NCJ Number
153742
Date Published
1988
Length
52 pages
Annotation
This analysis of gun control concludes that gun control is based on the faulty notion that ordinary citizens are too clumsy and bad-tempered to be trusted with weapons and notes that gun control can be accomplished only through the blatant abrogation of explicit constitutional rights.
Abstract
The various gun control proposals include licensing, waiting periods, and bans on certain weapons. However, these measures have little or no value as crime control measures. In fact, persuasive evidence indicates that civilian gun ownership can be a powerful deterrent to crime. Moreover, gun control must be enforced with such violations of individual rights as intrusive search and seizure and severely victimizes minorities, women, and others who most need guns for self-defense. Although advocates of gun control believe that government agents are more trustworthy than ordinary citizens, the authors of the Second Amendment believed the opposite, and gun owners know better than to put their lives and liberty in the hands of 911 and the police. Reference notes