun Control Laws
Gun control laws are just as old or older than the Second Amendment (ratified in 1791). Some examples of gun control throughout colonial America included criminalizing the transfer of guns to Catholics, enslaved people, indentured servants, and Native Americans; regulating the storage of gun powder in homes; banning loaded guns in Boston houses; and mandating participation in formal gathering of troops and door-to-door surveys about guns owned.

Guns were common in the American Colonies, first for hunting and general self-protection and later as weapons in the American Revolutionary War. Several colonies' gun laws required that heads of households (including women) own guns and that all able-bodied men enroll in the militia and carry personal firearms. Read more history...

Pro & Con Arguments

Pro 1

The Second Amendment is not an unlimited or individual right to own guns.

Further, the Second Amendment was intended to protect the right of militias to own guns, not the right of individuals to own guns. Former Justice John Paul Stevens, in his dissenting opinion for District of Columbia et al. v. Heller, wrote, "the Framer's single-minded focus in crafting the constitutional guarantee 'to keep and bear arms' was on military use of firearms, which they viewed in the context of service in state militias," hence the inclusion of the phrase "well regulated militia."

Michael Waldman, President of the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, stated there is nothing about an individual right to bear arms in the notes about the Second Amendment when it was being drafted, discussed, or ratified; the US Supreme Court declined to rule in favor of the individual right four times between 1876 and 1939; and all law articles on the Second Amendment from 1888 to 1959 stated that an individual right was not guaranteed.
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Pro 2

More gun control laws would reduce gun deaths.

Approximately 50% of unintentional fatal shootings were self-inflicted; and most unintentional firearm deaths were caused by friends or family members.

Five women are murdered with guns every day in the United States. A woman's risk of being murdered increases 500% if a gun is present during a domestic dispute. During the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, 5,364 US soldiers were killed in action between Oct. 7, 2001 and Jan. 28, 2015; between 2001 and 2012 6,410 women were killed with a gun by an intimate partner in the United States.

Researchers found that a "general barrier to firearm access created through state regulation can have a significant deterrent effect on male suicide rates in the United States. Permit requirements and bans on sales to minors were the most effective of the regulations analyzed."

Gun licensing laws were associated with a 14% decrease in firearm homicides, while increases in firearm homicides were seen in places with right-to-carry and stand-your ground-laws.

More gun control leads to fewer suicides. When US gun ownership goes down, overall suicide rates drop; meanwhile, each 10 percentage-point increase in gun ownership is linked to a 26.9% increase in the youth suicide rate. In Indiana and Connecticut, after "red flag" laws to remove guns from people who may pose a threat were enacted, gun suicides decreased by 7.5% and 13.7% respectively, while suicides by other means did not decrease during the same time. A person who wants to kill him/herself is unlikely to commit suicide with poison or a knife when a gun is unavailable.

The US General Accountability Office (GAO) estimated that 31% of total accidental shooting deaths could have been prevented by installing safety devices on guns: 100% of deaths per year in which a child under 6 years old shoots and kills him/herself or another child could be prevented by automatic child-proof safety locks; and 23% of accidental shooting deaths by adolescents and adults per year could be prevented by loading indicators showing when a bullet was in the chamber ready to be fired.

Marjorie Sanfilippo, PhD, Professor of Psychology at Eckerd College who has researched children's behavior around guns, stated, "We put gates around swimming pools to keep children from drowning. We put safety caps on medications to keep children from poisoning themselves.... [B]ecause children are naturally curious and impulsive, and because we have shown time and again that we cannot 'gun-proof' them with education, we have a responsibility to keep guns out of the hands of children."
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Pro 3

The presence of a gun makes a conflict more likely to become violent.

The FBI found that arguments (such as romantic triangles, brawls fueled by alcohol or drugs, and arguments over money) resulted in 1,962 gun deaths (59.9% of the total).

An editorial published in the American Journal of Public Health noted, "gun-inflicted deaths [often] ensue from impromptu arguments and fights; in the US, two-thirds of the 7,900 deaths in 1981 involving arguments and brawls were caused by guns." A study published in the same journal found that "the weapons used [in altercations]... were those closest at hand." And thus, according to another study, "[r]ather than confer protection, guns kept in the home are associated with an increase in the risk of homicide by a family member or intimate acquaintance."

Common sense gun control laws can decrease the likelihood of a violent situation turning deadly. President Ronald Reagan and others did not think the AR-15 military rifle (also called M16s by the Air Force) should be owned by civilians and, when the AR-15 was included in the assault weapons ban of 1994 (which expired on Sep. 13, 2004), the NRA supported the legislation. A Mother Jones investigation found that high-capacity magazines were used in at least 50% of the 62 mass shootings between 1982 and 2012.When high-capacity magazines were used in mass shootings, the death rate rose 63% and the injury rate rose 156%.
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Pro 4

A majority of adults, including gun owners, support common sense gun control such as background checks, bans on assault weapons, and bans on high-capacity magazines.

