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Also TryNews
- Gun Safety Law News and Facts (Jurist)
- Provides news on court cases related to gun control, as well as basic facts and statistics related to gun control laws.
- -Bloomberg Editorial: Six Ways We Can Stop Gun Madness (USA Today)
- "Sunday night, President Obama said he would use whatever powers his office holds to address this violence. He should begin immediately by sending a legislative package to Capitol Hill that the new Congress can consider and vote on as its first order of business when it convenes in January. The package should have three main elements:"
"First, it should prohibit the manufacture and sale of the military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips that have been used in too many mass shootings, including in Newtown. The previous ban on assault weapons expired in 2004. While President George W. Bush supported reinstating it, Congress never acted." 12-12
- -Deaths from Gun Violence Compared to Deaths from Terrorism (MSNBC News)
- “ 'We spend over 1 trillion dollars and pass countless laws and devote entire agencies to preventing terrorist attacks on our soil, and rightfully so,' Obama said after the deadly attack at Umpqua Community College. 'And yet we have a Congress that explicitly blocks us from collecting data on how we could potentially reduce gun deaths. How can that be?' "
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 153,144 people were killed by homicide in which firearms were used between 2001 and 2013, the last year that data are available (that number excludes deaths by 'legal intervention')."
"The Global Terrorism Database — which uses a criteria to determine terrorist attacks but also includes acts of violence that are more ambiguous in goal — estimates that 3,046 people in the U.S. died in terrorist or possible terrorist attacks between 2001 and 2014." 10-15
- -Editorial: Preventing Mass Murder (MotherJones.com)
- "Threat assessment is essentially a three-part process: identifying, evaluating, and then intervening."
"Mass murder is not an impulsive crime—and therein lies the promise of threat assessment." 10-15
- -Editorial: Reducing Gun Violence Is Not About Looking into the Minds of Killers (CNN News)
- "What we do know, based on the best available scientific evidence on the link between violence and mental illness in populations, is that most violence is not caused by a major psychiatric condition like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or depression. Psychiatric disorder accounts for only about 4% of violent behavior, across the spectrum from minor to serious assaultive acts. And the vast majority of people with serious mental illnesses do not behave violently."
"If research on patterns of violence in populations tells us anything, it's that no single thing causes assaultive behavior. Even when serious psychopathology plays a role, it is almost never a sufficient explanation. Other variables -- personal background characteristics and life experience, features of the social environment, substance abuse -- all may interact to make violent acts statistically more likely. That makes it complicated to explain and very difficult to predict actions on an individual level."
"When we total up the contributions of all the risk factors with known links to violent behavior, most of it is left unexplained."
"The present national moment of grief and soul searching should not become another occasion for oversimplifying the problem of gun violence and laying the blame on any one thing -- 'it's the guns' or 'it's untreated mental illness' or 'it's the information system' or 'it's the violent popular culture in society.' It may be all of those things. We need to address all of the variables and come up with smart evidence-based policies. Looking inside the killer's head should not be the first place to start."
Also see Gun Safety Debate.
- -Editorial: The Gun Business Is Doing Well (Truth-Out.com)
- "The gun business in America is booming, despite the decline in households that own guns. As the Washington Post glibly noted this week, "The U.S. gun industry has been one of the brightest spots in the U.S. economy in recent years, even through the recent downturn. This year, it racked up $11.7 billion in sales and $992 million in profits, according to the research firm IBISWorld." Almost 17 million people applied for a background check to purchase a gun in 2012. More than 156 million people have applied since 1998." 12-12
- -Editorial: The Myth of Arming the Good Guys (MotherJones.com)
- "Despite years of this kind of carnage, next to nothing has been changed in our legal system with respect to how easy it is for a disturbed young man to get his hands on a military-style assault rifle and a stockpile of ammunition." 10-15
- -Gabriel Giffords Testifies to Congress on Gun Safety (ABC News)
- "The hearing began with the dramatic statement by Giffords, whose congressional career was ended by a bullet wound to her head two years ago. Giffords, who is still showing effects from the wound, spoke slowly, enunciating each word carefully. The obvious effort gave the statement added force."
" 'Speaking is difficult, but I need to say something important,' she told the panel chaired by Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt."
" 'Violence is a big problem. Too many children are dying. Too many children. We must do something. It will be hard, but the time is now. You must act. Be bold, be courageous, Americans are counting on you. Thank you,' Giffords said before being helped out of the hearing room." 01-13
- -Gun Lobby Following the Example of the Tobacco Industry? (EIN News)
- "While scientists have welcomed President Obama's efforts to restart gun-violence research, many say that passing even modest gun-safety measures will be an uphill battle."
"That's because the gun lobby, researchers say, has followed a familiar and largely successful playbook: that of the tobacco companies." 01-13
- -Gun Safety and Mental Illness (NBC News)
- "According to DJ Jaffe, executive director of the Mental Illness Policy Org, which advocates on behalf of the seriously mentally ill, all the talk of mental health and gun violence obscures a bigger issue – a nationwide struggle with how to care for the mentally ill."
