This article, published by the CQ Press in the midst of the Newtown shootings, discusses the then-current situation in the U.S. regarding gun control and gun restrictions. The section entitled “Current Situation” is the section being considered for use in my argument. The first part of this section deals with New York’s passage of new legislation called the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Act, which provides for even stricter gun control in an area of the nation already under extremely strict gun control. One of the main arguments used by groups such as the NRA and Harold Schroeder–chairman of the Shooters Committee on Political Education–against the passage of this legislation is that too many people will try to get around registering their guns by saying that they are “grandfathered in,” thereby making SAFE exponentially harder to enforce. The end of the section briefly discusses nullification in the states’ Senates. Many states use the 10th Amendment and their delegated powers to their advantage in saying that they do not have to obey any federal gun control laws. However, the Supreme Court rejects the states’ nullifications due to federal law being the “supreme law of the land.”
This article provides some contemporary information regarding states’ responses to proposed gun laws. The arguments used for enforcement of legislation such as the SAFE Act are presented and rebutted by opponents to gun regulations, such as the NRA, Tenth Amendment Center, among others. These arguments will work well into my research paper as supports to why I believe gun control is counter-productive, especially since there is an ongoing debate between the states and federal government as to who gets what powers (i.e. whether the delegated powers to the states include gun control measures). In addition to these arguments, the specific statement that New York has some of the strictest gun control measures will be used to support yet another argument–that the cities with the tightest gun control still have the highest gun murder rates.
Source URL:
http://library.cqpress.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/cqresearcher/getpdf.php?id=cqresrre2013030800
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