According to a Feb. 20, 2018 Quinnipiac Poll, 97% of American voters and 97% of gun owners support universal background checks. 67% support a nationwide ban on assault weapons, and 83% support mandatory waiting periods for gun purchases.

As much as 40% of all gun sales are undocumented private party gun sales that do not require a background check (aka the "gun show loophole").

53% of all adults surveyed approve of high-capacity magazine bans. 89% of adults with a gun in the home approve of laws to prevent the purchase of guns by the mentally ill, and 82% approve of banning gun sales to people on no-fly lists.

77% of Americans support requiring a license to purchase a gun.

Don Macalady, member of Hunters against Gun Violence, stated, "As a hunter and someone who has owned guns since I was a young boy, I believe that commonsense gun legislation makes us all safer. Background checks prevent criminals and other dangerous people from getting guns."

Many would like to see the U.S. enact more laws like other countries, citing the fact that countries with restrictive gun control laws have lower gun homicide and suicide rates than the United States. Both Switzerland and Finland require gun owners to acquire licenses and pass background checks that include mental and criminal records, among other restrictions and requirements. In 2007 Switzerland ranked number 3 in international gun ownership rates with 45.7 guns per 100 people (about 3,400,000 guns total). In 2009 Switzerland had 24 gun homicides (0.31 deaths per 100,000 people) and 253 gun suicides (3.29 deaths per 100,000 people). Finland ranked fourth in international gun ownership rates with 45.3 guns per 100 people (about 2,400,000 guns total). In 2007 Finland had 23 (0.43 deaths per 100,000 people) gun homicides and 172 gun suicides (4.19 deaths per 100,000 people).
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Con 1

The Second Amendment of the US Constitution protects individual gun ownership.

The Second Amendment of the US Constitution reads, "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."

Lawrence Hunter, Chairman of Revolution PAC, stated, "The Founders understood that the right to own and bear laws is as fundamental and as essential to maintaining liberty as are the rights of free speech, a free press, freedom of religion and the other protections against government encroachments on liberty delineated in the Bill of Rights."
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Con 2

Gun control laws are discriminatory and infringe on citizens' rights

Current gun control laws are frequently aimed at inner city, poor, black communities who are perceived as more dangerous than white gun owners. Charles Gallagher, Chair of Sociology at LaSalle University, stated that some gun control laws are still founded on racial fears: "Whites walking down Main Street with an AK-47 are defenders of American values; a black man doing the same thing is Public Enemy No. 1."

Background checks and micro-stamping are an invasion of privacy. Background checks require government databases that keep personal individual information on gun owners, including name, addresses, mental health history, criminal records, and more. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) worried that Senator Harry Reid's 2013 proposed background check legislation (the bill failed 54-46) would have allowed the government to keep databases of gun purchases indefinitely, creating a "worry that you're going to see searches of the databases and an expansion for purposes that were not intended when the information was collected." Micro-stamping similarly requires a database of gun owners and the codes their personal guns would stamp on cartridge cases. Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Ted Cruz (R-TX) wrote that they would oppose any legislation that infringes "on the American people's constitutional right to bear arms, or on their ability to exercise this right without being subjected to government surveillance."

Gun control laws infringe upon the right to self-defense and deny people a sense of safety. The police cannot protect everyone all of the time. 61% of men and 56% of women surveyed by Pew Research said that stricter gun laws would "make it more difficult for people to protect their homes and families." Nelson Lund, Professor at George Mason University School of Law, stated, "The right to self-defense and to the means of defending oneself is a basic natural right that grows out of the right to life" and "many [gun control laws] interfere with the ability of law-abiding citizens to defend themselves against violent criminals." A Pew Foundation report found that 79% of male gun owners and 80% of female gun owners said owning a gun made them feel safer and 64% of people living in a home in which someone else owns a gun felt safer. Even Senator Dianne Feinstein, a gun control advocate, carried a concealed gun when her life was threatened and her home attacked by the New World Liberation Front in the 1970s.

Gun control laws, especially those that try to ban "assault weapons," infringe upon the right to own guns for hunting and sport. In 2011, there were 13.7 million hunters 16 years old or older in the United States, High-powered semiautomatic rifles and shotguns are used to hunt and in target shooting tournaments each year. According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, "So-called 'Assault weapons' are more often than not less powerful than other hunting rifles. The term 'assault weapon' was conjured up by anti-gun legislators to scare voters into thinking these firearms are something out of a horror movie... [T]he Colt AR-15 and Springfield M1A, both labeled 'assault weapons,' are the rifles most used for marksmanship competitions in the United States. And their cartridges are standard hunting calibers, useful for game up to and including deer." According to a Feb. 2013 Pew Research report, 32% of gun owners owned guns for hunting and 7% owned guns for target or sport shooting.
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Con 3

Gun control laws simply do not work.

