Talk:Gun politics in the United States

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[edit] ”Gun Control Advocates” vs. “Gun Rights Advocates”???

I see this comparison used throughout the article. Is this really an accurate way to frame the debate? “Gun Control” and “Guns Rights” are not at all exclusive of each other. Any gun control regulation short of prohibition recognizes the right of gun ownership. Likewise, any argument short of affirming the “Nuke” hyperbole recognizes the need for some level of regulation.

The political debate seem to be over finer matters than this article suggests.

[edit] If you live in the city, the greatest risks to your life are cars and bullets

The direct implication is that living in the city is far safer without any guns allowed at all. This cannot really be disputed with any type of valid logic.

Here is a valid logic;There is no way you are going to get the all the guns from the criminals OR the patriots.The fools that will give up their guns will be defenseless to the criminals.Saltforkgunman 07:59, 19 March 2006 (UTC)


I don't want to redo the debate here, but how do you propose to get rid of all the guns? --Mmx1 05:22, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

He doesn't have a plan to get rid of them.Saltforkgunman 07:59, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Context is required for discussion of Constitution and guns

The Constitution was written in a completely different time than today. The guns of that period were much less lethal than today and far more conspicuos. No one could walk into a Dennys and start blasting away. One shot and the guy would have to reload, which would take quite a while.

Also the Constitution expressly condoned slavery. The gun rights people put heavy emphasis on this ammendment, but it sure aint sacred.

Perhaps the law should be that only 18th century technology should be allowed which would bring us a much safer America.

"The constitution was sritten in a completely different time than today. The press of that period was much less preavalent than today and far more expensive. No one could, from a single workstation, broadcase information to millions of people with a single mouseclick. One print and the guy would have to reink the press, which could take a while. Perhaps the press should only be allowed to say what they want so long as they print it by hand"

--Mmx1 23:49, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Actually the press is much more expensive today than it was when the Bill of rights was written. The argument can be made that the press is controlled by a handful of powerful monied interests in this day and age. Your example only serves to suggest that many aspects of the Constitution are out of date. Certainly guns are far different today than two hundred some years ago.

Or you could realize that rights are not variable or determined by your level of technology. --Mmx1 04:47, 27 March 2006 (UTC)


Slavery was in the constitution, but was later repealed. The second ammendment continues to remain in force. One can argue the applicability of it to today's society, but the method or modifying it is further constitutional ammendment, not simply changing it's meaning, or ignoring it, or calling it outmoded. Arthurrh 00:05, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Infringed

I would like to see an explanation on how the following is consistent with the pro-gun argument.

up until the National Firearms Act of 1934, there was no Federal law against ordinary Americans' owning any weapons available anywhere, including anything the US military used, such as tanks, artillery, bombs and even high-explosives. No licenses and no registration were required.
Most people on both sides agree that so-called "Weapons of Mass Destruction" (i.e., biological, chemical and nuclear weapons) cannot have any legitimate purpose in the hands of individuals and that even in non-hostile hands these weapons pose a serious threat due to the risk of even simple accidents during storage or transport. As such, most agree that even the broad protections of the Second Amendment for the right to keep and bear arms do not apply to "WMD's".

I would say it is because infringed means "destroyed" or "removed" and not "abridged" and not "encroached upon". Yet I hear repeatedly from those opposing gun control the Slippery slope argument that no restrictions should be allowed.

Note that the 1828 dictionary definition of "infringe" [1] does not have any meaning synonymous with "encroach" -- only with "destroy"

--JimWae 01:13, 2004 Dec 8 (UTC)

If your saying the government can encroach by banning some arms as long as it doesnt ban all. That would mean the government could ban everything but pointy sticks.

By 1828, which was more than 40 years after the Constitution was ratified, the IBA was beginning its campaign to rewrite legal dictionaries that has continued to this day. BTW: What legal dictionary are you referring to?

"Infringe" is said 'to break or destroy', but that is an incomplete definition, because fringe is the fragile edge, ergo the more proper definition of 'infringe' is to break or destroy the fragile edge of something. We can see this in property law wrt trespass. Trespass, breaking and entering, vandalism are infringements of ones property rights, they are not outright confiscations or destructions of one's property rights. They are temporary, minor, transient violations, not permanent or total.

In legal use, "infringement" is defined as the unauthorised use of anothers right or property, not its confiscation (e.g. patent infringement). As firearms ownership is a right of property, it is clear that government, nor any other party, shall use our property right to keep and bear arms without our authorization. Note: Black's Law says: "Infraction - A traffic infraction is sometimes called a "traffic ticket." Black's Law Dictionary states that an infraction is "a breach, violation, or infringement; as of a law, a contract, a right or duty."" Law.com Dictionary says, "infringement n. 1) a trespassing or illegal entering. 2) in the law of patents (protected inventions) and copyrights (protected writings or graphics), the improper use of a patent, writing, graphic or trademark without permission, without notice, and especially without contracting for payment of a royalty. Even though the infringement may be accidental (an inventor thinks he is the first to develop the widget although someone else has a patent), the party infringing is responsible to pay the original patent or copyright owner substantial damages, which can be the normal royalty or as much as the infringers' accumulated gross profits. See also: copyright patent plagiarism royalty trademark". The WordNet legal dictionary says, "[n] 1. a crime less serious than a felony [n] 2. an act that disregards an agreement or a right; "he claimed a violation of his rights under the Fifth Amendment"." Webster's 1913 says, " \In*fringe"ment\, n. 1. The act of infringing; breach; violation; nonfulfillment; as, the infringement of a treaty, compact, law, or constitution. "The punishing of this infringement is proper to that jurisdiction against which the contempt is." --Clarendon. 2. An encroachment on a patent, copyright, or other special privilege; a trespass." - Mike Lorrey

  • It is a common presumption that the word "infringed" derives from the English meaning of "fringe". It does not.

Firstly, it's important to note, in some manner, the extreme hypocrisy of many anti-gun rights people in their "translations" of the Second Amendment -- especially in light of such people at the same time often taking extremely liberal views of the first amendment.

Somehow, the meaning of "right of the people" changes from the first to second amendment. Where it formerly meant "everyone", in the second amendment, it means "national guard" or another select entity.

The term "right of the people" is specifically used throughout the Bill of Rights to mean we Americans.

Secondly, the "should people own nuclear arms" argument is a bit over the top, and an unnecessary extrapolation (well, until we have the "NNA" [National Nukes Assosciation]) by anti-gun lobbyists. Such ludicrous arguments can effectively be countered by the equivalent extrapolation of the first amendment.

(Some might find "should people own AK-47s" over the top. Yet such arguments exist. Doesn't the "slippery slope" slide the other way?)

For example:

  • Should people be allowed to incite riots or violence via "expression" and "speech"?
  • Should libel/slander be allowed?
  • Should a person be allowed to yell "fire!" in a crowded theater?
  • Should a person be able to "express" themselves by playing loud music or screaming at any hour of the night? (It should be noted, that in many cases, a person could viably own a nuclear device that is not threatening to others -- as long as it is properly contained and not used, obviously.)

(These examples illustrate how even a right protected by the constitution is not absolute. Laws regarding inciting riots, libel/slander, false alarms, disturbing the peace, etc. can exist without violating the 1st Amendment. So then can't gun-control laws exist without violating the 2nd Amendment?)

Thirdly, the second amendment has nothing to do with hunting. Jgw 19:50, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

The words infringe, fragile and break all come ultimately from the same Indo-European root. (fringe=edge comes from Latin fimbria, unrelated.) The first Oxford English Dictionary's entry on infringe says the sense "destroy" is obsolete; its last quotation for that sense is dated 1672. (Webster's Second New International, 1952, also marks it Obs but gives no dates.) For the sense "violate" the OED has quotations dated 1533 to 1898. —Tamfang 23:03, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

The incomplete information in those pages does not contradict a deeper etymology. See http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE68.html. —Tamfang 07:27, 19 March 2006 (UTC)
And one of the others that you cited defines transitive infringe and intransitive infringe on in essentially the same way. —Tamfang 07:27, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Not so simple

As Richard Primus notes in his important book, The American Language of Rights, the phrase right of the people was often used to describe rights enjoyed collectively. If one looks closely at the use of this phrase in the First Amendment it does not support the individual rights view. The right of the people to assemble is something citizens do collectively. An individual can't assemble.

Would you say, then, that "The right of the people to be secure ... against unreasonable searches and seizures" (Fourth Amendment) is only a collective right? —Tamfang 23:15, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
Heh. You've left out a very important part of that sentence with the ellipsis. Harksaw 22:14, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

As Primus notes, the notion that the phrase right of the people has to have one meaning is our problem not the Founders. Certainly, the dominant rule called for reading the same term with the same meaning, but what do you do about the use of the term people in the Constitution's Preamble?

Infringe possibly had a different intensive meaning in 1789

There is some disagreement over what the word infringe means. Relevant to this are definitions given in the 1828 Webster's Dictionary [2], all of which give a sense of the complete removal of a right, not to encroachment nor to abridgement that is now one meaning of the word. It remains an open question whether or not the 1828 dictionary definition was a complete account of usage of the word at that time. According to the Encarta dictionary [3] infringe entered the English language about 1550 from the French word frangere meaning "to break", and is the source of the word fracture. An early appearance is in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. The Supreme Court of the United States has repeatedly permitted to stand many gun-control laws, all of which would seem to constitute abridgements on Second Amendment protections without completely removing them.

--JimWae 01:21, 2005 Jan 25 (UTC)

At the time, individual rights were so highly regarded that any encroachment was seen as tantamount to removal. The various laws passed and let stand have snuck in under an improper definition of the word "regulate", which at the time merely meant 'trained' in order of march and unit maneuvers. It did not mean to statutorily restrict rights. Mlorrey 03:03, 18 Mar 2005 (UTC)

You seem to have missed the concept of well regulated liberty, perhaps the most important concept in all of Anglo-American law. The notion that regulated is simply trained is just silly. Consider the following discussion by Hamilton in the Federalist "If a well-regulated militia be the most natural defense of a free country, it ought certainly to be under the regulation and at the disposal of that body which is constituted the guardian of the national security." The notion that rights could not be regulated by law actually runs counter to the entire sweep of Anglo-American law. Indeed, when the KY Supreme Court suggested this in the early 19th century it prompted outrage in the legislature.

