Acadmic Paper Building Assignment

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

GUN LAWS IN AMERICA

AS THE ONLY SOLUTION TO BARBARIC PUBLIC SHOOTINGS

An Annotated Bibliography

Jinyan Xie

This paper concerns the gun laws in the United States of America. It talks of gun laws as the restrictions which control the selling, having possession of and using firearms within the Country. It also mentions and seeks to find out the reasons for the introduction of these laws. Through out the paper, I will also seek to illustrate the state by state laws, and how they vary across state borders, while comparing the gun laws of each state with the federal laws.

It extensively covers how states significantly differ in their State level laws vary significantly in their arrangements, contexts and the restriction levels. According to the latest data sources, forty four states have made provision in their respective state constitutions that are almost alike to the Second amendment of the United States constitution, while exceptions to this like California and Minnesota are also discussed in the research. Also included is the holding by the Supreme court Of the United States that the second amendment protection applies in against respective state governments and how subdivided they are, that is politically.

In the paper, I also intend to explicitly explain how gun owners are under the gun laws of their respective states where they are located in, and not particularly their states of residence. In addition, I have stated different reasons why I am in support of the gun laws, while clearly breaking them down and contrasting them with other reasons why others are against gun control.

Finally, I have put in place the recommendations to other states, derived from the state of Massachusetts, as they seek what could work for them.

Ciyou, B. L. (2013). Gun laws by state: reciprocity and gun laws quick reference guide (2014 Ed.). Carmel, Indiana: Peritus Holdings, Inc...

The Gun Laws by State Guide tackles the daunting task of collecting over 200 years of the History of the United States and legal progresses to reach the present state of affairs and an individual holding a binding license to carry; which may either be a non-resident or a resident permit, possessing in a different state by an agreement of reciprocity. In part I, the book addresses the level of reciprocity agreements together with the state and federal criminal statutory law that is most likely to result in a licensee risk. Nevertheless, states that lack state-based preemptive action-where the legislative body of the state makes most of the gun laws- are legally risky states. The first part of the book is a completely foundational part that sets the stage for the conditions required for lawful reciprocal carry.

Duggan, M. (2001). More Guns, More Crime. Journal of Political Economy, 109(5), 1086-1114.

This paper covers the relation between crime and ownership of guns. It exploits an exclusive set of data to estimate the rates (annual) of gun ownership at the state and country levels in the past two decades. The findings demonstrated are that change in the ownership of guns is directly proportional to changes in homicide rates. The impacts of owning a gun on all other categories of crime is much less touched on.

Iii, J. J. (2003). The Final Bullet in the Body of the ‘More Guns, Less Crime’ Hypothesis. Criminology: Public Policy, 2(3), 397-410.

In this study, John Lott’s hypothesis of ‘More Guns, Less Crime’ is put to test, as he carries on trying to convince state legislators that violent crime will be lowered by the right-to-carry laws. In 1997, David Mustard together with John Lott had launched what came to be among the most remarkable historical tales when the made the announcement that the right to carry laws caused a decline in crime. That made them to be taken as heroes by supporters of the National Rifle Association while seen as villains by critics. The baseline is that the contemporary study by both Kovandzic and Marvell affirms the growing agreement that the best of proofs do not give any support to the thesis that adopting right to carry laws will reduce crime. However, although this thesis has been discredited, it has continued to be of much influence to public policy.

Kleck, G., & Patterson, E. B. (1993). The Impact of Gun Control and Gun Ownership Levels on Violence Rates. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 9(3), 249-287.

This study answers the question of the effects gun control restrictions have on violence and crime rates. It involved models that included the major categories of intentional crimes and violence that involve guns. The outcomes show that the levels of prevalence of guns do not have a net positive impact on total violence rates; restrictions from gun control do not have a net effect on the levels of gun prevalence and most gun control restrictions overally have no net impact on rates of violence. Some possible exceptions to this final conclusion of a hundred and eight assessments of the effects different gun laws had on different violence types, seven showed good support while another eleven only partial support, for the hypothesis.

Kwon, I. G., Scott, B., Safranski, S. R., & Bae, M. (1997). The Effectiveness of Gun Control Laws: American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 56(1), 41-50.

This piece of work aims at assessing the gun control laws (both empirically and statistically) that different states and municipalities have adopted. States are therefore at odds; with some having gun-use restrictions while others having no restrictions. The study outcome indicates that the gun control laws have a very slight impact on the quantity of deaths that are gun related.

Lott, J. R. (1998). More guns, less crime: understanding crime and gun-control laws. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Published in 1998, this article has continuously played a major role in the arguments about gun control laws. In spite of the attacks by those advocating for gun controls, Lott’s simple and astonishing conclusion that more guns translate to less crimes had not been refuted yet by the time of publication. This book takes on perceptions concerning the relationships that guns have with crimes and violence while completely relying on a thorough data analysis on statistics on crime and the right to carry laws. In this third edition, Lott has used data cumulating over ten years while provocatively analyzing the impact of gun bans an both Chicago and Washington D.C. thus bolstering its central contention.

Mcphedran, S. (2013). More guns more or less crime? An Australian perspective on an international question. Crime Prevention and Community Safety, 15(2), 127-133.

Mcphedran reports on primary investigation of the existing relationship between gun ownership levels and violent crime (firearm related) in New South Wale, Australia. There was no evidence to link the rising levels of crime to increasing numbers of firearms that were legally owned; on the contrary, the associations found between the levels of legal gun ownership and violent crimes with firearm was a negative one. The outcome shows that lowering legal gun ownership levels is not a necessary prerequisite for lowering violent crime levels.

Murray, D. R. (1975). Handguns, Gun Control Laws and Firearm Violence. Social Problems, 23(1), 81-93.

In this paper, Murray explores the relation between having access to handguns, gun control laws, with the occurrence of firearm associated violence. Using data from the F.B.I and other census materials, he surveys gun control laws and the effect they have on violent rates beyond what can be ascribed to an individual’s background and social conditions. He concludes that access to handguns appears to have no effect on violent crime rates accidents due to firearms, in the process labeling gun control laws as ineffective.

(2013). Stronger gun laws, fewer deaths. BMJ, 346(mar12 3), f1570-f1570.

According to this study, U.S states that have put in place the strictest guns laws experience the lowest death rates resulting from firearms, (as per the nationwide cross sectional analysis). Fifty states are ranked by the author, and states with the highest strength like Massachusetts and Illinois had fewer deaths per 100,000 than states falling in the lowest quarter like Louisiana and Utah.

Zimring, F. (1968). Is gun Control likely to reduce violent killings? The University of Chicago Law Review, 35(4), 721-737.

This paper covers the major reasons for eliminating firearms together with pro gun control laws, arguing that such a move would result in a decline in the number of criminal homicide. On the contrary, the argument that has come out is that the elimination of firearms would have no such effects because if anyone has the intention of killing, he will definitely look for a weapon to accomplish his intended goal as there are different means to a common end. The paper is an effort to bring to resolution, the debate of gun control, much closer to a resolution by analyzing data from the Police department of the city of Chicago on the number of criminal homicide reported.