Gun control efforts have proved ineffective. According to David Lampo, Publications Director of the Cato Institute, "there is no correlation between waiting periods and murder or robbery rates." Banning high-capacity magazines will not necessarily deter crime because even small gun magazines can be changed in seconds.The "gun show loophole" is virtually nonexistent because commercial dealers, who sell the majority of guns at shows and elsewhere, are bound by strict federal laws. According to a Mar. 10, 2016 Lancet study, most state-level gun control laws do not reduce firearm death rates, and, of 25 state laws, nine were associated with higher gun death rates.

Mexico has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world and yet, in 2012, Mexico had 11,309 gun murders (9.97 gun homicides per 100,000 people) compared to the United States that had 9,146 gun homicides (2.97 per 100,000 people). The country has only one legal gun store (the Directorate of Arms and Munitions Sales), compared to at least 63,709 legal gun stores and pawn shops in the United States as of Feb. 10, 2014. Mexico's gun store is on a secure military base and customers must present a valid ID, go through a metal detector, and turn over cellphones and cameras to guards. To actually buy a gun, customers have to show proof of honest income, provide references, pass a criminal background check, prove any military duties were completed with honor, and be fingerprinted and photographed. If allowed to purchase a gun, the customer may buy only one gun (choosing from only .38 caliber pistols or lower) and one box of bullets. Between 2006 and 2010, Mexico's one gun shop sold 6,490 guns, yet as of 2012, Mexicans own about 15,000,000 guns, or about 13.5 guns per 100 people.

The main reason gun control doesn't work is because laws will not prevent criminals from obtaining guns or breaking laws. Of 62 mass shootings in the United States between 1982 and 2012, 49 of the shooters used legally obtained guns. Collectively, 143 guns were possessed by the killers with about 75% obtained legally. A Secret Service analysis found that of 24 mass shootings in 2019 at least 10 (42%) involved illegally possessed guns.

The logical conclusion is that gun control laws do not deter crime; gun ownership deters crime. A study in Applied Economics Letters found that "assault weapons bans did not significantly affect murder rates at the state level" and "states with restrictions on the carrying of concealed weapons had higher gun-related murders." While gun ownership doubled in the twentieth century, the murder rate decreased. Journalist John Stossel explained, "Criminals don't obey the law... Without the fear of retaliation from victims who might be packing heat, criminals in possession of these [illegal] weapons now have a much easier job... As the saying goes, 'If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.'"

More gun control is not needed; education about guns and gun safety is needed to prevent accidental gun deaths. 95% of all US gun owners believe that children should learn about gun safety. The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute, Inc (SAAMI), stated, "Whether in the field, at the range or in the home, a responsible and knowledgeable gun owner is rarely involved in a firearms accident of any kind." According to Kyle Wintersteen, Managing Editor of Guns and Ammo, studies show that "children taught about firearms and their legitimate uses by family members have much lower rates of delinquency than children in households without guns" and "children introduced to guns associate them with freedom, security, and recreation-not violence." [82] [85] [154]
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Con 4

Gun control laws give too much power to the government and may result in government tyranny and the government taking away all guns from citizens.

57% of people surveyed by Pew Research in Feb. 2013 said that gun control laws would "give too much power to the government over the people."

The NRA's Wayne LaPierre stated, "if you look at why our Founding Fathers put it [the Second Amendment] there, they had lived under the tyranny of King George and they wanted to make sure that these free people in this new country would never be subjugated again and have to live under tyranny."

Concurring, Alex Jones, radio host, stated, "The Second Amendment isn't there for duck hunting, it's there to protect us from tyrannical government and street thugs... 1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms!"

Marco Rubio (R-FL), US Senator, speaking about gun control laws during his 2016 presidential campaign, stated, "If God forbid, ISIS visits our life, our neighborhood, our school, any part of us, the last thing standing, the last line of defense could very well be our ability to protect ourselves."
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Did You Know?

1. A Pew Foundation report found that 79% of male gun owners and 80% of female gun owners said owning a gun made them feel safer, and 64% of people living in a home in which someone else owns a gun felt safer.

2. The US General Accountability Office (GAO) estimated that 100% of deaths per year in which a child under 6 years old shoots and kills him/herself or another child could be prevented by automatic child-proof safety locks.

3. The Centers for Disease Control listed firearms as the #12 cause of all deaths between 1999 and 2015, representing 1.3% of total deaths. They were also the #1 method of death by homicide (67.3% of all homicides) and by suicide (51.9% of all suicides).