" 'Most of the things they’re discussing are totally irrelevant to helping people with serious mental illness,' Jaffe said. 'No one wants responsibility for the seriously mentally ill.' " 01-13
- -Investors Turn Against Gun Makers (ABC News)
- "Investors shunned some of the nation's largest gun makers Tuesday, putting up for sale the manufacturer of the Bushmaster semiautomatic rifle used in the Connecticut school shooting and worrying that the attack could soon bring stricter gun laws." 12-12
- -Israel Rejects NRA's Guns-in-Schools Claim (CBS News)
- "Israel's policy on issuing guns is restrictive, and armed guards at its schools are meant to stop terrorists, not crazed or disgruntled gunmen, experts said Monday, rejecting claims by America's top gun lobby that Israel serves as proof for its philosophy that the U.S. needs more weapons, not fewer."
"Far from the image of a heavily armed population where ordinary people have their own arsenals to repel attackers, Israel allows its people to acquire firearms only if they can prove their professions or places of residence put them in danger. The country relies on its security services, not armed citizens, to prevent terror attacks."
"Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor spelled it out."
"Because it is aimed at preventing terror attacks, Israel's school security system is part of a multi-layered defense strategy that focuses on prevention and doesn't depend on a guy at a gate with a gun." 12-12
- -Jeb Bush: "Stuff Happens" (Time.com)
- "Presidential candidate Jeb Bush’s comment that 'stuff happens' in response to a question about how Americans can prevent crises like mass shootings on Friday sparked furious outcry on social media and even elicited a response from President Obama—but Bush says his words in the wake of an Oregon school shooting were taken out of context." 10-15
- -Marketing Links Found Between Violent Video Games and Gun Manufacturers (New York Times)
- "As Electronic Arts prepared to market Medal of Honor Warfighter, the latest version of its top-selling video game released in October, it created a Web site that promoted the manufacturers of the guns, knives and combat-style gear depicted in the game." 12-12
- -NRA Demands an Armed Security Officer in Every School (NBC News)
- "National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre blamed Hollywood, video games music, the courts and more on Friday for creating a culture of violence in the United States."
" 'The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,' he said at a Washington press event, adding, 'With all the money in the federal budget can’t we afford to put a police officer in every single school?' " 12-12
- -New York Limits on Guns for Public Safety Upheld by Court (New York Times)
- "A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that New York’s strict new gun laws, including an expanded ban on assault weapons, were constitutional, but struck down a provision forbidding gun owners to load more than seven rounds into a magazine." 01-14
- -No Level l Trauma Centers for Chicago's South Side (CNN News)
- "One bullet hit Foster in her back."
"There was a hospital only a few blocks away, but emergency services followed protocol. They took Foster instead to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, nearly 5 miles away. Advocate Christ is legally certified and better equipped to deal with trauma cases."
"Although the experts say such Level I trauma centers, as they are officially known, give gunshot victims better odds, there are no such centers on Chicago's violence-plagued South Side -- a part of the city where some say they are sorely needed."
"Foster didn't make it."
" 'It's more than sad; it's really crushing,' said her cousin, Camiella Williams. At 25, Williams says, she's lost 20 people she's known to gun violence." 02-13
- -Obama: Our Thoughts and Prayers Are Not Enough (CBS News)
- "President Obama was visibly frustrated when he spoke about a shooting at a community college in Oregon Thursday, saying, 'our thoughts and prayers are not enough.' " 10-15
- -Presenting Facts on Gun-Deaths Per Year Without Bias (CENGAGE)
- Provides the example of gun-control statistics from a source in favor of more gun control and a source against more gun control. One source uses statistics to compare people killed from firearms in the United States with the number killed in war to show that the numbers are similar. The other source shows how many children were killed from firearms to show that it is extremely unlikely that a particular child will be killed by a firearm.
"To conclude, facts in dispute provide you as the researcher with an excellent opportunity to really show your skill as a researcher, not to mention your skill as a critical reader. By seeking out those sources which seem to provide facts within an unbiased framework (like certain government reporting agencies or fact books), by checking multiple sources even when you think you have found incontrovertible statistics, and by making sure you make evident to your reader what the sources of facts are (and then foregrounding when your sources do not necessarily provide identical facts), you can guard against being fooled by opinion masquerading as fact. In turn, you will not then perpetuate the bias by presenting your research to the reader as though it were indisputable fact."
- -President Obama Presents His Plan for Gun Safety (CBS News)
- "Setting the stage for what could be the most sweeping political battle over gun control in decades, President Obama today laid out a comprehensive package for reducing gun violence in America, a multi-part plan he says will not only 'help prevent mass shootings' going forward but also 'reduce the broader epidemic of gun violence in this country.' " 01-13
- -Supreme Court Lets State Assault Weapon Ban Stand (Christian Science Monitor)
- "The Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to assault weapons bans in Connecticut and New York. In doing so, it continued to refine its recent approach to the Second Amendment." 06-16
- -Supreme Court Rules that Gun Rights Extend to All States and Cities (Time.com)
- "The Supreme Court ruled today to extend gun rights to every state and city."
