America is at a crossroads. The USA is experiencing levels of gun violence that are dramatically higher than those of other affluent countries. The USA also leads the world when it comes to mass murder. Over the last few years, our country has witnessed mass shootings in schools and on college campuses, in workplaces, movie theaters, places of worship, nightclubs, and shopping malls. Many Americans report being concerned about being a victim of a mass shooting or of gun violence. 1 As citizens become more vulnerable, there are growing calls for government action, including reforms to gun laws.
At the same time, an increasingly unyielding gun lobby has opposed federal legislation, including seemingly inoffensive laws that have had the support of many gun owners. The power of this lobby was illustrated in the aftermath of the mass murder in December 2012 of 20 school children and 6 staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Even on the heels of such a horrific incident, Congress failed to pass a law that would have expanded background checks to all gun sales, including private sales through the Internet and at gun shows.
Aside from impeding gun law reform, the gun lobby has promoted many state laws over the last 30 years that have expanded the rights of gun owners. These laws have included those that allow gun carrying (both in a concealed and open manner), broadened the circumstances in which lethal force can be used in self-defense (e.g., Stand Your Ground laws), and increased the settings in which guns can be introduced, such as bars, colleges, churches, and even polling stations. The expansion of gun ownersâ rights has continued in some states even after the massacre at Sandy Hook. 2
Expressing indignation about the lack of a national response to the continuing parade of mass shootings and the daily toll taken by gun violence, The New York Times published its first front page editorial in nearly a hundred years on December 4, 2015, two days after the slaughter of 14 people and serious wounding of another 22 in San Bernardino, California. The editors did not mince their words:
It is a moral outrage and a national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed specifically to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency. These are weapons of war, barely modified and deliberately marketed as tools of macho vigilantism and even insurrection. Americaâs elected leaders offer prayers for gun victims and then, callously and without fear of consequence, reject the most basic restrictions on weapons of mass killing. 3
Other countries have responded to mass murders far more decisively. In Canada, a gunman, in 1989, entered the School of Engineering at the University of Montreal, separated the men from the women, and murdered 14 women while screaming, âI hate feminists.â This incident was followed by national laws that banned various military-style weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, introduced gun storage requirements, enhanced screening of gun license applicants, and created a national registry for long guns. 4
In 1996, a gunman murdered 16 primary school children and a teacher in Dunblane, Scotland. This event resulted in the prohibition of virtually all handguns in the UK. 5 In the same year, 35 people were killed and 23 were wounded by a shooter in Port Arthur, Australia. Following this mass shooting, Australiaâs federal government forged an agreement with the states that called for restricted legal possession of automatic and semiautomatic firearms and further restricted the legal importation of nonmilitary centerfire self-loading firearms to those with a maximum magazine capacity of five rounds. The country literally melted down up to a third of its firearms as banned weapons were bought back from the public. 6 In Germany, mass shootings in Erfurt (2002) and Winnenden (2009) led to several reforms, including an increase in the age requirements for weapons purchases, psychological assessment of gun owners under the age of 25, and unannounced random inspections of gun ownersâ homes to ensure compliance with gun storage requirements. 7
The muted response of the USA to the many mass casualty incidents that have occurred over the last few years is a glaring contrast to the experience of these countries. While a powerful gun lobby, spearheaded by the National Rifle Association, has actively resisted efforts to expand background checks and to impose other changes in federal regulations, the countries just mentioned overcame influential gun lobbies of their own to achieve their significant reforms. While other countries have increased restrictions on and banned certain guns, many American states continue to expand the rights of gun owners. One Canadian journalist has referred to Americaâs affinity for guns as a form of âcollective suicide pact.â 8
Our nation has displayed a profound ambivalence toward gun regulation. Aside from the impact on gun policy of the Second Amendment to the Constitution and its contentious reference to the âright of the people to keep and to bear Arms,â public opinion is fairly evenly divided on the issue of the relative importance of gun rights versus gun safety. This said, the vast majority of Americans favor sensible gun laws. This book will examine the Second Amendment and public opinion, although the focus will be on research addressing the impact of guns on public safety and on the most effective solutions to the gun violence problem.
The Toll Taken by Guns
As for the human costs of gun violence, mass shootings have a higher profile, but it is the daily toll of incidents involving fewer casualties that account for most of Americaâs gun-related deaths and injuries. On an average day, more than 90 people are killed in gun homicides, suicides, and accidents. 9 In 2013, 117,894 Americans were either killed or treated for firearm-related injuries. 10 , 11 Every month, the number of American civilians who die from gunfire exceed the number of deaths of US military personnel in the first ten years of the war in Afghanistan. 12 Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times has reported that, since 1970, there have been 1.45 million gun deaths in the USA, a figure that exceeds all the deaths in wars throughout US history, including the Civil War, the two World Wars, and the conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. 13
According to the group Everytown for Gun Safety, there were nearly two mass shootings (at least four people are killed, excluding the shooter) a month between 2009 and 2015. 14 While mass murders occur elsewhere, they are far more commonplace in the USA than in other developed countries.
The statistics on gun ownership and on firearm-related mortality and injuries in the USA can help us understand why so many serious incidents can occur within such a narrow time frame. As of 2007, Americans owned 270 million or 31 % of the worldâs estimated 875 million privately owned guns, while accounting for less than 5 % of the worldâs population. 15 The Violence Policy Center in Washington, DC, has reported that, in 2014, 21 states and the District of Columbia had more deaths due to gunfire than due to car accidents. Data released at the end of 2015 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that, nationally, gun deaths are now as numerous as motor vehicle deaths. 16 This is the case despite the fact that owners drive cars far more often than typical gun owners use their guns. 17 While little headway has been made with regard to regulating guns, cars are subject to licensing and registration, car technologies continue to advance (e.g., rear-view cameras), and road laws ...