NCJ Number
108270
Journal
Law and Contemporary Problems Volume: 49 Issue: 1 Dated: (Winter 1986) Pages: complete issue
Editor(s)
D B Kates
Date Published
1986
Length
267 pages
Annotation
Ten articles and one note examine whether gun control laws, assuming their constitutionality, make sound public policy.
Abstract
Three articles examine the intentions of the framers of the Constitution in specifying citizens' right to bear arms and consider its application in the early republic. An article argues that exemptions in gun control laws undermine the nonexempt persons' incentive to comply with the law and give up the belief that a firearm is required for protection. A review of recent gun control legislation draws implications of the research findings for public policy, and an article examines gun control issues from the perspective of family law and comments on gun control in the context of husband-wife homicide. Two articles critique the underlying rationales for laws that permit lethal self-defense under certain circumstances. A review of U.S. Supreme Court cases interpreting the Gun Control Act of 1968 demonstrates the utility of the rule of strict construction of firearms offenses in favor of the defendant so as to limit overzealous law enforcement. The concluding article examines whether California's law which mandates sentence enhancements for offenses involving firearms is being followed by the courts. The note considers whether a ban on firearms possession requires just compensation. Article footnotes and a selective 290-item bibliography. For individual articles, see NCJ 108271-77.