The important thing here, though, is that an infringement is a temporary, minor, transient violation of one's rights, just as one gets a speeding ticket for a temporary infringement of the speed limit. Such temporary violation is to be strenuously distinguished from total taking or confiscation. As I said above, a trespass upon one's property isn't a taking, but converting a lien upon a deed is a taking. Ergo, a minor violation of one's 2nd amendment right is an infringement. A total confiscation of it is a taking. Two entirely different things. Mlorrey 01:58, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)

  • Tell someone whose suffered copyright infringment that is minor. The important thing here is that the meaning of the word has changed & was somewhat ambiguous in the first place - and likely a committee word chosen because its meaning was flexible. Are you proposing that a right to bear arms is uniquely an absolute right that may never be touched or restricted even in minor ways? Are you not then proposing a right to possess WMDs?--JimWae 02:12, 2005 Mar 13 (UTC)
Copyright infringment is when someone copies a book you've published, they haven't taken every royalty you've ever earned. That is the distinction between infringement and taking: infringement is partial, temporary, or transient violation, not outright and total theft. As copyright and trademarks are forms of MONOPOLY, I think it is clear that even one act of copying a book is an infringement that is punishable. Why not hold the same standard with the 2nd Amendment? I hold the monopoly on MY 2nd Amend. rights, which you cannot infringe (or the state cannot).
As for WMDs: well-armed merchantmen and privateers were widely owned by private citizens, with a significant amount of cannon. A vessel with ten or more heavy cannon in that day and age was a WMD, yet they were owned by private citizens without regulation or licensing. Posession of a device capable of vast harm should not be a crime in and of itself. Doing so belies a view that the individual cannot be trusted with liberty and must always be the ward of the state. What IS of distinguishing value is whether such a device has a valid defensive or other use. It is clear that the 50 years of MAD policy through the cold war illustrate there is some defensive value to posession of WMD. Terrorism is a phenomenon that results when the state doesn't trust its citizens. Mlorrey 02:43, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • so you are Ok with letting people have nuclear weapons until they show they cannot be trusted with them? You've also focussed your points exclusively on ONE current meaning of the word & completely ignored the argument about the meaning having changed--JimWae 02:50, 2005 Mar 13 (UTC)
that the meaning has changed is exactly IRRELEVANT. What is important is the framers intent. I also think the government-media complex has trained most people into lemmings so distrusting their fellow man that they are willing to believe your nextdoor neighbor, who you've known for 20 yesrs, is a heinous wretch if Good Morning America tells you so.Mlorrey 02:41, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • I see there's little point in discussing this with you - other than that we have only their words with which to discover their intent - unless you know how to channel with them... Infraction & fringe sound like infringe - and far too many "experts" think that is enough to ascertain its meaning. --JimWae 02:52, 2005 Mar 14 (UTC)
I happen to read their writings and they had a lot to say about the right to keep and bear arms which really blows your POV out of the water in many ways. I'll bet you're the sort who thinks Mike Belisilles is a great scholar. You really need to kick back and do the research if you want to go around vandalizing the work others are doing. Your strictly POV search and destroy habits are really without credible support. Mlorrey 03:41, 16 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • MAD only worked because everybody could tell who launched the attack. If Joe Shmoe can have nukes, I guess North Korea & Iran & Lebanon & Hezbellah & the IRA can too, eh?--JimWae 03:05, 2005 Mar 13 (UTC)
Imagine exactly how many 9-11 terrorists would have succeeded in their plan if the American people had been allowed their natural and constitutional right to fly armed? None.Mlorrey 02:41, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I see nothing in the cited 1828 definition to support the claim that "infringement" means only complete abolition. —Tamfang 23:15, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Old Top

You link to Dredd Scott v. Sandford, but then the page linked to doesn't address the gun issue at all (which is really just an inference from the decision). It seems like instead of listing all of the cases as links, it would make more sense to discuss the parts of the case relating to gun control and then place the link to either the story or the Supreme Court's page for the case so that readers can read the case for themselves without having to infer all that info from the link.

The US v. Cruikshank case is similar in it's relation to the gun control issue, in that the decision has nothing to do with gun control, only some of the definitions and language do. Just a suggestion. This is my first 'post' on Wikipedia. I plan on submitting some articles in the coming weeks, but if I've said or done anything that might offend anybody or is out of the norm for Wiki users, please let me know.

Salami swami 05:57, Mar 4, 2004 (UTC)

This article, similar to the article on the Second Amendment until I changed it, pushed the "comma issue" right up front. I think this is totally bogus, and so I just removed it from this article. Some discussion remains in the article on the Second Amendment.

Here's the deal -- a handful of sources, including a mid-1800s printing of the Constitution commissioned by Congress, remove some of the more puzzling commas. It is hard to say what import this has. But in any event, I do not think that reputable scholars think much about this one way or the other. In any event, we should use the more common and contemporary version, and treat the comma issue as an aside.

The 'comma issue' is an interesting one, but the story of the comma issue is likely to be more about spurious analysis by armchair pseudo-scholars than about the law.

Now that my interest is piqued, I may write a whole page on it, gathering a ton of cites from here and there.

Katahon 14:50, 26 Mar 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Here's one source of a Bill of Rights WITHOUT so many commas in the gun clause

It is in the Bill Of Rights (BOR) copy described here:

http://www.williams.edu/resources/chapin/exhibits/founding.html

I graduated from Williams in 1977. On a subsequent visit, shortly after these documents went on display, I inspected the BOR sample on just this point and saw that it is indeed an instance of what, in the 21st century, we would call the "not clunky" comma usage. Those with an anti-gun preference on this issue NEVER mention that there were "not clunky" versions during the composition phase of the BOR; they want to keep it depicted as much as possible as an antique-sounding head-scratcher.

Doug Gross, Williams '77 __________________________

This article pimps the "gun rights"/"gun nut" point of view. Clearly it is not neutral.

Well hop in there anon, and represent the other side if you want. Although this article does seem to represent the pro-gun side more, in no place does it make a statement of opinion. Just statements of what those advocates believe. Rhobite 15:46, Jul 21, 2004 (UTC)

WRT: "There are only a few hundred thousand lawfully owned fully automatic weapons. The bulk of these are owned and used in the motion picture industry." - This is untrue. The motion picture industry employs armorers who hold Class III dealer and manufacturer licenses from the BATFE, which allow them to purchase and/or manufacture non-transferrable automatic weapons. Many such weapons are specially made for a motion picture, then destroyed, or else kept in the armory of the production company or whichever of its contractors employs that armorer. Furthermore, the ban on civilian purchasing of post 1986 manufactured automatic weapons only applies to natural persons. Corporations and law enforcement agencies are not included in this restriction. Among these are included the body guard/PI firm employed by anti-gun actress/activist Rosie O'Donnell. - Mike Lorrey

Indeed, there may be a historical regularity in that totalitarian regimes pass gun control legislation as a first step of their reign of terror. The sequence is supposed to be gun registration, followed some time later by confiscation. Nazi legislation is the most famous example of this sequence, but it also occurred in Marxist regimes.

The nazis did not start gun control in germany. It was imposed by the treaty of versaies that ended WW1. They in fact lifted it near the end of WW2. The rest is true.

A couple of corrections:
1) The Nazis did pass gun control. See the German National Weapons Law of 1934, or Reichsgeletsblatt . It was used to disarm many citizens, including of course Jews. In regards to the treaty of Versailles, you are quoting facts with the detail of a junior high history book. Yes, the Germans were disarmed, but I highly doubt they passed specific gun control measures for its individual citizens. Only restrictions on the German Army and Navy, not personal ownership. If you happen to have a copy of the treaty handy and would like to show me where personal firearm ownership was regulated, please send me the info.
2) Mike, normal run of the mill corporations CANNOT purchase post-86 automatic firearms. Otherwise anybody could incorporate himself and make the purchase. There is surely a very small sub-class of government approved security corporations that may qualify, but your general statement of "Corporations and law enforcement agencies are not included in this restriction" is not correct. Wodan 00:09, Apr 21, 2005 (UTC)
Any corporation with a federally class III dealer/mfr license (or anyone on their staff with such a license) can either purchase or manufacture such firearms. I know several such corporations, and none is a 'security corporation' of any kind. This is also how movie studios supply their films with so many machine guns. Those are not transferrable arms you see on the screen, most never leave the posession of the movie studio company that made them. Mlorrey 02:05, 26 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] My radical restructuring

This article was a POV mess. I trimmed the fat (e.g. the constitution was covered twice) and also removed all the POV material. What's left is thin in some areas, but far better than what was there before. This article exists to describe gun politics in the U.S., not to battle them out. Meelar (talk) 16:35, Apr 28, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] My 2 removals

I removed 2 phrases:

"although ironically the U.S. revolution..."--these are entirely different circumstances, and the use of "ironically" clearly insinuates that the side believing an armed citizenry could overthow the US govt is correct. See Wikipedia:Words to avoid (I think that's the right page).
The problem with your Non-NPOV on this is that given that the US gov't came into being through an uprising of an armed citizenry, and given that they created that government, and it cannot hold any powers that the people themselves do not have, it is clear from a logical perspective that if the US government holds ANY legitimacy (as opposed, to, say, merely being a rebellious province of the British Empire that Queen Lizzie hasn't gotten around to reclaiming yet) that legitimacy arises purely from the inherent right of an armed populace to rise up and reform their government by armed insurrection.Mlorrey 07:32, 15 May 2005 (UTC)
"gun rights advocates point to the inherent safety"--gun control advocates would argue that you're not inherently safer carrying a gun. Non-NPOV.
Fine, have them point out valid, peer reviewed and reproduced studies proving their claims. They can't. Gun owners can and do, to which gun controllers stick their fingers in their ears and call out "neener neener, I'm not listening" or try to smear the authors with vile attacks which do not impugn the science in any way.Mlorrey 07:32, 15 May 2005 (UTC)

I hope these are acceptable. The rest of your edits were very useful, and covered important gaps I had left. Thanks. Best, Meelar (talk) 01:24, Apr 29, 2005 (UTC)

I've reworded those two paragraphs. I took the words "loaded gun" out as that seemed inappropriate and redundant for an "armed citizen." I've also reworded from my previous "inherent safety" to "gun right advocates argue..." to make it balanced as you suggested. Plus a small redoing on the revolution/constitution aspect of it. Let me know what you think. Wodan 02:38, Apr 29, 2005 (UTC)

Seems good to me--thanks. I've also removed the cleanup tag--hope you don't mind. Again, best wishes, Meelar (talk) 19:15, Apr 29, 2005 (UTC)
We'll see how long this lasts. :) Wodan 23:45, Apr 29, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Executive Branch Positions

I dispute that the collective rights view was the view of the executive branch from 1934 through 2002. Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush were both lifetime NRA members and stated on numerous occasions that they believed it was an individual right, as has frmr AG Ed Meese. The claim that the collective view was the 'de facto' position is false revisionist history promoted by the Bradyistas.Mlorrey 07:37, 15 May 2005 (UTC)

Regarding this issue--check out, e.g., an article in the NY Times from May 8, 2002 with the headline "U.S., in a Shift, Tells Justices Citizens Have a Right to Guns". To read the whole article, you'll need Lexis-Nexis or a similar database, or you can buy it off the Times' website for a couple dollars, but I've reproduced the lead below.
Reversing decades of official government policy on the meaning of the Second Amendment, the Justice Department told the Supreme Court for the first time late Monday that the Constitution "broadly protects the rights of individuals" to own firearms
Hopefully, this should answer your concerns. Yours, Meelar (talk) 08:24, May 15, 2005 (UTC)
No, it doesn't, however I will refrain from stating my opinion of anybody who looks to the New York Times as a paragon of fairness, truth, or accuracy in reporting. The fact is that Reagan and Bush I were both lifetime NRA members and believed gun ownership was an individual right.
"We will never disarm any American who seeks to protect his or her family from fear and harm." -- President Ronald Reagan
"I've always felt a special bond with members of your group," President Reagan told the NRA Legislative Session. "You live by Lincoln's words, 'Important principles may and must be inflexible.' Your philosophy puts its trust in people. So you insist individuals be held accountable for their actions. The NRA believes America's laws were made to be obeyed and that our constitutional liberties are just as important today as 200 years ago. And by the way, the Constitution does not say Government shall decree the right to keep and bear arms. The Constitution says 'the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.'"
"As we crack down on criminals," the President told the crowd, "we are trying to move forward on another front: to reform the firearms laws which needlessly interfere with the rights of legitimate gun owners like yourselves. We are working closely with your leadership and congressional supporters such as Senator McClure and Congressman Volkmer. I look forward to signing a bill that truly protects the rights of law-abiding citizens, without diminishing the effectiveness of criminal law enforcement against the misuse of firearms."
A comic routine in Las Vegas in 1980 featured a debate between presidential contenders Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter on the matter of gun control, Walter Cronkite presiding. "What about atom bombs, Governor Reagan? Do you believe the Constitution guarantees the right of individuals to have atom bombs?"
"Well, Mr. Cronkite," the comedian answered pensively, "just small atom bombs."
I think it is rather conclusive that Reagan overtly supported the individual right to keep and bear arms.
Eight U.S. Presidents have been NRA members. They are Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard M. Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George Bush.
"The one weapon every man, soldier, sailor, or airman should be able to use effectively is the rifle. It is always his weapon of personal safety in an emergency, and for many it is the primary weapon of offense and defense. Expertness in its use cannot be overemphasized." --General Dwight D. Eisenhower (Note: there is no military rank called "man".)
When and if you come back with a valid, reputable source claiming that official Exec. branch policy was the individualist interpretation, then I'll discuss it with you. What the individual president's thought here is beside the point--what's at issue is the official stance taken by the executive branch as a whole. Even if Reagan disagreed with the policy, he never changed it, and thus the sentence is accurate as it stands in my version. Meelar (talk) 14:09, May 19, 2005 (UTC)
This is rich. The presidents opinion isn't policy? Mlorrey 01:59, 26 May 2005 (UTC)
No, it's not. Just because they had an opinion doesn't mean they changed the government's official interpretation--they may have had their own reasons not to (e.g., too much political fallout, want to concentrate on other things, etc.) Again, you'll have to present evidence that official policy was different in order to contradict my pretty-clear evidence. Best, Meelar (talk) 13:43, May 26, 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Actually the evidence for government support for the collective rights view is pretty clear

The evidence for this claim is presented in Mat Nosanchuk's Northern Kentucky Law Review Article on the Second Amendment

What, the Government supports an interpretation that reserves rights to Government? Amazing not. —Tamfang 19:18, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] User:Mlorrey's version

Hi. I'd like to contest your version of the article--it contains several things that are non-neutral. Please remember, Wikipedia is written in an neutral manner--click the link to see our full neutrality policy. Also, Wikipedia is not a place to argue political disputes, so try to see both sides of the issue on talk, even if you think you're right and the other side is clearly wrong.

