US v. UK: Gun Laws

Gun Laws and Terror

by Trinity Tedtsen

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Background

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1996 and 2012

On March 13, 1996, in Dunblane, Scottland a 43-year-old man with four handguns stormed into the local primary school killing 16 children and one teacher before killing himself.

On December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut a 20-year-old man shot his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School with a semi-automatic rifle, fatally shooting 20 children and six adults before killing himself.

The response following these two very similar events could not have been more different. The public outcry from the community in Dunblane spurred political action to ban the private ownership of automatic weapons and handguns on Britain's mainland.The community in Newtown, agreeing in their grief, could not come to a consensus on what to do about it. There has been no rewriting of gun control laws in the United States. Some ideas involved adding more guns to school in the hands of law enforcement or registered teachers. The second amendment of the United States Constitution has created a gun culture in the United States that is absent in other Western societies.

Gun Culture

US Federal Gun Laws

National Firearms Act

• enacted in 1934 as part of the Internal Revenue Code
• first federal regulation of the manufacture and transfer of firearms
• Regulated a federal tax on the manufacture, sale, and transfer of certain classes of firearms
• Has been amended and revised by subsequent acts
• Currently imposes an excise tax and registration requirements on narrow categories of firearms including machine guns, short-barreled shotguns or rifles, and silencers
• Also includes certain smooth-bore handguns

Federal Firearms Act

• imposed federal license requirement on gun manufacturers, importers, and anyone selling firearms
• Required licensees to maintain customer records
• Made it illegal the transfer of firearms of certain classes of persons, i.e. Felons
• Repealed by gun act of 1968
• Partially reenacted by subsequent act

Gun Control Act of 1968

• revised NFA and FFA reenact of and expanding of prior acts and repealing FFA
• Enacted prohibition of importation of firearms "with no sporting purpose"
• Nothing regulates domestic manufacture or sale of firearms which would not pass the federal criteria for determining whether a firearm has a "sporting purpose"
• Established minimum ages for firearms purchasers
• Requirement that all firearms have a serial number on them
• Expansion of categories of prohibited persons

Firearms Owners' Protection Act

• 1986
• Liberalized many restrictions on sellers of firearms
• Enacted provisions that legalized sales by licensed dealers away from the location shown on the dealers license if at a "gun show" within the same state
• Limited the number of inspections of dealers' premises which could be conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms without a search warrant
• Prevented the federal government from maintaining a central database of firearms dealer records
• Loosened the requirement for what constitutes "engaging in the business" of firearms sales for purposes of a federal license
• Revealed several key Public Safety provisions originally enacted by the GCA
• Eliminated the requirements that dealers keep sale records of ammunition transfers and that sellers of ammunition be licensed
• lifted the ban on interstate transfers of ammunition to unlicensed purchasers

Brady Act

• 1993
• Affected amendments to the GCA originally imposing a five day waiting period for law-enforcement to review the background of a perspective handgun purchaser before licensed dealer was entitled to complete the sale of a handgun to that person
• The purpose of the check is to allow law enforcement to confirm that the prospective buyer is not a prohibited purchaser before the sale is completed
• The five day waiting period has now been replaced with an instant check system which can be extended to three days if the results of the check are not clear
• persons who have a federal firearms license or a state issued a permit to possess or acquire a firearm are not subject to the waiting period requirement
• As more states enact "shall issue" concealed carry permit laws, this category of persons exempt from the Brady act increases
• In 1998 the act became applicable to shotguns and rifles

Federal Assault Weapons Ban

• subtitle of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994
• Formally codified 1) the manufacture, transfer, or possession of semi-automatic assault weapons and 2) the transfer and possession of large capacity ammunition feeding devices
• Banned 19 types, models, and series of assault weapon by name and any semi-automatic firearm with at least two specified military features coupled with the ability to accept a detachable magazine
• Only banned the transfer and possession of assault weapons and large capacity feeding devices manufactured after the date of the ban's enactment
• The AWB contained a sunset provision declaring that it would expire 10 years from attachment. Congress allowed the ban to expire on September 13, 2004

Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act and Child Safety Lock Act

• Provided the gun industry with immunity from most tort liability
• Prohibited a "qualified civil liability action" from being brought in any state or federal court and required immediate dismissal of any such action upon the date the PLCAA was enacted
• A "Qualified civil liability action" is a civil or administrative action or proceeding brought against a manufacturer or seller of firearms or ammunition, or a trade association that has two or more members who are manufacturers or sellers of firearms or ammunition for relief, if the action resulted from the criminal or unlawful misuse of a qualified product by the person or third party with certain exceptions
• "unlawful misuse" is defined as conduct that violates a statute ordinance or regulation

National Instant Criminal Background Check System Improvement Amendments Act

• provided financial incentives for states to provide to NICS information relevant to whether a person is prohibited from possessing firearms, including the names and other relevant identifying information of persons adjudicated as a mental defective or those committed to a mental institution
• The NICS Act also change the standard for persons deemed to be "adjudicated as a mental defective" or "committed to a mental institution" by federal agency or department
• The act authorized the attorney general to make grants to states for use in establishing and upgrading their states' ability to report information, including mental health information
• In order to be eligible for the grants, the state must implement a "relief from disabilities" program that meets the Act requirements

Gun Control

...and so on and so forth...

Section 2: Deliverable

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