4. Mexico has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world and yet, in 2012, Mexico had 11,309 gun murders (9.97 gun homicides per 100,000 people) compared to the United States that had 9,146 gun homicides (2.97 per 100,000 people).

5. Carrying a concealed handgun in public has been permitted in all 50 states since 2013, when Illinois became the last state to enact concealed carry legislation.

6. Five women a day are killed by guns in America. A woman's risk of being murdered increases 500% if a gun is present during a domestic dispute.

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Proponents say the Second Amendment is not an unlimited right to own guns. Opponents say the amendment protects individual gun ownership.

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Review Later- House Passes Firearm Legislation

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Congress most recently addressed firearms-related legislation on February 27, 2019. The House passed a bill that proposed requiring federal criminal background checks on all firearms sales by a vote of 240-190, mostly along party lines.

The bill now heads to the Senate. President Donald Trump said that he would veto the bill if it was sent to him.

This page tracks the comments and actions of the Trump administration, the 115th Congress, and the 116th Congress on laws governing guns and firearms. Click on the timeline below to learn more about each headline.

February 27, 2019: House passes firearms legislation

August 27, 2018: Federal judge bars distribution of CAD files used to produce firearms via 3D printers

March 24, 2018: Democratic lawmakers attend anti-gun violence march

March 14, 2018: House passes STOP School Violence Act of 2018

March 12, 2018: Trump administration releases four-pillar plan to improve safety in schools

March 12, 2018: Trump announces support for raising age limits on gun purchases

March 11, 2018: Trump Administration releases proposals to address gun violence in schools

March 10, 2018: DOJ issues proposed rule to ban bump stocks

February 2018: Congress' response to the February 14, 2018, school shooting in Parkland, Florida

February 22, 2018: Trump holds listening session with state and local officials on gun violence and school safety

February 21, 2018: Trump holds listening session on gun violence and school safety with students and teachers

February 20, 2018: Trump issues memorandum on bump stocks

February 19, 2018: Trump supports improving federal background check system

February 16, 2018: FBI launches review of tip line operations after Florida shooting

February 16, 2018: Sessions orders review of FBI's and DOJ's procedures for handling tips related to public safety

November 22, 2017: Sessions orders review of background check system

Trump administration officials on laws governing guns and firearms

115th Congress on laws governing guns and firearms

February 27, 2019: House passes firearms legislation

On February 27, 2019, the House passed a bill that proposed requiring federal criminal background checks on all firearms sales by a vote of 240-190. Eight Republicans voted with most Democrats in favor of the bill. Two Democrats-Reps. Jared Golden (Maine) and Collin Peterson (Minn.)-voted with Republicans against the bill.

The bill now heads to the Senate. President Donald Trump said that he would veto the bill if it was sent to him.

August 27, 2018: Federal judge bars distribution of CAD files used to produce firearms via 3D printers

March 24, 2018: Democratic lawmakers attend anti-gun violence march

On March 24, 2018, many Democratic lawmakers attended the "March for Our Lives" in cities around the nation. Meant to protest gun violence after the February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the country-wide rallies attracted hundreds of thousands of people. Politicians including Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Representative John Lewis (D-Ga.), and former Vice President Joe Biden all attended rallies.

March 14, 2018: House passes STOP School Violence Act of 2018

On March 14, 2018, the House passed HR 4909-the STOP School Violence Act of 2018-by a vote of 407-10. The bill proposed providing funding for the following:

Training for local law enforcement, school staff, and students to prevent school violence, including active shooter training;

Anonymous reporting systems to notify law enforcement officials of potential threats of violence, metal detectors, locks, and other school safety equipment and technology;

School threat assessment and crisis intervention teams; and

Coordination with law enforcement.

It did not include any gun-related measures.

The vote came one month after a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and on a day of nationwide student protests against gun violence.

The following House members voted against the bill:

The House Liberty Caucus, of which Amash is the chairman, opposed the bill because it "endangers the right to due process, encourages the continued blurring of school discipline and criminal justice through the use of school policing, and undermines federalism."

Some Democrats also opposed the bill for a similar reason. They raised "concern that it does not have adequate due process and could disproportionately hurt minorities and students with disabilities," according to The Hill.

March 12, 2018: Trump administration releases four-pillar plan to improve safety in schools

DeVos called the proposal a "pragmatic plan to dramatically increase school safety." Speaking about school shootings, she said, "We've had to talk about this topic way too much over the years. There's been a lot of talk in the past, but very little action."

March 12, 2018: Trump announces support for raising age limits on gun purchases

March 11, 2018: Trump Administration releases proposals to address gun violence in schools

On March 11, 2018, the Trump Administration announced a series of school safety proposals in response to the February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The proposals did not include any legislation, but established a commission on gun violence in schools, pushed lawmakers to work on background check legislation, and offered support to states to craft gun legislation and gun training programs in schools.

