Gun Control

Some Reflections on the Right to Bear Arms, Part 2

by Richard M. Ebeling November 1, 2002

Part 1 | Part 2 Many have been surprised by the lack of resistance by the European Jews who were killed by the millions in the Nazi concentration and death camps during the Second World War. For the most part, with a seemingly peculiar fatalism, they calmly went to their deaths with bullets to the back of the head ...

Can Gun Control Reduce Crime? Part 2

by Benedict D. LaRosa November 1, 2002

Part 1 | Part 2 What about the experience of other countries? In 1997, just 12 months after a new gun law went into effect in Australia, homicides jumped 3.2 percent, armed robberies 44 percent, and assaults 8.6 percent. In the state of Victoria, homicides went up 300 percent. Before the law was passed, statistics showed a steady decrease ...

NO to Ballistic Fingerprinting

by Bart Frazier October 17, 2002

Over the past nine days, a methodical killer has shot 10 people in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, killing 8 of them. There is scant evidence and police are having a hard time finding the killer, as is often the case when crimes appear to be completely random and without motive. One ...

Packing Heat, Part 2

by Sheldon Richman October 1, 2002

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 As I described last month, Jeffrey Snyder’s path-breaking article, “A Nation of Cowards” (The Public Interest, Fall 1993), transformed guns and gun control from abstract philosophical and policy issues into a personal moral issue. We cannot — morally or existentially — truly delegate our right and responsibility to ...

Can Gun Control Reduce Crime? Part 1

by Benedict D. LaRosa October 1, 2002

Part 1 | Part 2 In the wake of the shootings at Columbine High School in April 1999 and other schools across the country, there has been a chorus calling for more gun-control measures to prevent similar incidents and to control crime in general. Setting aside the obvious emotional response that such tragedies always engender, is it realistic to ...

Some Reflections on the Second Amendment, Part 1

by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 2002

Part 1 | Part 2 For millions of Americans the Second Amendment and its guarantee of the right of the individual to bear arms appears irrelevant and practically anachronistic. It seems a throwback to those earlier days of the Wild West, when many men, far from the law and order provided by the town sheriff and circuit judge, had ...

Packing Heat, Part 1

by Sheldon Richman September 1, 2002

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 I sometimes wonder what the people around me would think if they knew I had a pistol under my shirt. A few years ago I would have been the last person I know who was likely to carry a concealed handgun. But here I am. I carry it nearly everywhere. ...

Rights Belong to Individuals

by Sheldon Richman June 1, 2002

If you want insight into the mentality of the intellectual elite, observe the hysterical reaction to the Bush administration’s declaration that the right to keep and bear arms is — horror! — an individual right. In two U.S. Supreme Court briefs filed by the Justice Department on May 6, Solicitor General ...

Gun-Ban Shenanigans at the UN

by James Bovard January 1, 2002

LAST JULY 9, the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects convened in New York. To celebrate the event, the UN and several member governments held public bonfires of guns. The mere sight of gun bonfires was supposed to somehow convince people that the United Nations would protect them. ...

Half a Win Is Better than None

by Sheldon Richman December 1, 2001

Fans of the Second Amendment are rejoicing because a federal appellate court has affirmed that the right to keep and bear arms belongs to individuals, not collectives. Anyone who can read plain English already knew that. But now we have a U.S. appellate court saying so. That can't hurt. The October ruling ...

Some Reflections on the Right to Bear Arms

by Richard M. Ebeling September 1, 2001

For millions of Americans the Second Amendment and its right for the individual to bear arms appears irrelevant and practically anachronistic. It seems a throwback to those earlier days of the Wild West, when many men, far from the law and order provided by the town sheriff and circuit judge, ...

Only Individuals Have Rights

by Sheldon Richman August 1, 2001

Attorney General John Ashcroft has let it be known that it is the official position of the executive branch of the U.S. government that individuals possess the right to keep and bear arms. Hallelujah! As the anti-self-defense lobby says, this is a reversal of a position held for about 30 ...