Gun Control

GUN CONTROL, OR THE monitoring and restriction of the public use of firearms, is thought by the left to be a useful tool in the control of crime. The history of gun control in the United States is both a matter of support and refutation of the assertion that gun control reduces crime and accidental deaths.

Since the writing of the Second Amendment to the Constitution (granting the right to citizens to bear arms), there has been much debate over how and if the government can regulate gun ownership. In 1813, the first state legislation prohibiting the concealment of weapons was passed. Since then, many states and towns have passed laws prohibiting the concealment of firearms. The federal government has also passed many acts to try to control the sale and possession of firearms. The Sullivan Law was passed in New York in 1911 after the shootings of Mayor William J. Gaynov and popular novelist David Graham Philips. This law, which is still in effect today, stood as a model for gun legislation for 50 years. The law requires people to acquire a license to possess or carry a firearm small enough to conceal. The law also made it illegal for aliens to possess firearms in any public place.

The Mailing of Firearms Act (MFA) was signed into law in 1927 by President Calvin Coolidge. The MFA, also known as the Miller Act, is also still in effect today. This law prohibits the sending of pistols and other firearms, which could be concealed on a person, through the mail. Representative Miller, who was a Republican representative from Seattle, Washington, wrote the bill and also a letter to President Coolidge stating that the ability to send firearms through the mail was tempting minors into criminal activity. The United National Association of Post Office Clerks also passed a resolution that supported the bill.

In 1938, the Federal Firearms Act was passed into law. This act regulated the interstate sale of firearms and other weapons. Manufacturers, dealers, and importers were required to become licensed and pay a registration fee. People convicted of a felony, fugitives from justice, persons under indictment, or those failing to meet local licensing requirements could no longer legally purchase a gun. However, the dealer was not responsible for selling a gun to those who were not allowed to purchase a gun, unless he/she did so knowingly, and in 1938 background checks were not performed. This act was replaced by the Gun Control Act of 1968.

Members of Congress began to write this act in 1963 with a bill to prohibit mail-order sales of handguns to minors. However, after John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in November 1963 with a mail-order rifle, the bill was expanded to include a ban on mail-order sales of shotguns and rifles. In 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy were both assassinated with guns.

The Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed as a response and included the following provisions: limiting foreign and interstate transportation of firearms to manufactures, dealers and importers; prohibiting interstate shipments of pistols and revolvers to private individuals; restricting gun purchases to a person's state of residency; imposing a licensing fee of $10; prohibiting minors from receiving a license or purchasing rifles, shotguns or ammunition; prohibiting sales of pistols and ammunition to anyone under 21; detailed record keeping requirement for dealers and collectors; restriction of the purchase of foreign military surplus firearms to those used in hunting; registration and transfer tax requirements on “destructive devices” such as bazookas, anti-tank guns, and mortars; prohibition of convicted felons, the mentally incompetent, and drug addicts from shipping or receiving weapons; and an extra punishment of a minimum of one year added to sentences of those who used a firearm to commit a crime that involved the breaking of any federal law.

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