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Gun Control And Gun Trafficking Term Paper

" (Foster, 1999) Within this framework there is no reference to gun ownership by individuals and according to Foster's report: "...it is reasonable to assume that private arms are intended for destruction under the term." (Foster, 1999) The work of David B. Kopel, a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan and presently a practicing attorney in Colorado writes in the work entitled: "Trust the People: The Case Against Gun Control" a policy brief published at the Cato Institute that: "Gun control is based on the faulty notion that ordinary American citizens are too clumsy and ill-tempered to be trusted with weapons. Only through the blatant abrogation of explicit constitutional rights is gun control even possible." (1988) Kopel relates that less than one in 3,000 gun owners commit murder. Each year approximately 7,000 individuals commit suicide and 300 or fewer people die in accidents involving handguns. As a matter of fact, police are 5.5 times more likely to hit an innocent bystander when shooting a gun than a civilian shooter. Finally, it must be related that guns are used effectively by civilians against criminals. Statistics show that in the case where a robbery victim does not defend himself the robberies are successful 88% of the time. Kopel states that gun control further violates the Fourth Amendment which states that there must exist 'probable cause' for search and seizure and furthermore that gun control has "...a deleterious effect on the Fifth Amendment (due process of law). Gun control is also suspect under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, for it harms those groups that have been traditionally victimized by society's inequities." (1988) the forefathers of the United States who led the American Revolution were greatly in support of widespread gun ownership. Kopel relates the fact that: "Virtually all the political philosophers whose ideas were known to the Founders - such as Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Machiavelli, Montesquieu, Beccaria, Locke, and Sidney - agreed that a republic could not endure long without an armed citizenry." (1988)

SUMMARY and CONCLUSION

It is clear that gun control does not deter crime and it is just as clear that gun control has not slowed down the trafficking of guns but in fact research shows just the opposite effects of gun control. Gun control actually results in those who need guns for protection from criminals failing to have a gun while the criminals are still able to obtain the guns that they need to commit the crimes against unarmed citizens with no protection. It is critically important that American citizens become informed of the issues surrounding gun control and that the American public become engaged in the ongoing dialogue relating to this issue. While certainly there must be laws relating to gun ownership, it is not necessary that those laws render the average American citizen unable to apply for and be granted the right to own a gun for self-protection as well as for protection of their home and their family. Furthermore, the sensationalism of news media hype should be addressed in a manner that requires news media to retract or correct false statements in news reports of issues surrounding gun control and the commission of gun crimes. Clearly, there are several provisions within the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights that absolutely in no manner are cohesive with gun control laws and it is the citizens of the United States that must take issue through contacting their senators and representatives concerning gun control legislation...

Gun Control (2006) the New World Disorder - WorldNetDaily. 16 June 2006. Online available at http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50671
Foster, Sarah (1999) the 40-year Gun Grab: '60s disarmament plan still going strong, say U.N. critics. Panic in the Year Zero. 13 Dec 1999. WorldNetDaily. Online available at http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=17280

Bowers, Faye (2007) U.S. Steadies Its Aim at Gun Trafficking Into Mexico. 20 July 2007. Christian Science Monitor. Online available at http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0720/p01s05-usfp.html?page=1.

U.S. Spent $27 Million to Destroy Small Arms, Light Weapons (2006) U.S. Department of State 9 June 2006. USINFO.STATE.GOV online available at http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m=June&x=20060609171603sjhtrop0.2761042&t=xarchives/xarchitem.html

Swartz, Emma (2007) Harder to Follow the Guns. Nation and World. U.S. News and World Report. 26 July 2007. Online available at http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070715/23guns.b.htm

Beale, Sara. (2006) the News Media's Influence on Criminal Justice Policy: How Market-Driven News Promotes Punitiveness. William and Mary Law Review 48 (2006):397-433.

Cardwell, Diane. House Panel Supports Limiting Access to Data on Guns, Dealing a Blow to Bloomberg. July 13, 2007 Retrieved July 18, 2007.

