Gun sales

Should gun shows, pawnshops, and private gun sales be subject to the same restrictions as sales from licensed dealers Should gun sales over the Internet be banned ... 

An individual cannot transfer, sell, deliver or transport a gun to a resident of another state. Mail-order gun sales between states are prohibited. (There are some exceptions, such as for guns that have been inherited and antique firearms.)... 

The jury found that 45 defendants had not been negligent with regard to the gun sales in minority neighborhoods. The jury was unable to come to a decision regarding the remaining 23 defendants. However, federal judge Harvey Weinstein, who had announced earlier that he would make the final decision in the case, then dismissed the suits, noting that... 

Following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Senator Robert Kennedy, Congress passes the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. It includes the Gun Control Act of 1968, which prohibits nearly all interstate gun sales, requires licensing of all gun dealers, and requires the recording of details about gun sales. 

January The U.S. Conference of Mayors meets in Washington, D.C. They display a blackboard listing nearly 3,100 fatal gun victims since the Columbine shootings and call for Congress to pass the legislation on gun sales and shows that had stalled the previous year. 

Operators Are Standing By. U.S. News World Report, December 14, 1998, p. 32. Criticizes the new instant check system for gun purchasers because it often has technical problems that delay processing. This can lead to pre-mamre gun sales, so gun control advocates demand minimum waiting periods such as three days. Meanwhile, the NRA is criticizing the system because it may be used to surreptitiously maintain a list of gun owners. 

Economic Aspects. The production of ethyl ether from 1956 through 1973 ranged from 29.5 to 48.6 x 10 kg as reported by Synthetic Organic Chemicals, U.S. Production and Sales. Production was estimated at 13.6-18 X 10 kg in 1986, 12.7 X 10 kg in 1989. Though 1990 U.S. production capacity was estimated at 25.5 x 10 kg, production was estimated as only 12 x 10 kg in 1991 (21). Much of the decrease has been the result of a decline in arsenal demand (smokeless gun powder). List prices for ether have been steadily increasing, and reached 1.12/kg by 1989, refined, tanks (fob). 

The National Firearms Act of 1934 was rather modest by modern standards. It didn t actually outlaw machine guns or sawed-off shotguns, but it imposed a 200 tax on their manufacture, sale, and ownership—a rather high amount of money at that time. (Because they are short enough to conceal beneath a coat, sawed-off shotguns have long been considered a weapon of particular usefulness to criminals.) The law also required that purchasers of such weapons undergo an FBI bac%round check. 

Reaction to the worst social turmoil since the 1930s led to a second great wave of federal gun legislation. Gun control advocates pointed out that Lee Harvey Oswald had obtained through the mail the rifle he had used to kill John E Kennedy. (Such sales were already illegal under the 1927 act, but there was little practical enforcement.)... 

Congress passed the Gun Control Act of 1968. It restricted nearly all interstate sales of firearms and tightened penalties for selling guns to minors or persons with criminal records. Every sale of a gun or ammunition had to be recorded in detail. 

Another big victory for gun control advocates came in 1994 with the passage of the Violent Crime Control Act, which banned the manufacture, sale, and import of a large variety of semiautomatic weapons such as the Uzi, Tec-9, and similar copycat weapons. The list of banned weapons was later expanded, but weapons manufactured or imported before the ban... 

The federal Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988 (RL. 100-649) bans the manufacmre, import, or sale of guns that cannot be detected by metal detectors or airport screening equipment (such as guns made mostly of plastic). 

The Federal Firearms Act of 1938 (R L. No. 75-785) required that all dealers who buy or sell weapons across state lines hold a Federal Firearms License (FFL). The Gun Control Act of 1968 (P. L. No. 90-618) superseded the 1938 law. It increased license fees and prohibited most sales of firearms or ammunition across state lines. All gun dealers now had to be licensed and had to record all sales of firearms or ammunition so that they could be traced by police. Maximum penalties were raised to 5,000 and imprisonment for five years. 

Congress passes the Firearms Owners Protection Act, a law that rolls back some provisions of earlier federal firearms legislation. For example, it reduces paperwork violations for firearms dealers from a felony to a misdemeanor and allows the interstate sale of long guns by dealers. However, it also increases penalties for drug traffickers who possess firearms and incorporates an amendment that essentially bans the purchase of automatic firearms by civilians if the guns were manufactured after the enactment of the law. 

August 28 California enacts some of the nation s toughest new gun laws. New safety test requirements are expected to stop the sale of most... 

January Officials in the cities of San Francisco and Oakland, California, propose municipal ordinances that would ban the sale of so-called ultracompact handguns that can be easily carried in people s pockets. (Due to their good quality construction, such guns are not covered under existing legislation banning Saturday Night Specials. )... 

August 21 Eleven California cities and towns settle a lawsuit involving alleged reckless practices by several gun dealers and distributors. The businesses agree to have workers trained in spotting straw buyers who obtain guns for criminals, and to share additional sales information with law enforcement officials. 

Shapiro, Bruce. The Guns of Littleton. The Nation, vol. 268, May 17, 1999, p. 4. Insists that whatever the complex social and psychological causes that alienated Littleton, Colorado, shooters Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, what adds a new dimension to the threat is today s ready availability of powerful firearms. Gun makers have flooded the market, with many sales targeted to young people. 

Ottaway, David B. A Boon to Sales, or a Threat Safety Devices Split Industry. The Washington Post, May 20, 1999, p. AI. Discusses the uncertainty in the gun industry about whether adding safety devices such as trigger locks will help sales by offering added security or will hobble the industry by encouraging mandatory federal standards. 

To check the validity of the literature review on the chemistry of ammunition, much of which is based on information gathered over a 23-year period from numerous sources, many of which are of a nonscientific nature, for example, gun magazines, newspaper articles, manufacturers sales literature. 

---