Social scientists have started to find answers to some of the questions raised in the ongoing debate over gun control. The basic factual issue in this debate concerns the effect of gun availability on the distribution, seriousness, and number of violent crimes. Some...
Gun control policies must strike a balance between conserving legitimate use of handguns and reducing criminal use. Current federal law seeks to accomplish this objective by discriminating between safe and unsafe gun owners-allowing the former and prohibiting the...
The District of Columbia’s Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975 went into effect on 24 September 1976. It was the outgrowth of three more restrictive legislative proposals that had been introduced in 1975 and had two legislative objectives: (1) to reduce the...
By making the illicit carrying of a firearm punishable with a one-year “mandatory” prison term, the Massachusetts (Bartley-Fox) gun law intervenes at what ap pears to be a critical juncture—from the standpoint of deterrent effectiveness and political...
Mandatory sentences for crimes committed with a gun are a popular policy because they promise a reduction in gun violence at a relatively low cost. In this article we present some results of a study of the implementation of such a law in Detroit, Michigan. Two major...