NCJ Number
144880
Journal
American University Law Review Volume: 42 Issue: 1 Dated: (Fall 1992) Pages: 53-113
Date Published
1992
Length
61 pages
Annotation
In exposing fallacies in gun control rhetoric, this legal analysis concentrates on the debate over the Brady bill and the various reason defects employed by debate participants.
Abstract
Since the Brady bill was introduced, an estimated 4 million new firearms have entered the market; American citizens now own about 200 million guns. Each year that passes without meaningful gun control reform will make it that much harder to implement reform. In the debate over gun control, the more an issue stimulates individual passion or threatens personal interests, the more likely it is that individuals will resort to faulty reasoning in debating the issue. With respect to gun control, the conflict is between individual and community rights. Advocates of gun control view coercive communitarian restrictions as the only answer to escalating gun violence. On the other hand, gun enthusiasts view gun control as an unwarranted encroachment on individual liberty. What sets gun control apart from other discussions of community responsibility versus individual rights is that gun owners believe any restrictions on gun ownership represent the first step toward gun confiscation. The author contends that the gun control issue should not be debated so rigidly. Gun control proponents who are serious about accomplishing anything should abandon their rhetoric calling for a complete ban on gun ownership. At the same time, gun control opponents need to relinquish their unnecessarily alarming arguments and be more willing to consider reasonable measures to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. 270 footnotes