Now, as for your version:

  1. " ignoring the question of whether it is already tyrannical simply by being too large for the citizenry to bring under control if need be."--the correct size of government isn't really the point at issue here. This phrasing is irrelevant and is a loaded question (non-neutral) so I've removed it.
I hope you would reconsider this in light of the May 10th passage of the REAL ID Act. I don't think it is possible for anyone to objectively and neutrally claim the US isn't slipping into fascist tyranny rather quickly. The fact is that the other side IS ignoring this question entirely.Mlorrey 22:33, 18 May 2005 (UTC)
But that's your opinion. Please read our neutrality policy. The article cannot take sides in a dispute. Meelar (talk) 14:07, May 19, 2005 (UTC)
Anything I say which you disagree with is "my opinion" apparently.Mlorrey 01:56, 26 May 2005 (UTC)
  1. "while these same advocates tend to believe that their votes were ignored in the 2000 and/or 2004 presidential elections."--again, non-neutral. Pointing out the alleged flaws in one side's argument, without attributing them to critics, is non-neutral.
Pointing out the flaws in the anti-gun argument, when other writers are only pointing out flaws in the pro-gun argument is, in aggregate, neutral. It is the neutrality of the consensus that matters, not the individual contributions of individual contributors.Mlorrey 22:33, 18 May 2005 (UTC)
If you feel the article is non-neutral, the answer is to make it neutral, not to insert your own non-neutal opinions. Again, Wikipedia is not a place for political debate. Meelar (talk) 14:07, May 19, 2005 (UTC)
I have attempted this, and you will continue to insist that anything which diverges from YOUR OPINION is therefore non-neutral. You don't get to define your opinion as neutrality.Mlorrey 01:56, 26 May 2005 (UTC)
  1. "This view is supported by a quotation of WWII Japanese Admiral Yamomoto to Togo, in advising against an invasion of the US mainland, "there is a rifle behind every blade of grass," in referring to the popular and common ownership of firearms in the US"--a couple problems here. First, the evidence is cherry-picked; second, providing evidence for one side, while attacking the arguments and soundness of the other side (see above) is non-neutral--it looks like this article is supporting the pro-gun argument. Removed.
It isn't cherry picked, it was the only event in two centuries of US history that the US was attacked on its own territory (the War of 1812 and 9/11 being the only other comparable events) and we have a direct quote from the engineer of that event. His opinions of the capabilities of the gun owners of the United States is entirely germaine to this argument, and leaving it out is non-neutral of you.Mlorrey 22:33, 18 May 2005 (UTC)
"The phrasing 'this view is supported by' clearly implies that the article agrees with that view, which isn't kosher. Meelar (talk) 14:07, May 19, 2005 (UTC)
I am open to a suggestion for what you view as a neutral way to phrase it, but that quote IS going to wind up in there no matter how much you try to revise history.Mlorrey 01:56, 26 May 2005 (UTC)
  1. "despite historical anecdotes such as the above as well as citations of other totalitarians who were deterred by armed populaces in Switzerland, Finland, etc."--see above. We're not here to make arguments for one side or the other.
Then why is this article so biased against gun owners?Mlorrey 22:33, 18 May 2005 (UTC)
Then change it. Meelar (talk) 14:07, May 19, 2005 (UTC)

Meelar (talk) 08:25, May 15, 2005 (UTC)

What, so you can change it back again?Mlorrey 01:56, 26 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Non-Neutral Statement

"The Clinton administration BATF study of illegal firearms in the black market estimated that as many as 4 million illegal fully automatic firearms had either been illegally smuggled into the USA or illegally constructed within the USA."

Given the ruling in US v. Stewart (9th Circuit), it is non-neutral to refer to home-made or home-altered machine guns which are not registered under the NFA as "illegal". The court clearly says that home-construction of machine guns is outside the commerce clause power of congress and the BATF and is therefore not 'illegal'. Please correct this non-NPOV.Mlorrey 22:39, 18 May 2005 (UTC)

Any cicuit court is a piece of hot air. Only SCOTUS matters for the federal government, because they govern all the four dozen states. Also, the federal government must condem US based home-construction, because without that they would have no ground to condem palestinian home construction of weapons and how could they support Israel then? 195.70.32.136 11:37, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

Boy I wish someone would tell the BATFE about that ruling. They still enforce it very strictly. If the BATFE so much as suspects that you might be thinking about planning to find out how to get ready to make a machine gun, they'll bust through your door and arrest you (if they don't shoot you first).

[edit] Gun laws and un-known weapons

someone can make a gun/gun like weapon to avoid laws. A rail driver is only a rail gun when you call it a gun there are so many loop holes Dudtz 8/25/05 6:14 PM EST

Someone cannot mass produce guns so easily.

[edit] Gun politics template

I created an image of a gun superimposed over the American flag for the gun politics template (See [4]). It was subsequently removed, since one user thought it was endorsing only one side of the debate. But I don't agree. Please leave comments at Template_talk:USgunlegalbox. --JW1805 16:52, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Photo of bullet-riddled guide sign

I recently attempted to post a photograph of a California guide sign that was riddled with many rusted bullet holes, which was immediately reverted. Since such signs are a common sight in most American states (indeed, most California freeway signs contain multiple bullet holes), and freeway shootings are a common and normal occurrence in California, I do not see why some other user objected to it as non-neutral. Furthermore, I had carefully couched the caption by pointing out that only "irresponsible gun owners vandalize traffic signs by shooting them." --Coolcaesar 22:20, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

  • It might be a common sight in urban California, but the same doesn't necessarily hold true for other areas of the country. I just think it's a bit biased for the only picture in this article to showcase an activity that only a small number of idiots are engaged in. Plus, it doesn't really have anything to do with "gun politics". --JW1805 23:39, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
    • I doubt is all that common in California. Here in Southern California the most common vandalism on freeway signs by far is spray paint. --Enemyofthestate 17:50, 4 July 2006 (UTC)
  • The topic of this page is "Gun politics in the United States". I'm not aware that bullet-holes in signs had become germane to the political debate surrounding firearms. -O^O 20:01, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
    • Very well, then, if you don't like it, that's fine with me. At least no one's objected to the photo's appearance in the article on Vandalism (probably because it's more relevant to that one). --Coolcaesar 05:22, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
  • It was quite properly reverted. Where would it stop? Will we then have a basis for excluding more photos, such as a stock photo of the victims of the Valentine's Day Massacre, with an earnest caveat that "only a tiny minority of dysfunctional gangsters harm each other in such a manner"? Why may not that be followed by some photo of a dead wren or robin, poached by some 13-year-old with a .22, with an earnest caveat that "such wanton killing of the common creatures in nature tends to be committed only by unsupervised children"? And then for "balance" to these submissions, can we turn away the photo of a dead would-be home-invader, with a police record of rape and assault, lying in his blood on the threshold of the door he had smashed down, shot by the 72-year-old occupant of the house? - Doug Gross, Williams '77

[edit] Lack of sources

The article makes many statements of the kind "some people argue this, others argue that". There really need to be some sources for these (if notable people/groups do think these things there must be sources). Instead of 'gun-control advocates think that ..' it should be, for example, a link to a statement by a campaign group for gun control. At the moment when I read the article (as someone from the UK and for gun-control) it seems biased towards the pro-gun camp. I need sources to convince me that this isn't propaganda. Much of this could be the opinion of an author or it may be an accurate reflection of the politics in the U.S. I can't tell. Please help me.

Lets take one section:

  • Supporters of the 2nd amendment also point to European countries, notably Britain, where guns are severely restricted if not outrightly banned. Nonetheless, gun crime in Britain remains high.

High compared to what? Britain before the new laws in 1997? Britain in 1932? The U.S.? I found some figures for the UK. The Telegraph states gun crimes increased from in 2,636 in 1997-1998 to 5,871 in 2003. Injuries increased from 317 to 648. We could say that gun crime has increased since the ban but it still isn't high compared to the U.S. or even France. I can add these stats to the article but there needs to be a source for someone in the U.S. using these types of numbers or it's original research.

  • Advocates of gun control, however, assert that because criminals obtain guns by stealing them from law-abiding gun owners, restricting their availability would decrease supply to criminals. They also argue that higher rates of gun ownership increase the number of crimes of passion.

Who are they? Who are these advocates?

  • Non-defensive uses of guns, such as hunting, vermin control and recreational target shooting, often receive little attention despite arguably being the most common reasons for private gun ownership.

Is there a source for the reasons for gun ownership - polls, etc? Who is making these arguements.

  • Problems include the difficulty of accounting accurately for confrontations in which no shots are fired, and jurisdictional differences in the definition of "crime". For example, some have argued that American statistics tend to over-count violent crimes, while British statistics tend to under-count them.

This really needs a source (who are some) because virtually any confrontation involving a gun would be a crime in the UK since, with the possible exception of shotguns (farmers, etc), even having a gun is illegal.

  • Proponents of gun control frequently argue that carrying a concealed pistol would be of no practical use for personal self-defense, while gun right advocates argue that individuals with proper firearm training are better able to defend themselves if carrying a handgun. Proponents of gun rights claim that in the US, there are up to 2.5 million incidents per year in which a lawfully-armed citizen averts being victimized by defending him or herself from a would-be attacker. Those who advance these statistics say that the deterrent effect would disproportionately benefit women, who are often targets of violent crime.

It has to be said that 'up to 2.5 million' is a number between zero and 2.5 million ;) Where is the number from? Do all proponents make this claim? It seems to me that NPOV would really require some numbers on the numbers of deaths/injuring due to guns or a link to a study (or studies) on the effect of guns on safety. I'm sure the gun-control peeps have made some claims with numbers

Cheers Slinky Puppet 15:09, 25 October 2005 (UTC)

The real problem is that, as this is a political issue, everything is thrown out of wack. I have statistics that state the British gun crime rate as about 100, yours say 2-5000. Alas, politics is a fluid issue and the law is meant to be like that. Motor.on

[edit] Militia Definition

Does this answer the question of the definition of "militia"?

Here is a source which may be of some use for this page - <http://www.gpoaccess.gov/uscode/>

Search the codes for militia and you will get this:

   Sec. 311. Militia: composition and classes
   (a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males
       at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of 
       title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration 
       of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female 
       citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
   (b) The classes of the militia are--
       (1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard 
   and the Naval Militia; and
       (2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of 
   the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval 
   Militia.

(Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 14; Pub. L. 85-861, Sec. 1(7), Sept. 2, 1958, 72 Stat. 1439; Pub. L. 103-160, div. A, title V, Sec. 524(a), Nov. 30, 1993, 107 Stat. 1656.)

notyouravgjoe 16:12, 4, November 2005

If you're looking for help on research, see Wikipedia:How to write a great article. --Coolcaesar 21:42, 5 November 2005 (UTC)


Didn't the USA sign some international treaty which bans combattants younger than 18 years of age? The above text is inaccurate. 195.70.32.136 11:50, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Inaccuracy

This statement from the main article: "Homicide rates as a whole, and especially homicides as a result of firearms use; are significantly lower in all other developed countries."

I think it is a bit inaccurate, since this source: http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcgvinco.html Seems to show that Taiwan has a higher total murder rate than the US. This despite the fact that possession of guns in Taiwan is a capital offense. I didn't edit the main article, but somehow it doesn't seem entirely accurate to make that categorical statement quoted above. Or maybe Taiwan doesn't qualify as a "developed country..."

It certainly does not. It just left dictatorship era and the labour laws are very weak, people are exploited for work performance like Japan with mainland China-like wages and rights. A developed country is like Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, France, etc (high quality of life). Some even refuse to call the USA a developed country, since some important aspects of human life are poorly protected there (especially the positive rights, like free medical care for children, the rights and care of mentally handicapped, labour protections, natural environment protection, egality in basic education, etc.) 195.70.32.136

[edit] A Liberal Idea?

I'm looking for information regarding why conservatives are traditionally and generally the ones who support the right to bear arms whereas liberals are against this. It's struck me as apparently hypocritical of both sides; the Right is interested in national defence, throws money at the military and intelligence agencies, is in favour of such actions as warrant-less wire taps, but actively fights for the individual's right to own firearms which could be used against the state, whereas liberals protect free speech to the point where it may cause secular hatred and lead to violence, are in favour of civil liberties and are all about "freedom to" but are against the freedom to own firearms. It's an issue that's crept up between a friend and I and I'm at a loss to explain it. I'd be gratetful if anyone (I assume those editing this article have researched the issue more than I) could point me towards a source that explains why this is, as it seems inherently illogical at first glance. I understand the arguments for and against gun control, but I don't understand why those different positions are championed by the people they are, rather than the other way round. - Hayter 21:55, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

The problem begins with your own over simplification of liberal and conservative ideals. While you listed what is perceived as popular ideas about the two sides, you should explore the political matter further than skin deep. Political motivations are seldom so simple as to directly correlate with the face value positions on a given subject. 68.216.17.182 22:01, 13 January 2006 (UTC)
The 'simplification' is because I rarely enjoy posting questions that may end up being longer than the answer. I assure you I have explored the issue of gun control in a variety of contexts and from varying angles (not to mention the most notorious ideals held by both sides), and whilst it may be true that my brief and admittedly ignorant supposition posed above is based on little more than indoctrinated leftist propaganda, the question was asked because I sought an in-depth answer or the beginnings to finding one, not deprecation of my own knowledge. I need not hire out for the latter, already having a partner willing to provide. For the record, O^O has already given me the former and I thank him for it, but if anyone else would consider giving me an opinion I'd appreciate it as well. - Hayter 20:00, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

Its all based on the differences in lifestyle of rural,urban and suburban voters that may be more truely liberal or conservative on other issues; accidents of geography and class politics rather than thought out ideology. Kudos to the article writers for refering to relaxed conceal and carry law as "liberal". - The IP Adress 11:25 February 13 2006

Err, I believe it's contrasting "liberal" to "authoritarian", IE: Liberal as in Liberty (Stating that this idea places fewer restrictions upon something than its alternative), rather than "Liberal" as in "The political ideology". -FrYGuY 05:47, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
The word's been so vilified I'm just glad to hear it used properly in any context, also I think, economics aside, being liberal and opposing authoritarianism is an integral part of being a good Liberal, even when its not the policy of the Dems or Labor or whoever. The IP Adress 10:28 Feburuary 2006
Thanks for that guys - I've now used the information (for a debate down the pub, if you can believe it) and it was interesting to consider the various thoughts brought up. Thanks again. - Hayter 14:52, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Mujahideens and the Tyrrany Government

According to the section "Security against tyranny and invasion", the Afghanistani muhajadeens successfully countered the Soviet Armed Forces with ancient bolt action rifles. This is presented as an argument to undermine the idea that it would be futile for private citizens to fight the government militarily. It should be point out, however, that the mujahideens were significantly financed, armed, and trained by the United States and other countries (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mujahideen). - PJ

And any Americans who might try to resist tyranny with ancient bolt-action rifles would also be financed by Americans. So? —Tamfang 19:10, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
American made Stinger missles would NOT be available to a uprising militia however. Motor.on
They're not available to the Swiss citizenry either, and look how well they've done fending off foreign invasion. A commonly held belief is that only equivalent small arms (IE: Guns, not cannons, missiles, bombs, and so forth) are needed to hold a truely sucessful armed revolt. Of course, you could argue that the US doesn't even have that any more... -FrYGuY 07:11, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
The way swiss avoided invasion from Hitler was collaboration. They accepted gold the nazis robbed off the corpses of gassed jews (including not just jewellery and wristwatches but also raw pulled gold teeth in crates)! They melted that and traded that with the Allies for western cash and handed that over to the Third Reich, who used it to buy iron ore and ball bearings from Sweden to keep the Wehrmacht running. In fact the swiss returned many jewish escapees to the Gestapo, which is currently a subject of big lawsuit in Europe. Swiss licked the ass of Hitler, Switzerland was the last country to retire the ME-109 fighters, those nazi marvels flew until the mid-1960s. BTW, one swiss city was carpet bombed by mistake by a USAAF B-24 formation and the swiss did nothing. There was no swiss resistance to either Hitler or the Allies, they only collected money from dirty sources. 195.70.32.136 12:09, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

So you don't think there is anything else about Swiss history and its role in the world economy that might account for their ability to remain neutral. Also, it is not individual gun ownership, but the fact that the Swiss have a militia-based military that makes their example fit the model.

Here is the BBC News web article, which confirms exactly what I said two above: Switzerland survived WWII by collaborating fully with Hitler's Third Reich and sending jewish refugees back to concentration camps. There is even a photo there, of a swastika-eagle decorated gold bar from a swiss safe. The swiss far right is now planning to protest because they refuse to see the fact that there was no heroic defence but only swiss compliance in the most heinous nazi crimes. The BBC article is well worth reading: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5349148.stm
Actually, if you wanted to point out external reasons, rather than their economic role or history, the prime counter would be the geography. The Swiss are nestled in the Alps. It's hard to get there, hard to move around, and hard to get out. It's prime defender territory. Alas, the point is that they require households with males 18 years old or older to possess an automatic weapon. This, plus the mountains, means anybody wishing to invade Switzerland better be prepared to take heavy casualties, even with heavy bombings first. -FrYGuY 15:22, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Problems with the article

On a subject this contentious, everything should be cited. Right now the article is a mess. Many controversial statements are not attributed to any specific source, thus making them original research. For example, I removed the entire following section:

Gun control advocates argue that only members of a "well regulated militia" have the right to keep and bear arms, with debate ensuing over what, exactly, 'the militia' is. Proponents of gun rights argue that the phrase "the people" applies to all individuals rather than an organized collective, and that the militia is precisely defined in U.S. law as all male citizens and resident aliens at least 17 up to 45 with or without military service experience, and including additionally those under 64 having former military service experience, as well as including female citizens who are officers of the National Guard. Gun control advocates say that the word 'people' in the Second Amendment means something other than what the word 'people' means in the 1st, 4th, 9th, and 10th Amendments. They also cite the fact that the Second Amendment resides in the Bill of Rights, and argue that the Bill of Rights, by its very nature, defines individual rights of the citizenry. Many proponents of gun rights also read the Second Amendment to state that because of the need of a formal military, the people have a right to "keep and bear arms" as protection from the government.

Not a single cite was given for any of these claims, some of them quite contentious. If anyone wants to reinsert these claims, then cite them to a specific source. If you want to claim that gun control advocates think that "the word 'people' in the Second Amendment means something other than what the word 'people' means in the 1st, 4th, 9th, and 10th Amendments" then you need to find a mainstream gun control group that actually says this. To simply insert in this manner constitutes prohibited original research. I'm also concerned about using terms like "proponents of gun rights" - is this really neutral wording? Crotalus horridus (TALK • CONTRIBS) 06:14, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

I've got to call bullshit on this.You have removed whole sections of the article,from the 2nd Amendment,about which you evidently know very little.It doesn't take citation to write the truth.Anyone who knows the issue from even one side knows that the concept of the word 'people 'as interpreted in the 2nd Amendment is alleged to mean something different from the 'people in the 1st,4th.9th,10th Amendments.Your use of what looks like dirty tactics amounts to vandalism of the article.Erasing something just because you don't know enough about the issues under review to know wheather it's true or not looks like a cheap trick.This article has to show the issue from both sides to achieve a NPOV.Instead of deleting facts that explain the issue from the pro-gun side ,why don't you add to the article by adding your side's take on it?Granted,it is kind of ridiculous,but you could try.Saltforkgunman 08:27, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

You may just be a hardcore wiki,uninterested in gun politics,but your selection of an entire paragraph of factual information to delete looks like standard gun control tactics.Citing the lack of citations looks like the uninterested party,but be advised that all of the information in the above paragraph is correct.When the facts in an entire paragraph make gun control look stupid, a gun control advocate might want to hide behind a NPOV gimmick to delete that information.If this isn't you then don't take offense.Saltforkgunman 00:29, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

Removed the following addition added today, as the claims don't add up or agree with each other. As there were roughly 55,000 soldiers killed in Viet Nam, this equates to making the claim that 27,500 Americans die of gun shots each year. Perhaps. Yet, only 9,390 to 11,348 actually occurred according to the same inserted text. What happened to the other 15,000+? Looks like some talking points from several pro-gun control websites were perhaps copied, without checking the validity of the numbers. The whole addition is suspect. Can someone straighten out what is fact and what is fiction?

In 1996, 2 people were murdered by handguns in New Zealand, 15 in Japan, 106 in Canada, 213 in Germany, and 9,390 in the United States. [FBI Uniform Crime Report] "Gun Facts" Guns kept in the home for self-protection are 43 times more likely to kill a family member or friend than to kill in self-defense.<From a well debunked study conducted wholly in a Seattle ghetto.Saltforkgunman 08:27, 19 March 2006 (UTC) [ Kellermann and Reay, N.E. Journal of Medicine] Every two years, more Americans die of gunshot than there were American soldiers killed during the entire Vietnam War [National Center for Health Statistics, Department of Defense Almanac]. In homes with guns, a member of the household is almost three times as likely to be the victim of a homicide compared to gun-free homes. Kellermann AL, Rivara FP, et al. "Gun ownership as a risk factor for homicide in the home." NEJM 329:15 (1993):1084-1091. • In 2001, firearms were used to murder 6 people in New Zealand, 56 in Japan, 96 in Great Britain, 168 in Canada, and 331 in Germany United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (2001-2002). In comparison, firearms were used to murder 11,348 in the United States WISQARS, Injury Mortality Reports. In 2003, there were only 163 justifiable homicides by private citizens using handguns in the United States FBI Uniform Crime Report, 2003, table 2.16, p. 24. In the US, "Somewhere around 0.8 to 2.0 million violent crimes are deterred each year because of gun ownership and use by civilians. In addition, another 1.5 to 2.5 million crimes are stopped by armed civilians. There may be some overlap in these two categories because of the ways in which the data are collected, but there are almost certainly some two to four million fewer completed crimes each year as the result of civilian gun ownership." Lawrence Southwick, Jr., "Guns and Justifiable Homicide: Deterrence and Defense", St. Louis University Public Law Review, Gun Control Symposium, vol 18, no. 1, 1999: 217

There are no doubt some good points here, but they need to be consistent and documented and verified before they get inserted into the article. Yaf 06:19, 18 March 2006 (UTC)
According to the World Almanac 2001 (my handiest reference), a majority of US firearms deaths in 1997 were suicides (17566 of 32166).
The list of murders-with-guns in various countries is shocking but where's the list of murders-without-guns? If the key difference is gun policy, then the non-gun murder rates ought to be roughly equal; are they?
FBI numbers are known to undercount justifiable homicides, because they count only those killings where no arrest was made, which are very rare because of CYA.
The famous ratio 43 is meaningless because killing the aggressor is not necessary to a successful defensive gun use.
—Tamfang 20:51, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

I re-inserted the militia definition and sourced it. Notyouravgjoe 18 March 2006

[edit] There may be a new problem

In the section 'security against tyranny and invasion',the last sentence reads,'In the pacific war,Japan made the decision not to invade the West coast on the U.S.,and one reason was the presence of millions of armed people'.Hopefully,the poster of that sentence was not quoting the internet legend that years after WW2,Admiral Yamamoto told Admiral Nimitz that the Japs didn't invade because of 'a gun behind every bush.'Admiral Yamamoto's plane was shot down on April 18,1943.You see the problem?Saltforkgunman 01:33, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] excerpt from the Department of justice website

Who Are the Victims of Gun Violence?