February 16, 2018: FBI launches review of tip line operations after Florida shooting

Congress' response to the February 14, 2018, school shooting in Parkland, Florida

In response to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018, that left 17 dead, members of Congress have been discussing a variety of gun-related, mental health, and school safety measures to prevent future school shootings. Most Democrats have focused on gun-related measures, while most Republicans have focused on improving how law enforcement handles information it is given about potentially violent individuals. In the Senate, some lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are working together to pass legislation to increase the age to buy a rifle to 21.

Democrats call for gun-related measures to prevent gun violence

Some congressional Democrats have called for bans on certain types of rifles that they describe as military-style weapons or assault weapons.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who signed on as an original co-sponsor to Deutch's bill, has called for lawmakers to create "a special committee to examine gun violence," expand "background checks before almost all gun sales," and authorize "federal researchers to study gun violence as a public health issue," according to The Hill.

GOP calls for review of FBI and local law enforcement's response to tips about the shooter

Republicans have focused on improving the procedures of law enforcement officials and school safety measures rather than gun-related measures in response to the school shooting.

Bipartisan legislation

March 10, 2018: DOJ issues proposed rule to ban bump stocks

On March 10, 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) published a proposed rule in the Federal Register that would classify bump stocks as machineguns under the National Firearms Act of 1934 and the Gun Control Act of 1968. Bump stock type devices convert semiautomatic firearms into machineguns by allowing for a continuous firing cycle through a single pull of the trigger.

Opponents of the proposed rule said that only Congress has the authority to change the statutory definition of a machine gun. The rule's supporters said that the statutory language was intended to be a broad, general definition and that the DOJ has the authority to clarify which devices qualify as machine guns within the scope of the law.

February 22, 2018: Trump holds listening session with state and local officials on gun violence and school safety

On February 22, 2018, President Donald Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos held a listening session at the White House with state and local officials on gun violence and school safety. Comments from the session appear below.

Trump on giving trained teachers a bonus for carrying firearms in schools: "And what I would recommend doing is the people that do carry, we give them a bonus. We give them a little bit of a bonus. Frankly, they'd feel more comfortable having a gun anyway. But you give them a little bit of a bonus. So practically for free, you have now made the school into a hardened target."

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi on the Gun Violence Restraining Order: "We are going to bring in something called the Gun Violence Restraining Order. So if someone is civilly committed - and typically, you can hold them for up to 72 hours, but people are getting out within 24 hours, the majority of them. So what we want to do is let law enforcement come in and take the guns. ...They are a danger to themselves or others. ... But we also have to give the mentally ill the due process in which they deserve, President. So what we're doing is they're going to be able to take the guns when they're taken into custody - or into the hospital. And then, when they're released, within 24 hours or 72 hours later - typically, it's 24 hours - but law enforcement will have 72 hours to determine whether they should give those guns back, or they can go to a judge and say, 'Your Honor, please keep these guns. We feel this person is still a danger to himself or others,' whether they're in or out of custody. ... We're going to make changes.

Bondi on creating a system for students to report suspicious behavior: "Kids now are on social media. And there were so many warning signs on Snapchat, on Twitter, on Instagram. ... So what kids can do now - they can automatically send something that says, 'I'm going to buy a gun,' just like Cruz was doing. ... And one of the girls who I met with - one of the students - told me he had been doing this since middle school, he had bullied her. And she reported it. So it will all - they can instantly - and they can do it with anonymity. Put it in this app. It will go in the app, and it will go through one clearinghouse with state law enforcement in Florida."

February 21, 2018: Trump holds listening session on gun violence and school safety with students and teachers

On February 21, 2018, President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos held a listening session at the White House with students, parents, teachers, and school administrators on gun violence and school safety.

At the beginning of the session, Trump said, "We're going to be very strong on background checks. We're going to be doing very strong background checks. Very strong emphasis on the mental health of somebody. And we are going to do plenty of other things. Again, next week, the governors are coming in from most of the states, and we're going to have a very serious talk about what's going on with school safety. ... There are many ideas that I have. There are many ideas that other people have. And we're going to pick out the strongest ideas, the most important ideas, the ideas that are going to work. And we're going to get them done. It's not going to be talk like it has been in the past. It's been going on too long; too many instances. And we're going to get it done."

During the session, those in attendance offered a variety of solutions to prevent future school shootings like the one that occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018. Their solutions included the following:

President Donald Trump Holds a listening session with high school students and teachers, February 21, 2018

Requiring students and teachers to go through active shooter drills;

Raising the age to purchase a gun;

Checking bookbags at the door;

Counseling for our students who are struggling with fear and bullying;

Banning certain types of rifles;

Strengthening the FBI's procedures for investigating threats;

Instituting protocols to prevent attacks like airports did after the 9/11 terror attacks;

Implementing and strengthening red flag laws;

Improving access to mental health care;

Increasing security at schools;

Ending the censoring of ideas to prevent gun violence;

Instituting training programs to identify warning signs in troubled children;

Creating a culture of connectedness;

Allowing teachers, administrators, and school support staff who are properly trained in handling a firearm to keep one locked in a classroom or office;

Opening communication lines between schools, the police, and the FBI;

Having more police officers at schools; and

Fixing the background check system.

