We’re a nation of 315 million constitutional law scholars. Most Americans avoid the legalese of their credit card contracts like the plague. But the Constitution and specifically the Second Amendment? No problem—we know exactly what it means. But the fact is what you or I think about the Second Amendment is pretty meaningless, because it’s the Supreme Court’s interpretation that counts.
So what has the highest court in the land said about the Second Amendment? It turns out that until 2008, not much. In 2008, though, the Supreme Court affirmed in its District of Columbia v. Heller decision—for the first time in the court’s history—the individual right to have a handgun in the home for self-defense.
Thankfully, that decision, according to many constitutional law scholars, leaves room to try to prevent the type of gun-related tragedies that have scarred communities from Aurora, Colo. to Oak Creek, Wis. to Newtown, Conn. In other words, gun control and the protection of Americans’ Second Amendment rights aren’t mutually exclusive propositions. Sadly, a lack of political will threatens to derail measures that could prevent future violence. After all, on gun legislation, over 55 percent of members of the House of Representatives have an “A” grade from the National Rifle Association, making them unlikely to pass gun control measures. But now is the time for policy makers to act with a renewed sense of urgency.
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have rightly identified gun violence as a complex and multi-causal social problem.
For starters, it’s currently easier to buy an assault rifle in America than to get mental health care. The very poor have access to mental health care through Medicaid; the very rich have premium health insurance plans that cover mental health care. For the rest of Americans—that is, the vast majority of Americans—affordable mental health care is exceedingly rare. To prevent future tragedies, access to affordable mental health care must be broadened.
The second greatest threat to the passage of credible gun control legislation is a lack of realism among policy makers. America may have been spurred to action after a deranged man broke the peace of the bucolic town of Newtown, Conn. with an assault rifle, but the truth is that the lion’s share of gun violence is committed with handguns, not assault rifles. America has just 5 percent of the world’s population yet Americans own 50 percent of the world’s guns, most of those being handguns.
So how do we prevent handgun violence, with the understanding that the Second Amendment protects Americans’ right to them? First, it’s worth noting that most gun owners act responsibly with their firearms, using them only for recreation and self-defense. But crime statistics also tell that tens of thousands of Americans use guns for more nefarious purposes.
Criminals have easy access to background-check free guns through gun shows. A whopping 40 percent of all guns in America are bought at gun shows. Under current law, the sale of most firearms at gun shows are exempt from background checks. Closing that loophole would ensure that fewer guns fall into the wrong hands.
When asked last week during congressional testimony why the National Rifle Association does not support closing the loophole, N.R.A. Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre responded by saying, “My problem with background checks is you are never going to get criminals to go through universal background checks.” Wait, what? Yeah—that’s why we need them: They will eliminate an important avenue through which criminals get their hands on guns. And Wayne LaPierre testified before Congress as recently as 1999 in support of background checks at gun shows, citing them as an important and pragmatic way to prevent gun violence.
Many of the proposed measures to mitigate gun violence lack congressional support to become law. But eliminating the gun show loophole has the greatest potential to keep guns out of the wrong hands and save lives. Congress must act, and soon.
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