The NRA Killed Gun Control Legislation

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The NRA Killed Gun Control Legislation

By the year 2003, it is expected that firearms will cause the most injury-related deaths in the United States, surpassing even automobile accidents. Poll after poll have revealed that most Americans favor stricter gun control laws. Five recent suburban school shootings have demonstrated that when guns and kids mix, tragedy results. Yet gun control legislation remains at a standstill.

The battle for stricter gun-control laws has not been without victories. In 1968, Congress passed the Gun Control Act in the wake of the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., President John F. Kennedy, and Senator Robert Kennedy. The law mandated stricter licensing requirements, prohibited the sale of handguns to out-of-state residents, and banned mail-order gun sales and the import of guns not "suitable or readily adaptable to sporting purposes." The 1984 Crime Control Act lengthened the minimum mandatory sentences given to those who carry and use armor-piercing bullets to commit violent crimes. In 1993, the Brady Bill was approved by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The law, named after James Brady, who was shot and paralyzed in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Reagan, requires a five-day waiting period for the purchase of handguns. The "Assault Weapons" ban of 1994, passed despite a massive campaign by the National Rifle Association (NRA), banned nineteen assault-type weapons, including the Street Sweeper, a 12-gauge shotgun that can be fully discharged in three seconds. The ban also covered many semiautomatic firearms. The NRA's bid to repeal the law was stymied in 1995, with the explosion of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 peopl...

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...gun's owner may be required before the gun will fire; another technology would allow an owner to activate and deactivate his or her gun via remote control. If S.113 were to become law, it would be much more difficult for children and young adults under eighteen years of age to fire their parents', relatives', or friends' guns. New Jersey's S.113 sits presently in the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee - there are not enough votes to get the bill out of committee.

Although the NRA boasts several millions members and a great deal of money, polls show that they hold the minority view. The fact that they have helped prevent the passage of federal and state legislation that would promote more gun-control laws shows that the NRA's minority is a vocal one. If the majority becomes half as vocal, tragedies such as the school shootings can be avoided in the future.

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