Bloomberg Topics: Gun Control
The Guardian: US gun control
Mother Jones: Guns
The NRA vs. America
How the country’s biggest gun-rights group thwarts regulation
and helps put military-grade weapons in the hands of killers
Firearms, gun control and politics
Firearms, gun control and politics – 2018 student movement
Guns with a History – should be shown before a sale to every gun purchaser!
How much do you know about the Second Amendment? A quiz.
Firearms, gun control and politics /2015-2017
A Push for 3-D Weapons by One of the World’s ‘Most Dangerous People’
(NYT) For Cody Wilson, this week had long been in the making. For more than five years, the professed gun-rights and free-speech advocate had sought to publish online his blueprints for a downloadable gun, but had repeatedly been blocked by the federal government.
Until Tuesday evening, it looked like he finally would get his way. But hours before the schematics for a 3-D gun called the Liberator were expected to be posted — so-called for the single-shot handguns that the Allies designed as an insurgency weapon in World War II — a federal judge granted a temporary nationwide injunction blocking Mr. Wilson and his company, Defense Distributed.
No stranger to controversy, Mr. Wilson was listed by Wired magazine as one of the 15 Most Dangerous People in the World in 2012, the year he began Defense Distributed.
(Wired) A Landmark Legal Shift Opens Pandora’s Box for DIY Guns
Cody Wilson makes digital files that let anyone 3-D print untraceable guns. The government tried to stop him. He sued—and won.
24-26 July
Federal government taking serious look at handgun ban in wake of Toronto shooting
(Globe & Mail) A proposal to ban handguns is under serious consideration, according to a senior official, who was not authorized to speak on the record. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and senior civil servants have been tasked with examining the idea of a ban, which Toronto City Council endorsed after a mass shooting this week that killed two and injured 13.
Opinion: Would a ban on guns save lives? Look at places where it did
Explainer: A primer on this summer’s shootings in Toronto and how politicians are responding
Toronto Votes For A Total Ban On Handgun Sales After Mass Shooting
“Why does anyone in this city need to have a gun at all?” Mayor John Tory asked at a city council meeting on Monday (HuffPost)
Globe editorial: Rethinking Canada’s outdated gun-control laws
Danforth shootings leave some Torontonians wondering whether city is ‘unravelling’
Bullets and bills: The cost of getting shot in America (video)
(BBC) Megan Hobson still cannot walk properly since being caught in a crossfire of bullets in Florida six years ago. But for her and many other shooting victims, the price of survival is not just months of rehabilitation and operations. It is tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills with no end in sight.
7 May
Oliver North Is Named N.R.A. President
Oliver L. North, who became a household name in the 1980s for his role in the Iran-contra scandal, will become the next president of the National Rifle Association, the gun rights organization said Monday.
“Oliver North is a legendary warrior for American freedom, a gifted communicator and skilled leader,” Wayne LaPierre, the organization’s chief executive, said in a statement. “In these times, I can think of no one better suited to serve as our President.”
More than 40 “active shooter” episodes in schools have been recorded in the United States since 2000, according to F.B.I. and news reports. Two 15-year-old students were killed and 18 more people were injured last month in a school in rural Benton, Ky. The shootings have become common enough that many schools, including Stoneman Douglas High, run annual drills in which students practice huddling in classrooms behind locked (NYT 14 Feb 2018)
We keep seeing this In 1996, Australia Enacted Strict Gun Laws. It Hasn’t Had a Mass Shooting Since and similar stories from other countries, why can’t the U.S. follow suit? Oh, those other countries did not have to cope with the NRA and/or 2nd Amendment.
A must read: Five types of gun laws the Founding Fathers loved
By Professor Saul Cornell
(The Conversation) I have been researching and writing about the history of gun regulation and the Second Amendment for the past two decades. When I began this research, most people assumed that regulation was a relatively recent phenomenon, something associated with the rise of big government in the modern era. Actually, while the founding generation certainly esteemed the idea of an armed population, they were also ardent supporters of gun regulations. (Updated 20 February 2018)
28 February
Trump rejects years of GOP dogma on guns as he scolds Republicans for being ‘petrified’ of NRA
(Globe & Mail) In a little over an hour on Wednesday, Donald Trump threw years of Republican dogma on guns out the window.
He pushed for comprehensive background checks for gun purchasers and supported instituting a minimum age to buy a rifle. He torpedoed a measure under consideration to make concealed weapons easier to carry nationwide. And he castigated his fellow Republicans for being “petrified” of the National Rifle Association.
To be sure, Mr. Trump does seem to want Congress to take action in response to the Florida shooting. However, it is not clear what steps he truly supports – and whether he is willing to do the heavy lifting that will be required to enact them.
