A Stalled Farewell to Arms—Reinvigorating the Gun Control Movement By Richard Aborn and Marlene Koury Introduction 41 homicides by fi rearm in 5 Gun violence continues 2009. Other industrialized to plague America, despite nations have similarly low historic reductions in crime. numbers. In 2009, the num- From being a burning na- ber of homicides by fi rearm tional issue gun violence has were: 5 in Northern Ireland; receded from the public’s 24 in Finland, 30 in Austra- consciousness and disap- lia; 55 in The Netherlands; 90 peared from the nation’s po- in Spain; 173 in Canada and 6 litical agenda. The gun con- 188 in Germany. trol movement has felt the One study compar- brunt of this retreat, while ing the rate of homicide by gun control opponents have Richard Aborn fi rearm across 23 countries Marlene Koury continued to garner strength. shows that the rate of fi re- Why is this? arm death in the United States was 19.5 times higher than that of the other countries studied.7 The number more than “Firearm violence in the United States doubles when limiting the data to children and young adults. Firearm homicide rates for those aged 15-24 were far eclipses that of other industrialized 42.7 times higher in the United States than in the other nations, despite very sharp declines in the countries studied.8 homicide rate in recent years.” Something is wrong in America…is it the “gun cul- ture?” In this article, we look at the history of gun violence in America and its impact on legislative efforts to control it, America’s “Gun Culture” and Its Impact on the the evolving Second Amendment jurisprudence, and the Politics of Gun Control shifting political landscape, asking what can be done to The number of fi rearms possessed by civilians in the return the gun political agenda to one grounded in reduc- United States is estimated at 270 million—the highest fi g- ing gun violence. ure in the world by a large margin.9 With less than 5 per- cent of the world’s population, the United States possesses Firearm Violence Is an Epidemic in the United 35–50% of the world’s civilian-owned guns.10 States Firearm violence in the United States far eclipses that The United States has a global reputation for being of other industrialized nations, despite very sharp declines obsessed with guns. The Small Arms Survey has noted, in the homicide rate in recent years. On average, nearly disturbingly, that “any [global] discussion of civilian gun 100,000 people are shot—both intentionally and acciden- ownership must devote disproportionate attention to the 1 United States, if only because of the scale of its gun cul- tally—each year in the United States, resulting in an aver- 11 age of over 30,000 deaths each year.2 Of those deaths, over ture.” 3 12,000 are homicides. No level of violence is acceptable, The NRA claims it’s all about the Constitution, but but the amount of fi rearm violence in the United States is does the United States Supreme Court agree? simply unconscionable; especially so when we know that much of it can be prevented. The NRA derives much of its clout and brand “glam- our” through its connection to a strong, deeply rooted Firearm injury and death are only one part of the “gun culture.” The NRA embodies this gun culture and problem. Firearms are also overwhelmingly used in the uses it as support for its assertion that Americans have an commission of violent crimes. In 2007, the most recent unencumbered “right to bear arms” allegedly guaranteed available data, there were 385,178 crimes committed with by the Second Amendment.12 The meaning of the opera- a fi rearm, including 11,512 murders, 190,514 robberies and tive Second Amendment language, however, has been hot- 4 183,153 aggravated assaults. ly debated: did the framers intend to confer an individual The level of fi rearm violence in the United States the right to bear arms, or was this right to be applied to compared to other industrialized countries is embarrass- those serving in the context of a militia? ing. For example, in the United Kingdom, there were only 82 NYSBA Government, Law and Policy Journal | Summer 2012 | Vol. 14 | No. 1 The Supreme Court took the opportunity to interpret The power of the NRA, however, does not fl ow solely this language for the fi rst time in 70 years in the landmark from its coffers. It would be a signifi cant mistake to under- case District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008). In estimate its ability to organize politically and get its mem- Heller, a fi ve-to-four decision, the Supreme Court struck bers to vote, and a bigger mistake to underestimate the down a decades-old Washington D.C. law that banned power that fl ows from this organizing ability. handguns and required safe storage of fi rearms kept in the For example, the NRA lobbied for the passage of the home. The court determined that the law was unconsti- Firearm Owners’ Protection Act (FPA).27 This law prohibits tutional, fi nding that the Second Amendment guaranteed establishing a federal registry of fi rearms, fi rearms owners, Americans the right to bear arms “for traditionally lawful and fi rearms transactions and dispositions and also repeals purposes, such as self-defense within the home.”13 Heller, however, was not the broad sweeping victory that the signifi cant parts of the Gun Control Act, allowing con- 28 NRA claimed. Contrary to the NRA position that the Sec- victed, violent felons to have their gun rights reinstated. As a result, in many states, a violent felon who completes ond Amendment is a barrier to all gun control laws, the prison time may have his gun rights restored, including so-called “individual right” identifi ed in Heller is restricted the right to carry.29 to the right of an individual to possess a handgun in the home for self-defense.14 Moreover, Heller explicitly held The NRA’s success in stopping reasonable gun control that the possession of fi rearms was subject to reasonable measures from passing has created a number of dangerous regulations.15 gaps in the nation’s gun control laws. Two years after Heller, the Supreme Court ruled that Gaps in the Nation’s Gun Control Laws; the Second Amendment applied to the states. In McDon- The Impact on New York and Other States ald v. Chicago, 561 U.S. 3025 (2010), the Supreme Court held that “The Fourteenth Amendment makes the Second Vitally important measures impacting the conditions Amendment right to keep and bear arms fully applicable under which guns are sold and to whom are left to the to the States.”16 McDonald did not, though, expand the states to determine, including: the regulation of assault right determined in Heller, even though it had the oppor- weapons; requirement of licensing and registration, regu- tunity to do so.17 lations regarding private purchases; limitations on the number of guns that can be purchased at any one time; Were the Heller and McDonald decisions a blow to the ballistic fi ngerprinting; mandatory reporting of lost or sto- gun control movement? For years, the NRA had argued len fi rearms; limits on large capacity magazines and child with great passion that the Second Amendment was a bar- access prevention laws. rier to gun control laws. The decisions in Heller and Mc- Donald limit this argument to a handgun in the home kept The relative ease with which a felon may have gun for self-defense. rights restored raises grave concern with the currently pending National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011.30 In the three years since Heller, a number of consti- As there is no federal legislation regulating the conditions tutional challenges to gun control laws have been over- under which an individual may carry a concealed weapon, 18 whelmingly rejected by courts. Courts have rejected states are left to regulate whether their residents are per- Heller-based challenges to an Illinois law prohibiting mitted to carry a concealed fi rearm, and under what con- 19 carrying a loaded fi rearm in public, a Pennsylvania law ditions. prohibiting guns in the workplace,20 a Georgia law prohib- iting fi rearms in places of worship,21 and a New York law The conceal-carry reciprocity bill would force each regarding a conceal-carry licensing scheme.22 state to recognize permits to carry concealed handguns is- sued by every other state.31 This bill has passed the House. The NRA and the Damage Done If passed by the Senate, it would all but paralyze each The NRA is not just an interest group of America’s gun state’s authority to restrict who may carry guns within its owners—the NRA is extremely well-organized and well- borders. funded, with estimates that it has received nearly $40 mil- The practical effect of this law is that a convicted, vio- 23 lion in support from the gun industry since 2005. Many lent felon may have gun rights reinstated, and then obtain of its policies, particularly those that benefi t manufactur- a conceal-carry permit from a state with weak conceal- ers, are likely in place to appease not its members, but to carry permitting requirements. This violent felon may 24 secure its future funding from the gun industry. then travel to New York City legally carrying a concealed, The NRA has never met a gun control law it likes.