Brandon Thompson, the dean of students at Friendship Tech Prep in Washington, D.C., discussed measures his school instituted to protect students and make them feel safe. He said,

"

We actually have checkpoints. When a student walks in the door, we actually have metal detectors. And I oftentimes see that in urban education. And we actually have an x-ray machine that students put their bags through. And right after this incident happened, a parent who didn't so much agree with it at first sent me an email saying, 'Thank you. Because now I see exactly what's happening.' And so we oftentimes use that TSA model. When a student comes in, we have somebody at the door to greet them to do a check in just to see how they feel. And we have certain point people, where I know this person is not feeling so well, so they won't get past point one. They go through the metal detector, their bag goes through the machine. And so, at the end of the day, just talking to my students riding over today, they all say, 'Well, I feel safe.' And you come outside and you said talk about mental hospitals - our school is right across the street from a shutdown mental hospital. We have - you know, if you were to come over to the streets, you would be like, 'Oh my God.' But once you get inside the building, we have that family feel. We have those check-in points. We have it where every visitor that comes through our building has to go through these checkpoints to ensure that our students get home safe, to ensure that our staff members get home safe. And these are just minor solutions. Like, I will say, I'm against having a teacher with a gun in the building. Teachers are emotional. People are emotional. So I think that is a huge factor, however. But having students - and you may have to go to staff members - going through these checkpoints to ensure that, one, their mental is on point; and two, that we're talking about they don't have any physical metal on them and/or - even our building, our students don't even carry cell phones because we consider that's a threat. It's taking away from them learning. So they actually turn in their cell phones. And so those things of ensuring our kids are there at the moment, to live the moment, to enjoy school - they get that joy factor. They get that family feel. And they're able, now, to connect with one another and able to communicate, and not have to worry about looking over their shoulder when they walk out and into the building. Because they know every person that comes through the building has been through a metal check - their bags have been checked.

"

Trump offered his comments on a variety of the proposals. They appear below.

February 20, 2018: Trump issues memorandum on bump stocks

The memorandum stated, "Today, I am directing the Department of Justice to dedicate all available resources to complete the review of the comments received, and, as expeditiously as possible, to propose for notice and comment a rule banning all devices that turn legal weapons into machineguns."

During the announcement, Trump said, "That process began in December and just a few moments ago I signed a memorandum directing the Attorney General to propose regulations to ban all devices that turn legal weapons into machine guns. I expect that these critical regulations will be finalized, Jeff [Sessions], very soon." The DOJ began the review in October 2017, after a shooter who used a bump stock device killed 58 people at a country music concert in Las Vegas, Nevada.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders commented on the memorandum, saying, "He ordered the Department of Justice and the ATF to review the regulation of bump stocks. My understanding is that review has been completed and movement will take place on that shortly. ... The president doesn't support the use of those accessories."

February 19, 2018: Trump supports improving federal background check system

Sanders said that Trump spoke with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) about a bill he and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) introduced that would "require states and federal agencies to produce plans to report offenses that would bar people from passing a check needed to purchase a firearm. It also reiterates that federal agencies must report all violations to the National Instant Criminal Background Check system and creates new financial incentives for states to report information," according to The Hill. Sanders said that discussions about the bill were "ongoing and revisions are being considered." The National Rifle Association (NRA) said that it supports the legislation.

The debate over gun-related legislation was reignited after a gunman killed 17 at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

February 16, 2018: Sessions orders review of FBI's and DOJ's procedures for handling tips related to public safety

On February 16, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that he would order a review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) and U.S. Department of Justice's procedures for handling tips it receives from the public. The investigation came after the FBI acknowledged that a tip about the shooter in the Parkland, Florida, school shooting that resulted in the deaths of 17 individuals was not handled properly. According to The Hill, the person who called in the tip warned the FBI about the shooter's "gun ownership, mental stability and desire to kill, and expressed concern that he could potentially carry out a school shooting." The FBI said that the tip "should have been assessed as a potential threat to life."

Speaking about the failure, Sessions said, "It is now clear that the warning signs were there and tips to the FBI were missed. We see the tragic consequences of those failures. The FBI in conjunction with our state and local partners must act flawlessly to prevent all attacks. This is imperative, and we must do better."