Meanwhile, public pressure on elected officials and companies remains high: On Wednesday, both Dick’s Sporting Goods and Walmart said they would stop selling guns and ammunition to anyone under 21
22 February
Assault Weapons Not Protected by Second Amendment, Federal Appeals Court Rules
Dear America, here’s how other countries stop mass shootings
(Quartz) … as 18-year-old Parkland survivor Sam Zeif pointed out, one well-known idea has already been consistently proven to stop mass shootings: Stricter gun laws.
Research shows that countries with fewer guns have lower homicide rates. Even US states with fewer guns have fewer homicides; in a landmark 2002 study, analysis of data from 1988 to 1997 showed that states with “high” gun ownership had three times the rate of homicide than states with few guns. A decade later, a 2013 study found that every percentage point increase in gun ownership corresponded to a 0.9% higher risk of gun homicide. Countries and states that legally limit overall gun ownership simply have fewer gun deaths.
21 February
(LATimes) Tuesday’s announcement on the proposed bump stock ban came on the heels of a new poll showing more than 6 in 10 Americans fault Congress and Trump for not doing enough to prevent mass shootings. But there’s less consensus on which path forward lawmakers should take.
20 February
Trump to take steps to ban bump stocks
(The Hill) It does not appear that a bump stock device was used in the Florida shooting, nor does it appear a prohibition on the devices would have stopped that shooter.
Still, Trump’s remarks illustrate a desire on the part of the White House to show action on the issue of guns as students from the school and around the country demand change.
17 February
Prominent Republican Donor Issues Ultimatum on Assault Weapons
(NYT) A prominent Republican political donor demanded on Saturday that the party pass legislation to restrict access to guns, and vowed not to contribute to any candidates or electioneering groups that did not support a ban on the sale of military-style firearms to civilians.
In Florida, Extraordinary Obstacles for Changes to Gun Laws
16 February
This pretty much says it all.
(Daily Beast) “Several senior Trump aides expressed concern to The Daily Beast that Trump could potentially find himself in a situation in Parkland where he is trapped with grieving parents or students who harangue him about his administration’s position on guns, creating horrible optics and more negative press for the president.
15 February
A well argued piece against public ownership of AR-15
I understand that people want to be able to own guns. That’s ok. We just need to really think about how we’re managing this. Yes, we have to manage it, just as we manage car ownership. People have to get a license to operate a car, and if you operate a car without a license, you’re going to get in trouble for that. We manage all things in society that can pose a danger to other people by their misuse. In addition to cars, we manage drugs, alcohol, exotic animals (there are certain zip codes where you can’t own Serval cats, for example), and fireworks, among other things. We restrict what types of businesses can operate in which zones of the city or county. We have a whole system of permitting for just about any activity a person wants to conduct since those activities could affect others, and we realize, as a society, that we need to try to minimize the risk to other people that comes from the chosen activities of those around them in which they have no say. Gun ownership is the one thing our country collectively refuses to manage, and the result is a lot of dead people.
Voters, pay attention: On guns and ‘dreamers,’ Republicans reveal who they are
By Jennifer Rubin
The last 24 hours demonstrate, unless anyone had any doubt, that Republicans are unwilling to consider any reasonable gun measures, even reconsidering the bill they passed last year making it easier for mentally ill Social Security disability-benefits recipients to get guns. Nothing to be done. Now is not the time, House Speaker Paul Ryan intoned, sounding like a parody that frustrated critics of the National Rifle Association would use to mock him.
14 February
Death Toll Is at 17 and Could Rise in Shooting
(NYT) More than 40 “active shooter” episodes in schools have been recorded in the United States since 2000, according to F.B.I. and news reports. Two 15-year-old students were killed and 18 more people were injured last month in a school in rural Benton, Ky. The shootings have become common enough that many schools, including Stoneman Douglas High, run annual drills in which students practice huddling in classrooms behind locked
13 February
‘The Trump slump’: Remington files for bankruptcy as gun sales tumble
With Trump in the White House, America’s gun manufacturers are in trouble after a golden era under Barack Obama
(The Guardian) “They call it the Trump slump,” said Robert Spitzer, a professor at the State University of New York at Cortland and the author of five books on guns.
“Gun sales have become politicized to a great degree,” he said. “Gun purchases recently have been made not just because someone wants a new product but to make a statement; not just because of fears that there might be tighter regulation but also to make a statement against Obama.”
With Trump in the White House, said Spitzer, gun sales had sharply defaulted to their long-term trend of declining ownership rates.
“Gun ownership has been declining since the 1970s and there are now fewer gun owners than ever,” said Spitzer. Fewer people are hunting, younger people are less interested in gun ownership and the gun industry has had little success in its attempts to appeal to women and minorities.
The US has the highest rate of gun ownership in the world with 88 guns for every 100 people. But just 3% of the population owns an average of 17 guns each, with an estimated 7.7 million super-owners in possession of between eight and 140 guns apiece.