The Death Toll

hen confronted with the question, "Who are the victims of gun violence?" we usually think first about the fatalities. According to death certificate data compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics, a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a total of 32,436 persons died from firearm injuries in the United States in 1997. The majority of these deaths—54.2 percent—were suicides, 41.7 percent were homicides, and the remaining 4.1 percent were unintentional shootings or deaths of an undetermined nature.1 The effects of gun violence cross all socioeconomic and geographic boundaries—from inner cities to remote rural areas to upscale suburbs and in homes, public housing communities, schools, workplaces, recreational areas, bars, and on the street. Gun violence victims are young and old, male and female, African-American and white. In some cases, the shooter and victim are strangers, but in many others, they are intimately related.

In spite of the pervasive nature of gun violence, some demographic groups are disproportionately represented in the gun crime victim population. The 13,252 gun homicide victims recorded in the mortality statistics for 1997 included 5,110 who were 15 to 24 years old. Firearm homicide2 was the second leading cause of death for the 15- to 24-year-old group. In the 25- to 34-year-old group, there were 3,706 deaths from gun homicide; at younger ages (5–14), there were 284 firearm homicides. In fact, firearm homicide was within the top 10 causes of death for all age groups from 5 to 44 years.

Gun homicide victims are disproportionately young and predominantly male. According to CDC, 84 percent were male in 1997. At ages 15 to 19 years, the gun homicide rate for males was 8 times the rate for females in 1997.3 The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reports that males of all ages were 3.2 times more likely than females to be murdered in 1998. Moreover, the circumstances of firearm violence differ significantly for men and women. In contrast to men, women are far more likely to be killed by a spouse, intimate acquaintance, or family member than by a stranger.4

Firearm homicide also disproportionately affects African-Americans. Approximately 52 percent of gun homicide victims are African-American, even though they represent less than 13 percent of the total population. African-American males between the ages of 15 and 24 have the highest firearm homicide rate of any demographic group. Their firearm homicide rate of 103.4 deaths per 100,000 is 10 times higher than the rate for white males in the same age group (10.5 deaths per 100,000). In 1997, 92 percent of homicides of young African-American men occurred by firearms, compared to 68 percent of homicides by firearms in the general population.5 Even though violent crime rates, including crimes committed with guns, have declined each year since 1993, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation trend reports,6 guns remain the leading cause of death for young African-American males.7

If all Americans were killed with firearms at the same rate as African-American males between the ages of 15 and 24 (103.4 per 100,000), there would be 276,843 firearm homicide victims annually in the United States. (Based on 1997 CDC numbers and a total population of 267,636,061.)


The Nonfatal Gun Crime Victimization

For every firearm death, there are approximately three nonfatal firearm injuries that show up in hospital emergency rooms. With no mechanism, such as a national registry, to collect uniform national data on nonfatal firearm injuries, this is, at best, an estimate based on a sample of hospitals.8 There may be many more non-fatal firearm victims who do not go to hospital emergency rooms for treatment. Others have estimated four to six non-fatal injuries for each gun death.9 In addition, many crime victims may be traumatized by the presence of a gun during a crime, whether or not the gun was fired. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) in 1998, victimizations involving a firearm represented 23 percent of the 2.9 million violent crimes of rape and sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault. In 1998, 670,500 crime victims reported facing an assailant with a gun.10

Secondary Victims

The number of deaths and injuries is just a crude index of the effects of gun violence in the United States. There is an even greater number of secondary victims, sometimes called covictims or survivors of homicide. These are the parents, children, siblings, spouses, and others who have lost a loved one or friend to gun homicide. In the aftermath of a homicide, covictims must deal with law enforcement, the medical examiner, the press, and the court system, among others. They may have to clean up a crime scene, pay the homicide victim's medical bills, and arrange for a funeral and burial. " It is estimated that each homicide victim is survived by an average of three loved ones for whom the violent death produces a painful and traumatic grief."

—Deborah Spungen Homicide: The Hidden Victims Sage Publications, 1998


Secondary victims also include those who are touched by or witness gun violence in their homes, schools, or workplaces or on the street. In the Nation's largest public housing projects, the damage goes well beyond the lives lost and injuries inflicted. According to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, public housing residents are more than twice as likely as other members of the population to suffer from firearm victimization, one in five residents reports feeling unsafe in his or her neighborhood, and children show symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) similar to those seen in children exposed to war or major disasters.11 This is consistent with numerous studies finding high rates of exposure to violence particularly among youth in urban communities. In one study, almost two-thirds of high school students had witnessed a shooting, and in another, 70 percent of the youth ages 7 to 18 in a public housing project had witnessed a shooting and 43 percent had seen a murder.12 Recent data also indicate substantial exposure to gun violence among suburban school-age children.13

Multiple-Victim Shootings

While the number of crimes committed with firearms has been falling to levels not seen since the mid-1980s,14 media coverage and public awareness of gun crime are increasing. " Even those who have never encountered a gun are aware of the widespread presence of guns in our communities, witness news reports of gun-related crime, domestic murders, and high-profile shootings at schools, churches and other public places. The ever-present fear that someone we love might be killed or injured is another form of gun trauma."


—From The Bell Campaign’s World Wide Web site at www.bellcampaign.org The Bell Campaign is now referred to as the Million Mom March Foundation.

In the past few years, a rash of multiple-victim tragedies has erupted in schools, workplaces, churches, nursing homes, fast food restaurants, shopping malls, and transportation. These are very public venues—places that we frequent on a daily basis and where we should feel safe. When a gun massacre interrupts play in a daycare center, prayer in a church, or commuters going home from work, it shatters our most basic sense of security. Consequently, even though the percentage of homicides involving five or more victims was less than 0.05 percent in 1998,15 these are the ones that receive the overwhelming majority of the media's attention. In addition, the multiple-victim shootings in public places may be ones that create the most secondary victims as whole classrooms of first graders, cafeterias full of teenagers, and hundreds of fellow workers witness a mass shooting. The media coverage alone multiplies the number of persons victimized by the crime.

Previous Contents Next



Working With Victims of Gun Violence July 2001

Department of Justice

[edit] Guns a are different today than when the Constitution was written.

The pro gun people are breaking the rules regarding Wikipedia by trying to conveniently ignore the fact that guns are different today than they were when the Constitution was written. You can edit this fact but deleting this fundumental point is out of line. Further the USA is one of the only nations with gun rights written into its Constitution. These are both fundumental facts. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.12.208.181 (talk • contribs) 05:01, 2 April 2006.

Removed the following opionated, uncited, and unsubstantiated edit, "The United States is one of the few countries on earth with the right to bear arms written into the Constitution. This law was written into the Constitution when the firearms world was much different than today. The predominant firearm when the Constitution was written was the musket. This was a very inaccurate weapon that took almost a minute to reload. The musket was not rifled. These types of weapons would not cause society the problems that the weapons of today have on society. Also these weapons could not be concealed."
In the first place, the discussion on Revolutionary War muskets has very little to do with the Second Amendment. In the second place, some rifles were used during the Revolutionary War. They were considered deadly well beyond 100 yards, whereas anyone hit by a musket at a distance greater than 60 or 70 yards was usually just considered unlucky. Yes, Revolutionary War rifles were slower to load than muskets, hence their use as special purpose weapons by both sides during the Revolutionary War.
As for the US being one of the few countries with gun rights written into its constitution, what about Mexico, and a whole host of others that do? Guess they don't count.
Yes, guns are different today than during the Revolutionary War. So what? They were deadly then and are deadly now. And, what does concealed have to do with discussing the Second Amendment? This topic is covered at length elsewhere in the Article. Yaf 05:11, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

If the Second Amendment applies only to the technology of 1791, then presumably the same principle applies to the clauses authorizing the Government to maintain military forces. —Tamfang 17:57, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

It is obvious that if you support strong gun control in this country, you also support repealing the 2nd amendment. Further this is a major position as there are quite a few Americans that want strong gun control. It follows that Wikipedia must include the argument for repealing the 2nd ammendment as uncomfortable as this may be for the pro gun people. Politically, opposing the 2nd amendment is very difficult as the NRA tries to paint any such attempts as anti-American. It is also difficult for groups such as the Brady gun control organization to work to repeal the 2nd amendment for similar reasons. Wikipedia has no such political agenda and the argument belongs here. I also ask that the pro gun control administrator post to my page. If there is no such person, I will volunteer for the interim until there is such a person. There is obviously a pro gun administrator named Rhobite actively moniteering this article. I hope there is some balance here. I have no problem with the argument for repealing the 2nd ammendment being improved from the one posted. If the argument continues to be deleted, this should go straight to dispute resolution.GunsKill 19:01, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

This is not a place to make arguments but to present arguments in the mainstream. If you can cite a mainstream group pushing to repeal the 2nd, go ahead and add it in. Very nice. On your first post you're pushing for dispute resolution. Very civil of you. (actually, are you the IP 24.smthing that's been editing this page? at least you're signing now. That'd be an improvement).--Mmx1 19:59, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
Regarding the two 2A repeal cites that are on there, I don't think an editorial and a blog post is indicative of opinion of gun-control groups. There are no doubt individuals that believe so, but the nation as a whole is fairly unwilling to repeal the 2nd and that's why there aren't any groups pushing for it. --Mmx1 20:17, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
It was the best I could find on short order :-) I agree with you that there are no major groups pushing for the repeal of the 2A, except perhaps for the UN group on preventing small arms proliferation, but they have little legal standing within the US proper, and I didn't even bother to put them in the section for this reason. Have attempted to craft a more balanced section, but we probably aren't there yet. This article is definitely still a work in progress.
And, relative to the anti-gun comments/actions of GunSkill, it is not valid to delete large sections of text within articles, for it is considered vandalism, unless a discussion and a consensus is reached among a group of editors prior to the deletion(s). Also, it is usually considered bad manners to ascribe malice to other editors, especially prior to discussing things on the discussion page. I realize that we all start as newbies who are still learning the ropes, but it would be much the same as striding into a corner bar and announcing that you were gonna change the drinking rules. A lot more good is done by discussing major edits in advance, and building consensus, rather than by blindly storming in and deleting major sections. That is not saying that there aren't edits that are still needed, either! But, lets work together, to reach a balanced, NPOV article worthy of being considered encyclopedic in nature. Checking spelling and grammar are part and parcel to accomplishing this too, for grammatical edits usually get considered more carefully than "blog-quality" inputs, with major problems. Yaf 20:49, 3 April 2006 (UTC)


The keywords "repeal 2nd amendment" brought 279,000 hits on yahoo on April 3, 2006. This is clear evidence that the people are discussing this issue. This discussion belongs in this article. Will the administrator here help this get into dispute resolution please?GunsKill 20:43, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