November 22, 2017: Sessions orders review of background check system

Sessions wrote, "NICS was designed to help keep firearms out of the hands of convicted felons, domestic violence offenders, and others who are prohibited from possessing firearms, including those prohibited due to reasons related to mental health. NICS is critically important to protecting the American public from firearms-related violence. It is, however, only as reliable and robust as the information that federal, state, local, and tribal government entities make available to it. The recent tragedy in Sutherland Springs, Texas has revealed that the U.S. Air Force and other military branches may not be fully reporting relevant information to NICS. This is an alarming revelation that must be addressed."

The memorandum directed the FBI and ATF to "work with the Department of Defense to identify and resolve any issues with the military's reporting of convictions and other information relevant to determining prohibited person status" and make sure that other entities were accurately reporting information to NICS.

According to The Hill, the Air Force failed to report the Texas gunman's domestic violence conviction into NICS. Doing so would have prevented him from purchasing a firearm.

Trump administration officials on laws governing guns and firearms

President Donald Trump on laws governing guns and firearms
The First 100 Days
In the first 100 days of the Trump administration, no significant changes were made to laws governing guns and firearms. Trump was, however, the first sitting president to address the National Rifle Association Leadership Forum since President Ronald Reagan in 1983.

Trump also spoke about gun bans, saying, "Our police and sheriffs also know that when you ban guns, only the criminals will be armed. (Applause.) For too long, Washington has gone after law-abiding gun owners while making life easier for criminals, drug dealers, traffickers and gang members. MS-13-you know about MS-13? It's not pleasant for them anymore, folks."

On February 22, 2018, Trump spoke about the National Rifle Association (NRA) and possible gun-related legislation. He said, "I don't think I'll be going up against them [the NRA]. ... I think we're making a lot of progress and I can tell you there's a tremendous feeling that we want to get something done. And we're leading that feeling, I hope, but it is a great feeling, including at the NRA, including with Republican senators and hopefully Democrat senators and congressmen." He said that the NRA would back the proposal to raise the age to purchase a rifle to 21, a proposal Trump said he supports.

The NRA said that it opposed proposals to raise the age to purchase a rifle. NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker said, "Legislative proposals that prevent law-abiding adults aged 18-20 years old from acquiring rifles and shotguns effectively prohibits them for purchasing any firearm, thus depriving them of their constitutional right to self-protection. We need serious proposals to prevent violent criminals and the dangerously mentally ill from acquiring firearms. Passing a law that makes it illegal for a 20-year-old to purchase a shotgun for hunting or an adult single mother from purchasing the most effective self-defense rifle on the market punishes law-abiding citizens for the evil acts of criminals."

According to his presidential transition website, Trump said that he was committed to protecting an individual citizen's right to keep and bear arms, as guaranteed by the United States Constitution. Trump's website stated: "He will defend Americans' fundamental rights to free speech, religious liberty, keeping and bearing arms, and all other rights guaranteed to them in the Bill of Rights and other constitutional provisions."

On June 15, 2016, Donald Trump tweeted that he planned to meet with the National Rifle Association (NRA) to discuss "not allowing people on the terrorist watch list, or the no fly list, to buy guns." The NRA's Institute for Legislative Action responded in a statement that it would be "happy to meet with Donald Trump" and that it "believes that terrorists should not be allowed to purchase or possess firearms, period."

The National Rifle Association (NRA) endorsed Trump's bid for president on May 20, 2016. Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA, said in a statement, "If Hillary Clinton gets the opportunity to replace Antonin Scalia with an anti-gun Supreme Court justice, we will lose the individual right to keep a gun in the home for self-defense. ... So the choice for gun owners in this election is clear. And that choice is Donald Trump."

During the sixth Republican presidential primary debate, on January 14, 2016, Donald Trump discussed his position on the Second Amendment. He said, "I am a Second amendment person. If we had guns in California on the other side where the bullets went in the different direction, you wouldn't have 14 or 15 people dead right now. If even in Paris, if they had guns on the other side, going in the opposite direction, you wouldn't have 130 people plus dead. So the answer is no and what Jeb said is absolutely correct. We have a huge mental health problem in this country. We're closing hospitals, we're closing wards, we're closing so many because the states want to save money. We have to get back into looking at what's causing it. The guns don't pull the trigger. It's the people that pull the trigger and we have to find out what is going on. We have to protect our 2nd amendment and you cannot do this and certainly what Barack Obama was doing with the executive order. He doesn't want to get people together, the old-fashioned way, where you get Congress. You get the Congress, you get the Senate, you get together, you do legislation. He just writes out an executive order. Not supposed to happen that way."

