NCJ Number
153750
Journal
Saint Louis University Public Law Review Volume: 12 Dated: (1993) Pages: 285-357
Date Published
1993
Length
73 pages
Annotation
A law to confiscate handguns could become one of the most destructive pieces of legislation ever enacted in the United States by posing a grave danger to public security and liberty.
Abstract
Although Dixon has skillfully presented arguments in favor of gun control, the more deeply one looks at the issue, the more difficult it becomes to conclude that handgun prohibition will save lives. Criminology data, including comparative international data, suggests that handgun controls might reduce handgun homicides, but does not suggest that handgun controls reduce total homicides. A confiscation law could be more effective at disarming law-abiding citizens than at disarming gun criminals. Accordingly, crime could increase. Many deprived of handguns might switch to deadlier weapons such as sawed-off shotguns, and gun deaths could skyrocket. A handgun confiscation law would also threaten our structure of individual liberty, for such a law could not be meaningfully enforced without severely constricting the Bill of Rights. Handgun prohibition is also unlikely to reduce homicide and much more likely to increase homicide and other violent crime, while posing the risks of facilitating government-sponsored murder and oppression. Reference notes