Violent Crime - Guns A-plenty
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, there were approximately 44 million gun owners in the United States in 1997. That is equivalent to a quarter of all adults and means that 40% of all households contain one or more firearms. Approximately 37,500 guns are sold within the United States every day; 17,800 are handguns. Our right to keep and bear arms is very much alive and well.
Considering the number of guns present in the society at large, it is almost surprising that more crimes are not committed with the aid of a gun. In 1994 alone, close to 600,000 guns were reported stolen during burglaries. In the following year, 503,600 violent crimes were committed in which a firearm was used.
About half of all violent crimes are committed with the use of a firearm, including homicides. Of all those arrested under suspicion of having committed a violent crime in 1999, 53% were for crimes committed with a gun. This was down from a high of 77% in 1993. When segregated by type of crime, the percentages vary. Sixty-six percent of murders in 2000 were committed with a firearm, as were 41% of robberies and 18% of aggravated assaults. The use of a firearm was involved in fewer than 18% of all other violent crimes.
The prevalence of firepower in our midst, combined with high rates of crime during the 1970s and 1980s, caused a rejuvenation of the debate about the merits of gun control. When debating this controversial subject, many are motivated by a belief that stricter gun regulations are a reasonable means of saving lives by reducing violent crime as well as other firearm-related deaths. Many others are fearful that gun regulations will slowly whittle away the right to have firearms and, in so doing, make the citizens of the nation vulnerable to tyranny. Underlying these views are strong philosophical positions. Events tend to influence the mood of the nation on this subject.
In 1934 congress passed the National Firearms Act, the nation's first federal gun control law. The law imposed a tax on the manufacture, sale, and transfer of sawed-off shotguns, sawed-off rifles, machine guns, and silencers. It also required buyers to fill out paperwork subject to Treasury Department approval. The mood of the nation was one of concern about the lawlessness and gangster culture that had evolved during the prohibition era. This law was intended to combat these forces.
The Federal Firearms Act followed in 1938. This act targeted sellers and shippers of arms and required that they obtain a federal firearms license. Sellers were also required to start keeping records of the names and addresses of all purchasers of firearms. Sales to known criminals were prohibited.
From 1938 through the mid-1960s, crime rates were down. No new gun control legislation passed.
Between 1960 and 1970, the homicide rate grew 77%. In 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated with a gun. In 1965 Malcolm X was assassinated with a gun. In 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated with guns. In 1968 the Gun Control Act was passed.
The Gun Control Act of 1968 increased the number of categories of people who are prohibited from purchasing or owning guns. It also established a serial number requirement on all guns, prohibited the import of a variety of types of firearms, and authorized federal officials to inspect arms dealers' records and inventories. It greatly expanded the law established in the two earlier firearms acts. In 1970 Nixon declared a "war on drugs."
In 1981 there was an attempted assassination of President Reagan who was injured in the gun attack but not as severely as his Press Secretary, James Brady. As Mr. Brady recovered, he and his wife became active in the organization Handgun Control, Inc. In the mid-1980s they spearheaded a gun control initiative that bears the Brady name.
Between 1985 and 1993, the number of violent crimes committed in the United States increased 47% and the percentage of these that were committed with a gun rose 16%. In 1994 the Brady Handgun Violence Protection Act became law.
This law is best known as the Brady Bill or the Brady Law. Its primary features are the establishment of a five-day waiting period during which a background check must be run on anyone buying a gun. The law also authorized the development of a National Instant Criminal Background Check System to be run by the Federal Bureau of Investigations. This system was put into service in 1998.
The 1990s were a period of much legislative activity in the area of gun control. The first law passed was the Brady Bill, followed shortly thereafter by the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. It is generally referred to as the assault weapons ban. This act increased the number of categories of semi-automatic weapons that are illegal to manufacture, sell, or to possess.
In 1996 the Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban became law. This law increases the list of those for whom gun ownership is prohibited to include anyone who has ever been convicted of a misdemeanor domestic violence offense or is currently subject to a restraining order regarding an intimate partner or the child of such a partner.
The late 1990s saw a decline in all types of crime. Between 1993 and 2000, violent crime dropped 27% and the portion of violent crimes committed with a gun dropped 20%. The economy was strong and people felt secure. There was no loud push for new gun control legislation. The mood was shifting away from concern for more gun control legislation as the crime rate dropped.
In September of 2001 the nation was stunned by a series of terrorist acts which took place on Tuesday the 11th. The mood became one of uncertainty and concern. Early and anecdotal reports from gun dealers suggest that gun sales soared in the second half of 2001. According to an article in the Christian Science Monitor, "…since September 11, it appears that Americans nationwide are finding comfort, increasingly, in a warm gun… And a Gallup poll taken a month after the attacks found American's desire for stricter firearm laws had dropped, with only 53% in support of such measures — the number had not been below 60% for nearly a decade."
The debate about gun control is one that will, no doubt, rage on. Is the drop in crime experienced in the late 1990s due in part to the Brady Handgun Violence Protection Act of 1993? Are most guns used in criminal actions purchased through legal means? We really don't know. We do know that fewer guns used in the commission of crimes by felons behind bars in 1997 were purchased legally than had been by those incarcerated in 1991, 14% in 1997 versus 21% in 1991.
If history is any guide in this matter we will likely see more support for gun control regulation if and when the crime rate begins to rise. In the meantime, existing laws will be enforced and the debate will continue.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Estimated Firearm Crime, "Murders, Robberies, and Aggravated Assaults in which a Firearm were Used, 1973-2000," available online at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/tables/guncrimetab.htm . Firearm Use by Offenders, November 2001, p. 1. U.S. Department of Justice, Promising Strategies to Reduce Gun Violence, section 1, available online at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/fuo.pdf. Chinni, Dante and Tim Vanderpool, "More in US Carry Guns; Restrictions Lose Support," The Christian Science Monitor, December 2001, p.1, section 3.
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