The History, Politics, Stakeholders, and Legislation of Gun Control Laws

Our nation needs gun control laws. The United States’ inhabitants are slaughtering each other every day, but Congress is doing little to stop this. If we had gun control laws, teenagers wouldn’t have access to automatic weapons our army uses. Historically, our nation has done little to restrict the ease of getting these weapons. There are big stakeholders that are anti-gun control such as the NRA who are so big, congress is not willing to disagree with their lobbying firm.

The process of the gun control laws like any other legislation process, but most bills introduced are rejected. Because of the controversy between ther gubernatorial Federal government will be responsible for making policy, there has been little legislation actually implemented There are however few bills on gun control that have been successfully made into laws. Our Country is divided on gun control. Many people want guns to be easily accessible while many want there to be restrictions and more checking. The gun laws that are made are to meet the needs of our country’s citizens but so many bills on gun regulations are shot down because they would do harm to the pro gun stakeholders even if they protect our citizens.

Current gun control laws in the United States are varied by state. Such as the concealed weapon carry licence that works in only half of the states. There are regulations however that are in effect all over the U.S. to protect us. These regulations restrict convicted felons, fugitives from justice, drug users, and those who have been dishonorably discharged from the military cannot own firearms. Regulations also prohibits people who are under the age of 18 are not permitted to own a handgun. For a person to purchase a gun that person will undergo a background check before he is permitted to buy a gun. The NICS system allows for background checks to take place often over the space of a single phone call. Should a request for a background check be placed, and no denial comes within three days, then the individual may purchase a firearm, even if the background check technically did not complete.

The state of Colorado has laws on gun control and gun regulation. Colorado requires a background check if you plan on buying a gun. Gun dealers must have a background check done on them before they can even become gun dealers. Colorado states that domestic abusers must surrender their firearms. Colorado does not prohibit assault weapons and does not require firearm dealers to obtain a state license. The history on gun laws has not been around for long. There is less than 100 years of history on gun laws. In an NPR timeline the earliest recorded gun law was in 1934 which was The National Firearms Act. The law implements a tax on the making and transfer of automatic-fire guns, shotguns and rifles. And the latest law was in 2008 which dissolves Washington D.C.’s handgun ban declaring it unconstitutional. An important bill that became a law was the Brady bill. The Brady bill now requires a waiting period of 5 work days before buying a handgun while authorities for a background check. This is an important law because it forces a background check to be done on a person purchasing a gun.

Stakeholders are organizations or associations that are for and against topics. Some stakeholders that are opinionated in the gun control topic are the NRA(a big pro gun association), The Brady Campaign( anti gun organization), Moms demand action for gun sense in America(an anti gun organization), Americans for responsible solutions(group that fights gun violence), Gun owners of America, Keep and Bear arms and many others. The Moms demand action for gun sense in Americans and Americans for responsible solutions groups are pro gun control. They focus on getting people to make a difference by protesting guns. And their opposites the NRA, Gun owners of America, and Keep and Bear arms groups are anti gun control organizations. It is hard for smaller organizations to stand up to the NRA which is a big factor in gun laws being made considering lots of people are pro gun and they vote in pro gun congressmen.

Some gun control bills that have been made into laws are the Brady bill, Gun control law of 1968, and the National firearms act of 1934. The Brady bill requires a person looking to buy a gun to wait 5 days while authorities do a background check. The gun control law of 1968 prohibits felons, drug users, and dishonorable discharged veterans from owning firearms. And the National firearms act of 1934 enforces the regulation of a number of types of firearms, including machine guns, short barreled rifles, short barreled shotguns, suppressors, and destructive devices. These are all important laws that are part of gun control but we however need to have more regulations. Some important court cases include District of Columbia v. Heller and United States v. Lopez District of Columbia V. Heller is a court case which Struck down provisions of a District of Columbia law which prohibited people from owning handguns, automatic, and semi-automatic firearms, and required guns in the home to be protected by a trigger lock. Another important court case relating to guns was U.S. V Lopez. This is a case where a highschooler brought a concealed gun to school. Lopez was charged for bringing a gun on a school campus. The law that this gun law was secured upon was the commerce law. The use of a commerce law is how the supreme court got involved. The supreme court thought that the use of the commerce clause was to far a stretch to secure the no gun on campus law. The supreme court ended in a 5-4 decision declaring the law unconstitutional. These court cases have not meet the needs of our country’s citizens, these cases have made some previously illegal guns legal and have declared a law that prohibits guns on school campuses unconstitutional.

The legislative branch(congress) has tried to get involved in the making of gun laws but our congress now is so divided on the topic that nothing gets done. When congress made the gun free school campus law the Supreme Court overridden the law saying that it was unconstitutional. That is one of the few times congress has been involved in the making of gun laws. Because of the Republicans and Democrats having opposite views on gun control nothing is being accomplished. The effect of this has made it where gun laws are up to the states.

Half of our country if for gun control and the other half is against it. So it is safe to say that our country is divided. 55% of Americans want gun laws to be more strict according to a article called How Americans really feel about gun control. Over half of Americans want stricter cin laws. That is a big portion of our population that wants gun control. Another poll gives us the information that 94% of Americans want background checks for buying guns. That is almost all of America’s population that wants background checks. These polls show us what this country’s citizens opinions are on gun control, most want gun control.

Our nation needs gun laws and has needed gun laws for awhile now but some organizations are such a big influence to people that we have protested gun control. Our diverse country has few gun laws but they do help out citizens needs. The gun law making process has made it so the bills on guns introduced to congress have little to no chance at all of becoming a law. This in effect is not meeting this country’s needs. There are however important stakeholders that are fighting the NRA such as the group Moms demand action for gun sense. Groups like Moms demand action for gun sense are influencing many people nation wide and will continue to fight for our nation’s diverse populations needs.

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