Vice President Mike Pence on laws governing guns and firearms

In 2014, Mike Pence signed into law a bill allowing individuals with concealed carry permits to keep a gun in their car in school parking lots. During an interview with Real Clear Politics, Chris Wallace asked Pence, "[D]o we really need guns closer to schools?" Pence replied, "I have strongly supported the right to keep and bear arms. I truly believe that firearms in the hands of law abiding citizen's makes our families and our communities more safe, not less safe. And the bill that we just signed here in Indiana really was a common sense reform. We actually have parents that had a permit to conceal and carry a weapon that we're finding themselves guilty of a felony just by dropping their kids off to school. So we just-we made a modest change, a common sense change in Indiana law. And I strongly supported it."

Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar on laws governing guns and firearms

On February 15, 2018, during a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Democrats on the panel asked Azar if he would allow the Department of Health and Human Services to research the causes of gun violence. Azar said, "We believe we've got a very important mission with our work with serious mental illness as well as our ability to do research on the causes of violence and the causes behind tragedies like this so that is a priority for us especially at the Centers for Disease Control." The tragedy Azar was referring to was the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018, that left 17 dead.

115th Congress on laws governing guns and firearms

Legislation

HR 4909-the STOP School Violence Act of 2018

Training for local law enforcement, school staff, and students to prevent school violence, including active shooter training;

Anonymous reporting systems to notify law enforcement officials of potential threats of violence, metal detectors, locks, and other school safety equipment and technology;

School threat assessment and crisis intervention teams; and

Coordination with law enforcement.

It did not include any gun-related measures.

HR 38-the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017 and Fix NICS Act

On December 6, 2017, the House passed HR 38-the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017-by a vote of 231-198. The bill proposed allowing gun owners who legally carry concealed firearms in one state to carry them in other states that allow individuals to carry concealed firearms, even if states have different rules and requirements. The bill was combined with the Fix NICS Act, which proposed penalizing agencies that fail to report criminal history records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The NICS database allows gun sellers to determine whether a prospective buyer is eligible to buy firearms.

HJ Res 40-Nullifying a rule pertaining to the NICS database

Members of Congress on laws governing guns and firearms

February 22, 2018: After the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, congressional Democrats were split over how they should approach firearm issues in the 2018 midterm elections. While some, including Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), argued that pushing for legislation to address the issue would help their campaigns to take both the Senate and the House of Representatives out of Republican control, others argued that the issue does not favor Democrats in many areas. The Hill called the approach of Democrats representing more conservative areas, like Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), as "understated," because they were more vulnerable in 2018. A spokeswoman for the campaign arm of the House Democrats, Meredith Kelly, cited the "geographical and culturally diverse House battlefield," to explain why the Democratic Party did not have a nation-wide message for gun laws.

On the same day, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said that he would not create a special committee to address gun violence. Instead, he said Congress should address the connection between mental illness and gun violence. He said, "We want to make sure that if someone is in the mental health system, they don't get a gun if they are not supposed to get a gun." He also discussed legislation that was passed in 2016 regarding mental health programs. He said, "That legislation is now just taking place. The question is: are those laws where they need to be, are they being implemented properly, are they being enforced correctly?"

The 2016 Republican Party Platform on the Second Amendment

The 2016 Republican Party Platform on the Second Amendment

"

The Second Amendment: Our Right to Keep and Bear Arms

We uphold the right of individuals to keep and bear arms, a natural inalienable right that predates the Constitution and is secured by the Second Amendment. Lawful gun ownership enables Americans to exercise their God-given right of selfdefense for the safety of their homes, their loved ones, and their communities.

We salute the Republican Congress for defending the right to keep and bear arms by preventing the President from installing a new liberal majority on the Supreme Court. The confirmation to the Court of additional anti-gun justices would eviscerate the Second Amendment's fundamental protections. Already, local officials in the nation's capital and elsewhere are defying the Court's decisions upholding an individual right to bear arms as affirmed by the Supreme Court in Heller and McDonald. We support firearm reciprocity legislation to recognize the right of law-abiding Americans to carry firearms to protect themselves and their families in all 50 states. We support constitutional carry statutes and salute the states that have passed them. We oppose ill-conceived laws that would restrict magazine capacity or ban the sale of the most popular and common modern rifle. We also oppose any effort to deprive individuals of their right to keep and bear arms without due process of law.

We condemn frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers and the current Administration's illegal harassment of firearm dealers. We oppose federal licensing or registration of law-abiding gun owners, registration of ammunition, and restoration of the ill-fated Clinton gun ban. We call for a thorough investigation - by a new Republican administration - of the deadly "Fast and Furious" operation perpetrated by Department of Justice officials who approved and allowed illegal sales of guns to known violent criminals.

"

External links

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Federal policy on laws governing guns and firearms, 2017-2020

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Ballotpedia: The Encyclopedia of American Politics

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Pakland School Shooting
Sandy Hook Shooting

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Reminder find 2 videos and look over articles and 5 images

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Reminder find 2 videos and look over articles and 5 images