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Gun Control
William Rhan Renger
University of Texas at El Paso









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CNN Library. (2014). 25 deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history fast facts. CNN U.S.
Retrieved October 12, 2014, Retrieved from
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/16/us/20-deadliest-mass-shootings-in-u-s-history-
fast-facts/
This is a list and brief descriptions of the top 25 mass shooting in the United
Sates of America from CNN news website, which is a extremely well know and
credible news source. I found it interesting that 15 out of 25 of the mass
shootings happened in 1999-present, which is more than half of the top 25.The
most devastating shooting in United States history is the Virginia Tech shooting
in 2007. This at the time was all over the news and created a lot of publicity to
the gun violence issue. These events are important to my report because these
events lead up to this great debate on gun control. Without these events gun
control debate would be non-existent.
Gun control overview. (2013). Congressional Digest, 92 (3), 3-7.
This periodical is from the Congressional Digest. It goes overview of the gun
control debate in general. The articles first section is an introduction into both
sides of the gun control debate. The second section is based on gun related
statistics. I found it interesting that the amount of guns in the United States has
increase since 1994 from 192 million to 310 million in 2009. The final section
consists of the federal regulation on firearms in the United States. In the last
section it talks about The National Firearms Act, The Gun Control Act of 1968,
and lastly the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. In this periodical, I can
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get a lot of information for my report, but where it comes in handy most is to help
me answer the question what is gun control to both sides of the debate.
Hirish, L. (2013). Brothers in arms control: introducing Australian-style gun control in the
United States. Macquarie Law Journal, (12) 81-108.
This is an academic journal by Lauren Hirish out of the Macquarie Law Journal.
At the beginning of the article it gives us brief introduction into gun control laws.
Then gives us some details about some Supreme Court laws that deal with gun
control. After this we get to the heart of the article, tells us how the gun control
laws are in Australia. I am taking away from this article the success that Australia
has had in its stricter gun control laws and the way that the United States could
possibly adapt these ideas. This helps me with policy that come from the side of
this debate for gun control.
Kleck, G. (2012). Gun control after Heller and McDonald: what cannot be done and
what ought to be done. Fordham Urban Law Journal, 39 (5), 1383-1420.
This academic journal is about as of after the Heller and McDonald case what
can be constitutionally available for gun control to do about the gun violence in
America. In the middle of the journal, it talks about what has already happened in
the issue of gun violence. One thing I found interesting is that there is a law that
only allows a person to purchase one gun a month. Lastly, the author talks about
what ought to be done as of now after all that has been done. In the authors
conclusion, he mentions about how the transfer of guns among owners in not
well regulated. This catches my eye because it helps with what kind of issues
can be found in Americans gun control laws.
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Now is the time. (2013, January 16). The White House, Retrieved October 5, 2014, from
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/wh_now_is_the_time_full.pdf
This is a description of a plan to get rid of the gun violence in America by the
president himself Barack Obama. He has four main points to go by to end gun
violence. His plan is to close background check loopholes to keep guns out of
dangerous hands, bane military-style assault weapons and high-capacity
magazines, and taking other common-sense steps to reduce gun violence, make
schools safer; and increase access to mental health services. I found it
interesting that in his main points there is not talk about taking away guns of any
sort, which is not stereotypical of a democrat to come with. This does not mean
laws wont be set in place with his plan. The information from President Obama
helps me answer the question on what should be done about the issue of gun
control.
Planty, Ph.D., M., & Truman, Ph.D., J. (2013, May 1). Firearm violence, 1993-
2011. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Retrieved October 6, 2014, Retrieved from
http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/fv9311.pdf.
This is a special report put out by the Department of Justice on the statistics of
gun violence in America. The article holds multitudes of information on statistics
related to firearm violence. In particular, there is a graph that shows there has a
decline in gun related homicides since 1993. This was quite interesting because I
thought the gun related homicide would be going up because of the increase in
the gun control debate. This helps me answer my question if gun violence has
increased over the years or not.
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Rachel, M. (2013). Gun control debate remains stunted in congress. Weekend
Edition Sunday (NPR)
This is a newspaper article that talks about the struggle of Congress to get an
agreement on gun control. This newspaper consists of an interview between the
interviewer and Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa. I have notice
through out my research that background checks is one of the biggest problems
with gun violence and in their interview they address this issue. This helps me
here it strait from the lips of a Senators side of the story in Congress and what
policies are being talked about. This especially helps with my research question
asking what should be done about gone control. It helps because it lets me know
what is actually being done at this moment in congress.
Scott, P. (1994). Gun control leads to more crime, not less. Alberta Report /
Newsmagazine, 21 (13), 25.
The periodical is based out of Canada but quite a lot of information on the United
Sates. For instance, It talks about has Washington D.C. has prohibited it
homeowners to own handguns since 1976, yet the murder rate there is the
highest per capita in the U.S. As you can see, the periodical is against the idea of
gun control. It is helpful in answering my research question, if violence in general
goes down if stricter gun control laws are enforced? According to this periodical and
Washington D.C., the answer to that question is a no.