"McDonald v. Chicago, which was split 5-4 along conservative and liberal lines, expanded the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment to individuals in states and cities. It’s a victory for gun rights advocates, who fought against local and state controls on firearms. It’s a major blow to the city of Chicago, which had banned handguns for the past 28 years in one of the country’s strictest gun policies. Now the city’s policy will be reviewed and likely overturned."
- -Teacher Talks Armed Student into Stopping (CNN News)
- "The teacher stood in the classroom, face-to-face with his 16-year-old student, who was holding a shotgun."
"Ryan Heber, 40, talked to the teen, trying to persuade him to end an armed assault in which one student had already been shot." 01-13
- -Teacher's Fund Reviewing Firearm Holdings (ABC News)
- "The nation's largest teachers' pension fund announced Tuesday that it was reviewing its firearms holdings after determining that its investment in a gun maker was linked to one of the weapons used in last week's Connecticut school massacre."
"The California State Teachers' Retirement System, which manages $155 billion in assets, was reviewing whether those investments comply with the fund's own social and ethical standards." 12-12
- -Weapon of Choice Is Guns (NBC News)
- "Guns are used in about seven out of 10 murders in the U.S., according to FBI statistics. The weapons of choice are guns, 68 percent; knife, 13 percent; fists or feet, 6 percent; other, 6 percent; and unknown, 7 percent." 02-13
- 10 Pro-Gun Myths (MotherJones.com)
- Provides myths. 12-15
- A Summary of the Gun Safety Debate (Awesome Library)
- Provides a summary of key positions on the debate regarding gun control. Also provides comments from the Editor.
- A Summary of the Gun Safety Debate: Views of Senators (PBS.org)
- Provides a summary of key positions on the debate regarding gun control. Examples of strategies to reduce gun deaths include: background checks, red flag laws, closing the Charleston loophole, improve treatment for mental illness and depression, allowing school officials to carry firearms, getting untraceable guns and military assault weapons off the streets, implementing gun buy back programs, preventing children from having access to unsecured weapons, and improving licensing laws, 05-22
- Disturbing Trends in Gun Violence (PBS.org)
- "There's some very disturbing trends going on through the pandemic that are correlated with an increased risk of violence." 05-22
- Executive Actions to Reduce Gun Violence (WhiteHouse.gov)
- "When the President unveiled his plan to reduce gun violence on January 16th, it included 23 executive actions to make sure the Administration was taking essential and rapid steps to reduce gun violence and to save lives. As this report demonstrates, the Administration has completed or made significant progress on all 23 executive actions."
Also see Gun Control Debate. 12-13
- Guns and Children (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry)
- Provides basic suggestions.
- How Does the US Compare with the Rest of the World on Gun Policies? (PBS.org)
- The United States, with less than 5 percent of the world’s population, has 46 percent of the world’s civilian-owned guns, according to a 2018 report by the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey. It ranks number one in firearms per capita. The United States also has the highest homicide-by-firearm rate of the world’s most-developed nations. But many gun rights proponents say these statistics do not indicate a causal relationship." 05-22
- Modern History of Policing in the United States (Time.com)
- "The first publicly funded, organized police force with officers on duty full-time was created in Boston in 1838. Boston was a large shipping commercial center, and businesses had been hiring people to protect their property and safeguard the transport of goods from the port of Boston to other places, says Potter. These merchants came up with a way to save money by transferring to the cost of maintaining a police force to citizens by arguing that it was for the 'collective good.' ”
"In the South, however, the economics that drove the creation of police forces were centered not on the protection of shipping interests but on the preservation of the slavery system."
04-21
- Retired Supreme Court Justice: Repeal the Second Amendment (Time.com)
- "Retired Associate Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has an idea for addressing gun violence in America: repeal the Second Amendment."
"In an op-ed published in the New York Times Tuesday, the 97-year-old former Supreme Court justice argues that advocates for stricter gun control legislation should take the next step and demand the removal of the Second Amendment entirely." 03-18
- Target Requests Customers Not to Carry Guns in Stores (MSNBC News)
- "Target management on Wednesday changed its firearms policy to prevent armed customers from entering the retail store’s locations." 07-14
- The School Shooting Generation Has Had Enough (Time.com)
- "After the fire alarm went off during his AP environmental science class, Hogg took a video of students crouching inside a tiny classroom to hide from the shooter. The video went viral, landing him a recurring spot on the cable-TV circuit. The next day, Kasky invited Wind and Corin over to his house to plan a march for gun reform. Together, they started the #NeverAgain hashtag on Twitter."
"Most of these kids cannot vote, order a beer, make a hotel reservation or afford a pizza without pooling some of their allowance. On the surface, they’re not so different from previous generations of idealistic teenagers who set out to change the world, only to find it is not so easy. Yet over the past month, these students have become the central organizers of what may turn out to be the most powerful grassroots gun-reform movement in nearly two decades. For much of the rest of the country, numbed and depressed by repeated mass shootings, the question has become, Can these kids actually do it?" 03-18