You're free to participate here productively, but to date all you've done is blank a large section of the article, add your personal opinion about the "musket" interpretation, and mock User:Yaf by mimicking his username. As long as you stop vandalizing the article and impersonating other users, I will not block you. Rhobite 20:47, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
Yaf is very active, aggressive and vigilant on this page. Yaf is also strongly pro gun. I chose that username to point this out. The intention was not to mock but to make a statement. This whole article is strongly biased pro-gun. The self defense section is a complete joke. In fact if gun users are pulling a gun on people 2.5 million times and there are only 4.8 million reported violent crimes something is terribly wrong. I have posted statistics far better cited and sourced than the rubbish in the self defense section and it was very quickly deleted. Also the gun violence section and the security against tyrrany are very one sided. What is that nonsense about Rhwanda doing there? And then the argument that there are more guns in rural areas but more crime in the city is also a complete joke. This article needs some wholesale deletions to have any balance.GunsKill 20:14, 5 April 2006 (UTC)
Wikipedia:Resolving_disputes. Second, your google results are dishonest: "repeal 2nd amendment" gets 31 results, "repeal second amendment" gets another 51. The query repeal "2nd amendment" gets 61,000 but many about repealing gun bans. --Mmx1 20:53, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

I did not use the " " marks in the search but those keywords just brought over 5 million hits on google. With the "" marks it is bad grammer so you wont get many hits.GunsKill 21:01, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Without the quotes, most of the links aren't even talking about the 2nd amendment. Or the constitution for that matter. Specifying "second amendment" helps a bit but you still get many false positives. Adding "the" ("repeal the second amendment") gets you 500/675 depending on which version of second you use. Still a blip. --Mmx1 21:09, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
Search Engine 101 -- Putting in quote marks means the search engine will search for exactly the sequence of words contained between the quote marks. If you don't insert the quote marks, then the search engine will show hits for any combination of the words, even if each word is individually far, far from the other words. It has nothing to do with grammar (or punctuation). It has to do with finding meaning in terms of context. Punctuation is important, too, when writing. Consider the famous "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. This could be referring to a Panda that Eats a meal of Shoots and Leaves (Eats Shoots and Leaves), or to a holdup guy at a restaurant that Eats, Shoots (the hostess) and Leaves. But, punctuation and grammar are not important to most search engine usages, unless you are looking for exactly one meaning where punctuation matters. Yaf 21:11, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

I did find a Miami Herald editorial calling for a repeal of the Second Amendment: [5]. Editorials say lots of things, though, and I don't think that it indicates any significant movement to repeal the Second Amendment. Most anti-gun groups shy away from this argument, because it implies that the Second Amendment is indeed valid. They would rather argue that the comma indicates that only members of a well-regulated militia have a right to keep and bear arms. The Brady Campaign, for example, challenges the validity of the Second Amendment but does not call for its repeal. Rhobite 22:31, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] could be used in support of militias

Regarding the clause: "...protection of a personal right to firearms beyond the context of individuals keeping and bearing arms that could be used in support of militias."

I see two problems: 1) It doesn't seem true, for instance handguns could be used in militias, but are widely allowed to be regulated. 2) The object of the first part is 'right to firearms' and the object of the second part is 'right to keep and bear arms'. This is a logical falacy, requiring the presumption that 'right to firearms' is the same as 'right to keep and bear arms'. This presumption is false, or at least, subject to debate.

Perhaps you can reword it to address these two concerns; I tried, and could not. In the end I think just deleting the clause is most accurate and NPOV. BruceHallman 17:07, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Have written to address the two concerns, and restructured slightly, adding Presser in the list, since it is really what addresses the right of the State to regulate militias. Also added quote from Presser, the "riot and rapine" one. There is a fundamental difference between regulating and infringing. The high court has largely allowed States and local Governments to regulate all manner of arms. However, there has been a consistency in that the fundamental right to keep and bear arms has only been allowed to be regulated, not infringed. With these edits, I think we may be close to NPOV and balanced. Yaf 17:27, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Why arent the Brady gun facts on this site?

This article is so poorly written that it is a complete joke. There is no real evidence that guns are useful in self defence especially if you live in an urban area. The evidence presented is spurious at best. The protection against tyrrany and invasion argument is laughable. Certainly if you disarm on group of people in society and leave the rest heavily armed, that can be a problem like happened in Germany and Rhwanda. But now we have that case in the USA with most people not owning guns, and the people that do own guns often have strange extreme political agendas.

The bottom line is that even with all the nonsense written in this article, how come the Brady gun facts dont stay here? Without these gun facts this article is a complete joke and further the Brady gun facts follow all the rules of Wikipedia as to verifiability and everything else for that matter. I want this article to go to dispute resolution without more facts as to the risks of owning a gun, the number of injuries related to guns in the USA and further the costs to society of those injuries.GunsKill 18:27, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

My opinion is that the article suffers from a severe pro-gun POV and needs lots of work to bring NPOV. I suggest we add a neutrality dispute box until NPOV is achieved through concensus editing. BruceHallman 18:32, 9 April 2006 (UTC)
I disagree. A controversial tagline box, perhaps, but I am not sure why an NPOV tag should be used just yet. Likewise for this continuous "dispute resolution" threat. It's too early. Why not just write and edit and work on achieving balance as we go. And, if there are facts and issues that are not yet covered, then we should make an attempt to write an input that is not all one-sided to capture those points, too. For example, I personally think there is too much Brady-Campaign POV and similar "facts" without context that keeps getting inserted. In the latest such insertion, failing to mention that the Kellerman studies were for a ghetto where illicit drugs and fights were common and violence no doubt was even more common for the "home" given as an example of typical American homes seems definitely biased. Of course, such a neighborhood would be very violent, guns or not. Lets work on keeping a balance. Yaf 04:59, 10 April 2006 (UTC)
Cuyahoga County is not a ghetto, it is a typical cross section of any urban area in the USA. You are not working on keeping balance. You are working very hard to keep this page off balance.GunsKill 16:50, 11 April 2006 (UTC)


Many of the "Brady gun facts" are in just as much dispute as gun politics itself, so adding them to this would merely open a new can of worms. Arthurrh 00:18, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

The brady gun "facts" are misleading, and deceptive, like everything writen by the brady group, and alot of what's writen by the NRA and other pro-gun groups. I wouldn't ever use either of them as a source. 220.239.88.91 22:01, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] State Organizations

I saw a number of Michigan groups added today, and I wanted to know if the "Organizations" section should be limited to National organizations. I fear that the section could become ridiculous with every chapter of every group, gun club, and every state organization being listed. It is already quite long, perhaps this could be spun into a new page or two (Pro-gun organizations, and Anti-Gun organizations)

[edit] Who is to protect us from the gun nuts if the government breaks down????????

The whole section on tyranny and invasion is complete rubbish. I want an answer to one question. If we do have a situation where the government breaks down, which is really the only situation that would give the gun owners political power, who is to protect the very likely more reasonable gunless ones from the gun toters? I dont want a world where the gun nuts are ruling it. I don't understand what gives the gun toters the moral compass to say that they are any better than the guy that does not have a gun??? GunsKill 01:08, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

Isn't the point of the article: Gun Politics? The 'tyranny' argument and the 'invasion' argument, are well known arguments/myths/contrivances/rubbish/choose-your-word used by the personal gun rights proponets in the Gun Politics debate. If you can cite an opposition source per WP:V of contrary augments/myths... of the other side of the Gun Politics debate, feel free to edit them into the article, that is welcome. Although you make reasonable points in your post above, it seems to be 'original research' unless you can cite sources. Also, feel free to challange the sourcing of the 'tyranny' and 'invasion' topics if you wish. BruceHallman 01:23, 12 April 2006 (UTC)
Relative to the question, "who is to protect the very likely more reasonable gunless ones from the gun toters?", perhaps the New Orleans police? Seriously, the fundamental philosophical difference appears to be one of personal reliance for protecton against roaming bands of criminals with guns versus inferred protection by the police who are supposed to come to one's aid. In the very times when 911 and the police are needed most, though, at least in New Orleans, the infrastructure broke down, and bands of criminals were preying on the unarmed. Gun rights proponents claim these are the very times when guns are good tools to have, to defend one's self, family, and home. As BruceHallman noted, feel free to edit your points into the article, citing sources. Having been through many hurricanes, though, I have seen firsthand the failure of governmental infrastructure for weeks on end, and have learned it is wise not to depend on Governmental aid, but instead to be self-reliant. It is lots safer. Yaf 02:06, 12 April 2006 (UTC)
You did not explain who is to protect those reasonable ones that do not own guns from the gun nuts if the government breaks down. You did state the one and only valid logical reason to buy a gun if you live in an urban area, that being, if the government breaks and we revert to the lowest most primitive, brutal and violent society, you might well want to own a gun rather than not have one. There is a flip side to this argument though. Certainly if you do not own a gun, this is a very strong reason to get very active in any political movement to outlaw firearms. If you do not own a firearm and the government breaks down, you sure as hell do not want any guns around.
Further it is a myth that if guns are outlawed only the criminals will have them. Of course, we have stupidly flooded our country with guns, but guns are nothing like alcohol. The technology to make alcohol has been with us since before Moses. The technology to make modern firearms is considerably more difficult than that required to produce alcohol. We could all make alcohol in our bathtubs with the most primitive of ingredients. Granted, even if we outlawed firearms, very skilled metalsmiths could produce guns, but certainly not mass produce them. Only a very small number of firearms could be produced if guns were outlawed in this country. If a monetary incentive was offered to everyone to turn in their firearms, guns would start to get scarcer and scarcer. And sooner rather than later guns would cease to be a problem. This is proven in other countries that have outlawed guns.
So the safest thing is to outlaw firearms.GunsKill 23:59, 13 April 2006 (UTC)
Wow, there are so many steps of flawed logic in there, I don't know where to begin... First, owning a gun automatically makes you a "gun nut" and therefor crazed and murderous? If you think so, you have obviously never met people who own guns. If you think not, then what is to stop you from purchasing a gun to protect yourself when it becomes necessary? Or, if you still refuse to purchase a gun, why can one gun wielder not help defend you against others? Your logical step that if society goes, who will protect you (Although in the same post, you mention that owning a gun if society goes, for protection, is a valid desire, so I have no idea what you're trying to say other than "Guns are bad!"...) is flawed.
Secondly, it is not hard to make a gun. Give me a modern gunsmithing setup, and I could crank out an AK-47 witout much trouble. Give me a more primitive set up, and all I'd need charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter (potassium nitrate), a projectile, wadding, and a tube of some sort, and I'd have what's known as a zip gun. Guns are much easier to make than you seem to think.
Third, there are countries which have outlawed gun ownership, and given incentives to turn in their guns, only to see crimes involving firearms skyrocket. Australia is a prime example. Although I notice you didn't give any examples in your generic "It will make things better, trust me" statement...


So no. Banning guns is not "the safest thing". And before you start labelling me a "gun nut" and, of course, ignoring any point I could make as a result, realize I've never owned a gun in my life, and until I was 14, never saw a gun in person. Your logic is deeply flawed, and has more truthiness to it than it does truth. -FrYGuY 14:32, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

First, I will agree that using the term "gun nuts" is an appeal to truthiness rather than truth. But the whole section on "Security against tyranny and invasion arguments" is also a study in truthiness. I would guess that legal gun owners run the whole gamut from sane and sober to psychotic sociopaths. But whatever, no one has answered the paramount question regarding why any sane person that does not possess a firearm should not want an outright ban on guns, especially handguns? How is it in any non gun owning persons interest to have legal guns?

Second, will you be able to go on a mad dog shooting spree with your zip gun?