Mauser, Garay a, and Don B. Kates.(2006) Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder and Suicide? A Review of International Evidence. Legal Series paper 1564. Berkeley (2006).

Roth, Randolph. (2002) Counting Guns. Social Science History 26:4 (2002). At the 2001 Social Science History Association convention in Chicago, the Crime and Justice forum on the history of gun ownership, gun use, and gun violence in the U.S.

Koper, Christopher S. (2005) Purchase of Multiple Firearms as a Risk Factor for Criminal Gun Use: Implications for Criminal Gun Policy and Enforcement. Criminology & Public Policy; Nov 2005, Vol. 4 Issue 4, p749-777, 29p

Donohue, John, and Ian Ayres.(2003)Shooting Down the More Guns, Less Crime Hypothesis. Center for the Study of Law and Society Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program paper 2. University of California, (2003).

Spaid, Elizabeth Levit. (1995) Gunrunning in Georgia draws fire. Christian Science Monitor; 2/14/95, Vol. 87 Issue 55, p4, 1c

Kohn, a.; Kaminer, W. Kates, D. And Krauss, M. (2005) Straight Shooting on Gun Control: A Reason Debate. ReasonOnline. May 2005. Online available at http://www.reason.com/news/show/32181.html

Krouse, William J. (2006) Gun Legislation in the 109th Congress. CRS Report for Congress. Received through the CRS Web. Order Code RL32842. Online Available at http://www.house.gov/english/pdf/guncontrol.pdf.

Bowers, Faye (2007) U.S. Steadies Its Aim at Gun Trafficking Into Mexico. 20 June 2007. The Christian Scinece Monitor. Online available at http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0720/p01s05-usfp.html?page=1

James Wright, Peter Rossi, and Kathleen Daly, Under the Gun: Weapons, Crime and Violence in America (Hawthorne, N.Y.: Aldine, 1983)

Kopel, David B. (1988) Trust the People: The Case Against Gun Control. Cato Policy Institute Analysis No. 109 11 July 1988. Online available at http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa109.html#4

The Relationship Between Gun Control and Gun Trafficking

Sources used in this document:
Bibliography

NRA Warns of U.N. Gun Control (2006) the New World Disorder - WorldNetDaily. 16 June 2006. Online available at http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50671

Foster, Sarah (1999) the 40-year Gun Grab: '60s disarmament plan still going strong, say U.N. critics. Panic in the Year Zero. 13 Dec 1999. WorldNetDaily. Online available at http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=17280

Bowers, Faye (2007) U.S. Steadies Its Aim at Gun Trafficking Into Mexico. 20 July 2007. Christian Science Monitor. Online available at http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0720/p01s05-usfp.html?page=1.

U.S. Spent $27 Million to Destroy Small Arms, Light Weapons (2006) U.S. Department of State 9 June 2006. USINFO.STATE.GOV online available at http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m=June&x=20060609171603sjhtrop0.2761042&t=xarchives/xarchitem.html
Swartz, Emma (2007) Harder to Follow the Guns. Nation and World. U.S. News and World Report. 26 July 2007. Online available at http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070715/23guns.b.htm
Kohn, a.; Kaminer, W. Kates, D. And Krauss, M. (2005) Straight Shooting on Gun Control: A Reason Debate. ReasonOnline. May 2005. Online available at http://www.reason.com/news/show/32181.html
Krouse, William J. (2006) Gun Legislation in the 109th Congress. CRS Report for Congress. Received through the CRS Web. Order Code RL32842. Online Available at http://www.house.gov/english/pdf/guncontrol.pdf.
Bowers, Faye (2007) U.S. Steadies Its Aim at Gun Trafficking Into Mexico. 20 June 2007. The Christian Scinece Monitor. Online available at http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0720/p01s05-usfp.html?page=1
Kopel, David B. (1988) Trust the People: The Case Against Gun Control. Cato Policy Institute Analysis No. 109 11 July 1988. Online available at http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa109.html#4
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