Accession Number PB2013-103035
Title Gun Control Legislation, November 14, 2012.
Publication Date Nov 2012
Media Count 118p
Personal Author W. J. Krouse
Abstract Congress has debated the efficacy and constitutionality of federal regulation of firearms and ammunition, with strong advocates arguing for and against greater gun control. In the wake of the July 20, 2012, Aurora, CO, theater mass shooting, in which 12 people were shot to death and 58 wounded (7 of them critically) by a lone gunman, it is likely that there will be calls in the 112th Congress to reconsider a 1994 ban on semiautomatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices that expired in September 2004. There were similar calls to ban such feeding devices (see S. 436/H.R. 1781) following the January 8, 2011, Tucson, AZ, mass shooting, in which 6 people were killed and 14 wounded, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who was grievously wounded. These calls could be amplified by the August 5, 2012, Sikh temple shooting in Milwaukee, WI, in which six worshipers were shot to death and three wounded by a lone gunman. This report includes discussion of salient and recurring gun control issues that have generated past or current congressional interest. Those issues include (1) screening firearms background check applicants against terrorist watch lists, (2) combating gun trafficking and straw purchases, (3) reforming the regulation of federally licensed gun dealers, (4) requiring background checks for private firearms transfers at gun shows, (5) more-strictly regulating certain firearms previously defined in statute as semiautomatic assault weapons, and (6) banning or requiring the registration of certain long-range .50 caliber rifles, which are commonly referred to as sniper rifles. To set these and other emerging issues in context, this report provides basic firearms-related statistics, an overview of federal firearms law, and a summary of legislative action in the 111th and 112th Congresses.
Keywords Arms control
Background checks
Congress
Crimes
Fire arms
Gun control
Guns
Law enforcement
Legislation
Policies
Small arms


 
Source Agency Congressional Research Service
NTIS Subject Category 92 - Behavior & Society
79G - Guns
Corporate Author Congressional Research Service, Washington, DC.
Document Type Technical report
Title Note Rept. to Congress.
NTIS Issue Number 1306
Contract Number N/A

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