Third, you better check your facts on Australia. Firearm crime plummeted after the country cracked down on guns. http://www.bradycampaign.org/facts/factsheets/pdf/australia.pdf

Anyway, after rereading "Security against tyranny and invasion arguments" and giving it some thought, it occurred to me that the arguments in this section may not be position that the NRA endorses. Does the NRA actually endorse the idea that the 2nd amendment is some kind of reset button, or is this some sort of fringe crackpot idea.GunsKill 02:23, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Okay, your question is why would a non-gun owner seek to allow people to own guns? Well, first off, I'd suggest that it's not my right to tell other people they can't recreationally target shoot, or go hunting for their food. But that's just the libertarian in me, I guess. So then I'd figure that the fact that deters most criminals is not that target X has a gun, because odds are they don't know that. The fact that would deter him is that ANY target he chooses, unless it's one he knows is otherwise, has a chance of pulling a gun on him and killing him. That's a fairly effective deterrent, and that's why I'd suggest it's in your (and my, as afellow non-gun owner) best interest to allow private gun ownership. That and it's in the constitution.
Second, yes, I could go on a mad dog shooting spree with zip guns. Why? Becuase they're tiny, you don't have to carry just one. During the civil war, Confederate scouts could take out entire regiments of Union soldiers because they carried half a dozen or more 6-shot revolvers... rather than having to take the time between shots to reload, they would fire 6 times, drop it and grab the next one. Imagine the same thing, except with a backpack full of one-shot zip-guns. But you've taken my extreme example of how even under a pretty strict enforcement to prevent people from making guns... like notyouravgjoe pointed out, anybody with a metal lathe and stock steel could make some revolvers.
Third, I checked the Brady Campaign. I loved how they framed all their arguements to seem more favorable then thay really are (You might want to check them again, see how well framed they are!), for instance, the Australian Gun control act was passed and enacted in 1996, yet most of their pre-gun-ban statistics are from 1991-1993... ever stop to wonder why? Perhaps it's because both assault rates (Both with firearms and without), and suicide rates (Both with firearms and without) peaked in that timeframe? (And lo and behold, that's the case!). All those numbers were on the decline BEFORE the gun law was passed. But, let's look into it further... oh look, they make no claims that the absolute number of murders has decreased, but that rather, the precentage of homicides using a firearm has decreased. Oh goody! I'm more likely to be killed or maimed, but hey, at least it'll be done with a Bowie knife, rather than a gun! Good thing I can't legally own a gun to defend myself, otherwise I might less likely be killed, but WITH A GUN! [6]
Fourth, I love how you keep calling gun owners 'fringe' and 'crackpots'. No, the idea that banning guns magically makes a paradise utopia is perfectly sane and logical (despite the fact that it hasn't worked yet), but the idea that if the government got out of control the people should have the right and ability to revolt is somehow crackpot? Why, because it imagines a dystopian future, instead of your prefered paradise? Last I checked, the wise course of action is "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst", not "Hope for the best, and make sure that if it doesn't happen we're screwed, and go around convincing others of that". To be honest though, I don't really care what you think, or how you vote. I'm not trying to convince you. What I *am* trying to do is to get you to give up on your proselytizing on Wikipedia. There are numerous outlets where you can parade your flawed studies, your carefully framed statistics, your personal feelings, your misleading examples, and so forth and so on. Wikipedia is not one of them. -FrYGuY 19:24, 19 April 2006 (UTC)
This discussion isn't remotely helpful. This is not a debate board; please stay on the topic of improving the article. Rhobite 02:44, 19 April 2006 (UTC)
Part of the discussion is questioning the NPOV of the "Security against tyranny and invasion arguments" section.GunsKill 03:23, 19 April 2006 (UTC)
It's a very small part of the discussion, if any. Please try to stay on topic. Rhobite 03:31, 19 April 2006 (UTC)
Getting back to the very small part, is it the NRA that endorses the idea that the 2nd ammendment is some sort of government reset button or is it some fringe group?GunsKill 01:25, 20 April 2006 (UTC)
Unless you consider the Founding Fathers and their intent the NRA, or a 'fringe group', no, it's pretty mainstream. The Founding Fathers were heavily influenced by the writings and ideology of John Locke, who suggested that when governments fail to protect the rights of its citizens, the citizens have both the right and duty to withdraw support and to rebel. Of course, to quote my personal favorite President: "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." - Thomas Jefferson. Of course, another Thomas Jefferson quote you'll probably find more relevant: "Laws that forbid the carrying of arms..disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed one." - Thomas Jefferson (again) -FrYGuY 17:35, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Just to toss this out there... that section's a real pain to read right now. I'm just talking about prose and formatting. The Literate Engineer 15:49, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Use and Abuse of Jefferson typical of this debate

Jefferson's quote was in his commonplace book not an official constitutional document. When he tried to have a robust individual right written into the Virginia Constitution he failed and Virginia went with George Mason's militia-based formulation. Jefferson's failure suggests that the individual rights view was not yet the dominant view. 24.145.225.26 23:32, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

And yet, "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed", not the rights of a militia... And a militia is defined, in the constitution, as the people anyway. What Virginia decided is up to Virginia, but the law set forth in the constitution of the United States pretty clearly stated that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, as well as the reason why (That a well regulated militia is necessary to the security of a free state). Of course, the only real interpretation that counts is the current interpretation of the supreme court, and there's never been a real challenge of a gun law (The closest there has been is United States v Miller, which ended siding with the United States because there was no defendant), so there IS none. It's all speculation, and will come down to who's sitting on the bench when a real challenge comes... -FrYGuY 07:16, 23 April 2006 (UTC)
Anyone with a lathe, mill, and some raw stock steel can make a revolver, shotgun, or rifle. Lathes and mills are small enough to fit in a garage along with a car. Guns are not that complicated to make. You don't need to be that skilled to be able to fabricate the parts, just a little experience with machining. Also, it would not be a 'metalsmith' who made your gun but a machinist.
Many local governments have offered 'buy back' programs for guns. They generally only offer $50 for them though, and only the oldest/lowest quality guns are disposed of.
So the safest thing to do is to outlaw lathes, mills, and steel.notyouravgjoe 9:24, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Please folks, it is pretty obvious that "GunsKill" is just baiting / trolling. This is not about debating the issue (“gun nutz”, “rubbish” tyranny section as a “fringe crackpot idea”, keywords "repeal 2nd amendment" producing 279,000 hits, gun owners having “strange extreme political agendas”, we are “stupidly flooded” with guns, and all “sane person”(s) want guns bans, etc…) Also, as Rhobite said on 20:47, 3 April 2006 “You're free to participate here productively, but to date all you've done is blank a large section of the article, add your personal opinion about the "musket" interpretation, and mock User:Yaf by mimicking his username. As long as you stop vandalizing the article and impersonating other users, I will not block you.” Ignore the troll.24.147.91.139 01:21, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Sadly, no it's not obvious. I know numerous Gun Control advocates who hold the exact same position he does. Some of them, when confronted with evidence to the contrary, go on to other arguements which may or may not be logical. Others label you a 'gun nut' and ignore you (after all, you own a gun. Clearly you've lost your mind already! NOBODY who owns a gun can be trusted, after all...). Yet others say just enough to get you to go away, then continue to scream their position to anybody else who will listen. Then there's the exceptionally rare case, where somebody has genuinely been misled, and actually listens to facts and makes up their own mind (Sometimes for, sometimes against... if the issue of what to do was clear, there wouldn't be debate, after all), but that's the exception, not the rule. No matter which category GunsKill falls into, he deserves responses on the discussion page. The article, however, shouldn't have his attempts at converting people. -FrYGuY 17:28, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Kellermann studies and counter studies/points (Kleck, Kopel, Lott, et. al.)

Reverted back to the cited facts and opinions of both sides. We should welcome cited research papers from both sides, not simply delete one side or the other, ad nauseum, ad infinitum, in an edit war. There are significant points being made on both sides. This is definitely a controversial topic, and discussions will no doubt be required to achieve balance. A lot more attention to WP:not, WP:V, and WP:nor is needed, to avoid putting one's own opinion down, but instead to capture the gist of the arguments that have been made. Yaf 01:17, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

There is too much piling on Kellerman- npov requires that his thesis be presented and readers be provided with a brief statement of legitimate critiques. If we devoted the same amount of space to showing that Lott's work has been debunked what would people say?

Also, Hemenway is the major theorist, not Kellerman. 24.145.225.26 02:31, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

Disagree. For balance, we can't just delete criticism of Kellerman. This is POV. Suggest that we beef up both sides, instead. Lets put cited and substantiated critiques of any work where it exists. On the other hand, if it doesn't exist, then this is NPOV, too, instead of deleting criticism on one side only. Legitimate critiques, with cited and substantiated quotes and reference, is not "piling on". Yaf 03:52, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Kellerman is ancient history

Kellerman is 1st generation the debate has moved on. I suggest you delete the whole debate and deal with Hemenway or Cook who are the A-team for gun control. You are basically dealing with a strawman here. The same applies to Lott's work. The current state of that debate is represented by the NAS report not More Guns, Less Crime. This treatment is out of date and ideologically distorted. Go out and read Hemenway and then deal with his arguments. 24.145.225.26 19:03, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Heston and Sarandon

I edited this out. It is interesting, but I think a bit dated at the moment. I added some language describing the different scope of gun control and gun rights approaches to the way the 2nd Amendment may or may not have any bearing on the scope of the right to own firearms24.145.225.26 20:41, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] text needs editing to deal with pov issues

As it stands now this text is much more ideologically distorted than the 2nd Amendment article. The arguments of each side need to be set out and if critiques of those are discussed they need to be done for each side. Now the gun rights arguments get presented and their critique of gun control is made and the other side never has its rebuttal.24.145.225.26 23:29, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

OK, you have identified a shortcoming that needs balancing; you should write the balancing content! Yaf 06:27, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 9th Amendment

Apart from Griswold the 9th Amendment has been of greater interest to scholars then judges. The idea of linking the 9th Amendment to guns has been suggested by a number of gun rights legal scholars and has attracted little scholarly or judicial notice

It has attracted considerable NRA and GOA attention over the last 10-15 years, and has been becoming even more commonly used to argue their points amidst more and more legal wranglings. I wouldn't say it is is entirely a topic of just scholarly debate. Yaf 06:29, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

It really deserves no more than an aside until it gains some traction among judges or lawyers. 24.145.225.26 02:28, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

Disagree. It has gained considerable traction among legal filings by the NRA and other gun rights organizations. Ignoring this history over the last 10-15 years is not NPOV. Yaf 03:54, 30 April 2006 (UTC)
Categorically speaking, anytime someone is saying that an issue "only deserves an aside" is, in my opinion, enough warrant to suggest the issue is being sidswiped. --Shawn 04:42, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

Given the the 9th Amendment has only been effectively used once in modern jurisprudence, don't you think you are being a little ideologically biased here fellas 24.145.225.26 13:35, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Switch Link?

In the section "Statistics on mortality rates are available from the World Health Organisation WHO mortality Tables" I think perhaps [this] would be a better to use if only because people can compare quickly and easily. The existing link is very time consuming to make any comparisons at all.Alci12 17:32, 18 April 2006 (UTC)


[edit] NPOV and internet sources

Much of the material in this essay comes from dubious internet sources associated with gun rights groups. I think only official or scholarly sources ought to be cited otherwise this will become little more than an appendix to the gun rights sites that already dominate the internet 24.145.225.26 21:27, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Links NPOV?

It seems to me that almost (if not) all of the links link to Pro-GUn Rights sites... shouldn't we make this more balanced? Motor.on 17:37, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bellesiles beating a dead horse

Given that the guy has not published anything since being nailed, does he really merit mention as anything other than an interesting footnote in this history? 24.145.225.26 13:08, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Question Concerning Firearms in Vehicles

I looked over the article and yet one question still comes to mind. With a permit to carry a concealed weapon, does this mean that the weapon must be on your person at all times or is it possible to leave the weapon elsewhere, lets say in your glove compartment in your car, and if it is legal are there certain areas in the car where the weapon may be placed and does the issue vary from state to state?

