Gun Control

Gun control can help towards lowering the number of lives lost each year through problems associated with gun ownership. Europe, which has much stricter gun-control laws than the United States, also has a much lower rate of gun-related deaths. The rate of gun-related deaths in the United States is 8 times higher than that of other high-income countries. ⁽⁹⁾

Banning Handguns

On the Handguns page, you see that handguns are the cause of most gun-related problems. Banning these guns would save many lives each year.

Banning the manufacture and sale of "junk" guns

A particularly dangerous type of handgun is the "junk" gun also known as "Saturday Night Special". Junk guns are cheap, low-quality handguns with a very small barrel length (under 3 inches). Their short barrels and low quality make them dangerous and unreliable. Their low price and small size make them very popular. Junk guns are the type of handgun most used in violent crimes. It is illegal to import them into the United States, but they can be legally manufactured and sold in most states. The majority of junk guns are produced by the "Ring of Fire", a group of Southern California manufacturers. ⁽¹⁰⁾

A ban on all handguns would be most desirable, but a ban on "junk" guns would already be a great help in reducing the number of gun-related deaths.

Banning Assault Weapons

Assault weapons are semi-automatic and fully automatic rifles, shotguns and handguns designed primarily for military and law enforcement use. (Semi-automatic weapons fire one bullet per trigger pull. Automatic weapons keep firing for as long as the trigger is depressed.) Assault rifles and shotguns are usually lighter and more concealable than standard long guns.

Assault weapons are built to kill large numbers of people quickly and efficiently. They do not belong in the hands of regular citizens.

The current assault weapon ban in the United States has many loopholes that need to be closed. Assault weapons are still being sold with slight cosmetic alterations which allow them to evade the law.

Restrictive Licensing

The studies "Firearm Availability and Unintentional Firearm Deaths, Suicide, and Homicide among 5-14 Year Olds" and "The Kansas City Gun Experiment" reviewed on the Gun Availability page show a strong positive correlation between gun availability and gun-related problems. The results of these studies strongly suggest that restrictive licensing could have a positive effect on lowering the number of gun-related problems.

The effect that restrictive licensing of handguns can have on the number of gun homicides and suicides can be seen in a study conducted about the situation in the District of Columbia before and after a restrictive licensing law went into effect. What follows is a short review of this study.

"Effects of Restrictive Licensing of Handguns on Homicide and Suicide in the District of Columbia"

Study By: C. Loftin, D Mcdowall, B. Wiersema and TJ Cottey. Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 325:1615-1620, December 5, 1991. ⁽⁸⁾

Background: In 1976 the District of Columbia adopted a law that banned the purchase, sale, transfer, or possession of handguns by civilians.

Methods: In the study homicides and suicides that occurred between 1968 and 1987 were classified according to place of occurrence (within the District of Columbia or in the adjacent metropolitan areas where the law did not apply, cause (homicide or suicide), mechanism of death (guns or other means) and time of occurrence (before or after 1976 when the law was adopted).

Results: The study concluded that restrictive licensing of handguns was associated with an immediate decline in homicides and suicides by guns in the District of Columbia. In Washington, D.C. the number of homicides by guns declined 3.3 per month (or 25%) and the number of suicides by guns declined 0.6 (or 23%) after the adoption of the law. There were no similar reductions in the number of homicides or suicides committed by other means than guns. There were also no similar reductions in the adjacent metropolitan areas in Maryland and Virginia. And there were also no increases in homicides or suicides by other means than guns.

Conclusion: The study found that restrictions on access to guns in the District of Columbia prevented an average of 47 deaths each year since the implementation of the law.

Safety Devices

In 2003, a study was done to check whether gun safety devices could actually prevent some gun deaths. What follows is a short preview of this study.

"Unintentional and undetermined firearm related deaths: a preventable death analysis for three safety devices"

Study By: J.S. Vernick, M.O. Brien, L. M. Hepburn, D.W. Webster and S.W. Hargarten. Published in Injury Prevention 2003;9:307-311. ⁽⁵⁾

Background: The study aimed to determine the proportion of unintentional and undetermined gun related deaths preventable by three safety devices:

Personalization device: with these devices, only authorized users are able to operate the gun
Loaded chamber indicator (LCIs): indicates whether the gun contains ammunition
Magazine safety: prevents the gun from firing when the ammunition magazine is removed

Methods: Information about all unintentional and undetermined gun related deaths from 1991-1998 were obtained from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for Maryland and from the Wisconsin Firearm Injury Reporting System for Milwaukee. Each death was classified as either preventable, possibly preventable or not preventable by each of the three safety devices.

Results: Of the 117 gun related deaths, 95% (81%) involved handguns. Some of the results can be found in the following table.

"Unintentional and undetermined firearm related deaths: a preventable
death analysis for three safety devices" study results of 117 cases

Preventable by:	Personalization Device	Loaded Chamber Indicator	Magazine Safety	Not Preventable
Total: 117 Deaths	43 (37%)	23 (20%)	5 (4%)	46 (39%)

Deaths involving children 0-17 were more likely to be preventable. The study findings were projected to the entire United States, which resulted in an estimated 442 preventable deaths in 2000 if all guns had been equipped with these safety devices.

Conclusion: Safety devices incorporated into guns can potentially save hundreds of lives each year.