Gun Control

The majority of crimes committed in the United States were accompanied by a weapon, which was usually a gun. The Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research dedicates its service to prevent gun-related deaths and injuries. Studies have proven that in 1997 there were 32,436 gun related deaths which calculated out equals 88 deaths a day. A study by researchers from the University of Chicago, John Lott and David Mustard, showed that violent crime is reduced when citizens have a law that allows them to carry concealed weapons. In 1994 a crime bill was passed that included an assault weapons ban that outlawed the manufacturing and selling of semiautomatic weapons and prohibits the manufacturing of copies.

The Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research was established in 1995 and applies an approach to informing the public about guns. The Center attempts to educate the public about firearm injuries and new gun policies. The Center tries to prove that the safety of guns can be regulated as we would regulate the safety of other consumer goods. The Center looks into legal and public strategies to reduce the amounts of injuries and deaths due to the use of guns. The Center creates and evaluates policies to restrict the availability of weapons to high risk users. The faculty of the Center evaluates the effect of gun laws such as those banning the Saturday Night Specials, or permitting the carrying of a concealed weapon. The Center also conducts surveys to find out from the public what people think about gun laws and policies.

The second leading cause of injury in the United States are gun-related deaths. In 1997, the amount of gun related deaths exceeded the amount of motor vehicle related deaths in five states and the District of Columbia. 54% of all gun related deaths, in 1997, were suicides and 42% were homicides. According to polls, 92% of homicides were due to young black males with itchy trigger fingers. Over 17,000 people are treated for unintentional gunshot wounds. That is only 3% of the fatalities that were unintentional. In 1997, firearms were the third leading cause of death among ten to fourteen year olds and the second leading cause of death for fifteen to twenty four year olds. The leading cause of death for young black males is due to the use of guns.

John Lott and David Mustard had researched into the law that allowed citizens to carry concealed weapons and came to the conclusion that this law would reduce the amount of gun-related deaths. When Lott and Mustard conducted their research they had misinterpreted some state laws as shall-issue laws although through repeated investigation proves that there is still discretion in issuing a gun permit. The assumptions that the shall-issue laws would create a direct affect on violent crime was proven incoherent by the research done by Dan Black and Daniel Nagin from the Carnegie Mellon University. Although, Vermont has had an allowance of people to carry weapons, openly or concealed without a permit, but Vermont also has the lowest crime rate reported in the country. It has been reported that concealed-weapon permit holders are involved in fewer incidents than off-duty police officers. Lott and Mustard's statistics were founded by the arrest ratio to attempt to show changes in the crime rate. This method was shown to be ineffective by the National Academy of Sciences. Their results show that the laws have a meager effect on the amount of robberies, or other street crimes. The main effects the laws detected were for rape, aggravated assault, and murder. These are crimes, but for which a victim carrying a gun in public would usually not be relevant because most of these crimes are committed by someone they would have known. The johns Hopkins Center had reviewed the study by Lott and Mustard and came to the conclusion that their conclusions were insubstantial.

Handgun Control, Inc. states that there is evidence that shows a decrease in the use of assault weapons in crime as a result of the 1994 Crime Bill. Reports have shown that the number of assault weapons traced to crime has drastically decreased in 1995. The Domestic Violence Offenders Gun Ban was passed in 1996 to reduce the number of gun-related deaths and injuries due to domestic violence. It is more likely that domestic disputes are twelve times more likely to result in death involving a firearm than any other weapon. This ban prevents people with felony or misdemeanor charges against them from purchasing or owning a gun. This should prevent violent domestic abusers from turning a "love spat" to a higher level of danger. There are no agencies that ensure that handguns are manufactured with the safety of the consumer as their main goal. In 1997, Massachusetts enforced consumer regulations to promote handgun safety. These regulations would require that the handguns sold in the