It varies. Generally, if one is allowed to carry a concealed weapon, one can conceal it (as in a glove box) in their car. Also, there are cases where it is illegal for one to carry a concealed weapon, but it is legal to conceal it in their car. --71.225.229.151 02:02, 21 June 2006 (UTC)


It varies greatly by state. Arthurrh 00:10, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Article has a big bullshit paragraph

"Personal gun right advocates argue that it is not unrealistic to postulate that private citizens could successfully oppose a government which controls the full power of the US Armed Forces, were it to become tyrannical, as the ability of the Afghanistani Mujahideen in countering similarly-equipped Soviet Armed Forces assault rifles with ancient bolt action rifles accurate at longer distances speaks to a possibility that a guerilla action with older main battle rifles would not entirely be in vain. As noted by Major Keith J. Stalder, USMC, in 1985, "... the Lee Enfield-armed Afghans can often hit at 800 meters or longer range while the Kalashnikov-armed motorized riflemen are ineffective beyond 300 meters...". [30] As Boston T. Party has phrased it, 60,000 dead Soviets cannot all be wrong. Ultimately, the Soviets left in defeat, losing against mostly WW I and WW II bolt action rifles, while they themselves were armed with the latest weapons. Of course, the Mujahideen did have significant support from the West with Stinger missiles, but their bolt-action weapons were still essentially indigenous. Others point out that only militia-style organizations are likely to make effective use of such weapons, not individuals."

All of this is factually junk!

Ad 1., Every soviet infantry squad contained a Dragunov-equipped marksman, who had semiautomatic sniper firepower with 10 round magazine. You would get hit 3 times in the head before you first cranked your Enfield rifle. Also, the soviet units were not foot soliders, but motorized infantry who had heavy machine gun and auto-cannon support from BMP and BTR fighting vehicles.

Ad 2., All the ragheads were using AK47s and RPG themselves of afghan government origin and also bought from the russkies for alcoholics. Anyhow, the ragheads were factually totally on the losing until the yankee SAM missiles and landmines arrived en masse and the commie air and armour superiorty was broken.

Ad 3., If the USSR really wanted to win, it could use tactical nukes and chemical warheads US-style, or herd the entire population into concentration camps like the victorian britons did against the dutch boers. Or transport them over railway in cow-carriages to Kamchatka gulags, like Uncle Joe Stalin did with the checens (Khruchev let them back home 20 years later).

Ad 4., Soviet losses were 27,000 KIA in Afghanistan, which is less than half of the 60,000 claimed. Inflated number shows how the paragraph is a piece of fake propaganda.

All this shows the population is entirely at the mercy of armies, private weapons or not. Only the most determined and unmaterialistic nations can fight a popular war, like the russian muzhik peasants against Napoleon and Hitler. The boer story shows the population of a developed country is always losing against an imperial army.


Facts or not, are you saying that American citizens would not have enough determination to win against a foreign or domestic power?

[edit] Need for references in framing debates

In the statement below, which I removed from the article, and other places in this article, there are statements that frame the pro and con debate on gun control without giving references or mentioning them in passing, as in one place, as supported by an academic and not giving their reasoning, making the statements equivalent to 'Dr. X said this isn't the case'. In my opinion, what is required is 1) tying opinions to major proponents of each view and 2) making an effort to show that conclusions about the effects of gun ownership on crime levels and related issues are supported by a majority of peer reviewed studies and scholars rather to avoid selective citations. See below for statements specific to this quote. Antonrojo 16:00, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

Proponents of gun control frequently argue that carrying a concealed pistol would be of no practical use for personal self-defense, and gun rights advocates answer that if that were true, law enforcement would have no use for guns. Gun rights advocates argue that individuals with proper firearm training are better able to defend themselves when carrying a handgun. Proponents of gun rights claim that in the US, there are up to 2.5 million incidents per year in which lawfully-armed citizens avert crime by defending themselves against would-be attackers, often by merely displaying a weapon. Those who advance these statistics say that the deterrent effect disproportionately benefits women, who are often targets of violent crime. The counter argument is that guns are more likely to be used against women in these situations. Few serious scholars on the gun control side of this debate accept the 2.5 million number that gun rights advocates cite for defensive gun use. On the other side, many serious scholars on the gun rights side of the argument basically agree with the 2.5 million number, based on the claims of John Lott, a noted gun rights advocate, that concealed carry laws decrease crime.

The debate framed above throws together several studies on the subject in a sort of 'call and response' structure which is confusing to read and provides the reader with little basis for validating these claims, or worse biasing them towards one view through selective presentation. This is a way of writing often used to set up a strawman. Much better is to present all majority opinions on the subject from authoritative sources and providing facts so the reader can decide him or herself. Antonrojo 16:00, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] DC gun law

From:http://www.nraila.org/GunLaws/State/State.aspx?st=dc POSSESSION

Rifles and Shotguns

All rifles and shotguns must be registered with the Metropolitan Police. To obtain a registration certificate, the applicant must be 21 years old (or be over 18 and have a liability statement signed by his guardian), pass a vision test or have a valid D.C. driver`s license, and not be:


1. Convicted of a crime of violence or a weapons offense.
  2. Under indictment for a crime of violence.
  3. Convicted of a narcotics or an assault or battery charge within the last five years.
  4. Acquitted of a crime by reason of insanity or adjudicated an alcoholic within the past five years.
  5. Committed to a mental hospital within the past five years.
  6. Suffering from a physical defect which might render his possession of a gun unsafe.
  7. Found negligent in any firearm mishap.

Why would an 18 year old have a guardian? Dudtz 10/15/06

[edit] POV tag

Edit summary is "adding POV tag. article is weak on anti-gun research and tends towards strawman statements of anti-gun positions"

The article could also use a major restructuring as outlined below. Antonrojo 04:48, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for your contributions to the article. I disagree with your "non notability" position of Emory researcher for the following reasons and would like to discuss reinstating that part of the article:
1. Notability is not just limited to the best presenters in a field, but should include people who have had an impact on the debate by content, presentation and activities.
2. He is notable on the politicial side because of the relationship of Emory University with the Centers for Disease Control and the political clout which is involved there.
*Michael Bellesiles - Former researcher at Emory University. Peer reviewed charges of research misconduct are contained in REPORT of the Investigative Committee in the matter of Professor Michael Bellesiles, Emory University, 10 July 2002
Rearden9 13:13, 18 October 2006 (UTC)


My take on this question is that a list of notable individuals should describe the reasons that they are notable, mainly because either 1) they have a strong effect on the politics of the gun debate or 2) because they are high-profile researchers on both sides of the debate (who I really think belong in another article as outlined below). Nearly any university department has many researchers/instructors/professors affiliated with it varying from the lowly graduate student to the nationally recognized professor to the 'maverick (wacko) member of the faculty' so I don't think the connection to a high-profile university alone warrants inclusion in the list based on either of those two criteria.
In the first case, his description should describe how his 'fall from grace' has effected the gun debate. In the latter case, unless removing his study from the research on the gun debate leaves a significant gap in the pro-gun research, his personal ethical problems have no bearing on the research questions related to the gun debate. His current description doesn't pass either of these standards of notability. As with legal trials, it's important to present the best arguments (and most respected proponents of them) to give a fair picture of both sides of the debate, or in the case of the political side of the equation, to only mention 'villains and heroes' when they have had an important effect on the gun debate. Antonrojo 04:26, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Article structure

The current article structure seems to include sections that don't belong and is confusing for readers.

Based on the article title, the article should focus on the politics behind the gun debate. The header of the article, in contrast, promises to focus on the 'gun debate', which presumably requires a debate-style presentation with the arguments and evidence of each side of the issue. With most subjects, and most definitely with gun issues, academic debates are generally far removed from political decisionmaking and pressures on politicians from the public. A third direction that the article is pulled into is details on gun laws...of course these are 'political', however a discussion of 'gun politics' should mainly focus on how they are linked to political debates over the subject. Issues such as concealed carry laws by state should be offloaded to appropriate articles.

Broad suggestions

  • Most of the information on gun laws should be moved to Gun law, which is in need of a rework, and an appropriate 'for more details link' can be added to the abbreviated laws section here. Presumably this will also deal with the issue that sparked the request to merge that article into this article
  • Most of the academic research on the gun/crime connection should be offloaded to an article that focuses on these subjects. Guns and crime seems like a good candidate and it should also benefit from the merge since it too seems to lack a concrete focus
  • The focus of the article should be on the intersection between shifts in gun regulation and the world of politics, public opinion, membership organizations, religious groups and the like. Good topics to focus on might be details on how political parties have dealt with the issue over time and the relationship between political interests, laws and major trends in public opinion.
    • Info on laws and academic research should only be included when it is directly relevant to political questions, and readers can always read the detailed gun research and gun law articles for that information. There is too much information related to these subjects to cover them clearly in a single article.

Antonrojo 04:48, 17 October 2006 (UTC)


[edit] References

Is there a reason that some of the footnotes in the article use one referencing scheme (IE are not included in the "references" section) and others use another scheme (IE the ref tag, and ARE included in the references section)? I'm mulling over the idea of making all the footnote use the ref tag and thereby fleshing out the reference section, at the same time giving one consitent numbering scheme for footnotes instead of two. However there may be other reasons I'm not aware of for doing this, so any guidance is welcomed. Arthurrh 00:37, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

I assume you're referring to the fact that some references simply use brackets like: [reference] while other use <ref>reference</ref>. Makes sense and I'm sure you could probably find a lot of other formatting and grammar cleanup as well. Antonrojo 02:32, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gun control laws

Yaf has decided to unilaterally change "Gun control laws" to "firearms laws" even though the subsection was started to cover gun control laws. The justification for this was the first few phrases of the section. I modified the first line to more appropriately fit the title, then I reverted the change.

Yaf has also changed the original Gun Control Laws by State page to "Firearm laws."

Please see: Talk:Gun_(Firearm)_laws_in_the_United_States_(by_state)#Suggested_changes_to_this_page for a similar discussion surrounding the title of a "Gun Control by State" article. --Haizum μολὼν λαβέ 03:41, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

I will continue to modify the "Gun control laws" subsection so that it contains content only relevant to gun control, and will therefore make giving the subsection a vague title unnecessary. I feel this is the most logical and appropriate course of action and I welcome any and all constructive assistance. --Haizum μολὼν λαβέ 04:00, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
Sounds reasonable to me. Yaf 06:05, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Summary of Changes

  • More recent lobbying efforts have resulted in the passage of laws making it a crime to leave guns in locations accessible to children.
I removed this because it does not pertain to gun control, it is a child safety issue and is not designed to regulate lawful or unlawful posession (etc) of a firearm. --Haizum μολὼν λαβέ 05:33, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
I beg to differ on this one, as this is a gun control law that is either a misdemeanor or felony depending on jurisdiction where it is in effect. Yaf 06:05, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
The law isn't designed to regulate the purchase, possession, distribution, etc of a firearm; it is designed and intended to keep children safe. A law requiring pools to have a locking gate is not a pool control law, it's a child safety law - more young children are killed by pools than guns. The punishment for violating these laws is irrelevant when describing the law. --Haizum μολὼν λαβέ 06:10, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
It certainly does regulate the possession of firearms by children, but by holding the parent or other adult owning the firearm legally liable in the event of a child being injured. This is a specific form of gun control. Yaf 06:16, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
Children are not offered the same rights as an adult, and the issue of liability is irrelevant; parents are legally liable in the event a child is injured if there is negligence in any situation (pool/gun/pitbull/etc). Gun safety is not necessarily gun control. --Haizum μολὼν λαβέ 06:21, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
I would highly recommend checking out Malum_prohibitum, and similarly Malum_in_se. We should really try to focus on laws that are very clearly malum prohibitum and/or those which specifically and deliberately control purch/pos/dist/etc. --Haizum μολὼν λαβέ 06:28, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
  • A patchwork of laws exists
I changed this to "A patchwork of regulatory laws exists" to better fit the title which describes laws that control the sale, ownership, and distribution of firearms - not just any kind of law, not just any kind of firearms law either. (ie child safety related) --Haizum μολὼν λαβέ 05:36, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
I concur with this alternate edit by Yaf:[7] Thank you for this show of good faith. --Haizum μολὼν λαβέ 06:17, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
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