James Sheets will not be enjoying Cinco de Mayo this year. He didn’t last past April 24, the day the 14-year-old boy stood up in the cafeteria of his southeastern Pennsylvania junior high school and opened fire, shooting his principal dead before turning a gun on himself.
Sadly, Sheets’ case is hardly unique. Gun violence is an enormous problem in the United States. In 2001, according to federal statistics, guns were used to commit 8,719 murders, constituting 63 percent of the murders that year. That doesn’t count the numerous gun-related accidents and suicides.
The powers that be have pussyfooted around gun issues for decades. The National Rifle Association bears partial responsibility for this. The NRA, once little more than a sportsmen’s club, has evolved to become the most powerful lobbying organization in the United States.
The NRA contributes heavily to political candidates and has been known to inject cash into the campaign coffers of candidates running against gun control-friendly politicians. As a result, many politicians are scared of the NRA. Gun enthusiasts bring a level of passion, organization and money to the table that warps the political debate, preventing even the discussion of reasonable gun restrictions.
The NRA’s near-absolutist approach is maddening because much more can be done to reduce gun violence while impinging minimally on gun owners’ rights. Gun theft, for instance, is a major problem that hasn’t been adequately addressed. A surprising 70 percent of guns used in crimes are stolen, according to a study cited in the Journal of Urban Economics.
While you can’t force gun owners to store their weapons responsibly, a tax credit to encourage gun owners to buy gun safes could reduce gun theft. A bill currently languishing in the House of Representatives would do just that. The bill, HR 325, would provide for a tax credit of up to $1,500 for gun owners to buy gun storage devices. The House should pass HR 325 without further ado.
Besides theft, another fruitful avenue for criminals seeking to obtain guns is the loosely regulated secondary market. As such, all gun sales should go through a federally licensed dealer. A compelling proposal by Florida State University professor Gary Kleck would have federally licensed dealers act as a third party to broker gun transactions.
When a buyer and seller wanted to transfer possession of a firearm, both would approach a dealer. The dealer would be required to run background checks as a condition of his or her firearms license. The checks would make sure the gun wasn’t stolen and that the prospective buyer has no felony record. The transaction would then go through, with the dealer receiving a commission on the sale for his or her trouble.
Everybody wins: the buyer and seller get their business accomplished with minimum hassle, the dealer gets some income and a record remains for police to track down the gun owner if the weapon ever turns up in connection with a crime. Most importantly, guns would be kept out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them.
Unfortunately, even modest, potentially lifesaving proposals such as these will never emerge from the current political environment. The House of Representatives is firmly in Republican control and President George W. Bush hasn’t exactly proved eager to push for further gun control legislation.
While no amount of gun control legislation would completely eliminate gun violence, that doesn’t mean policymakers should throw in the towel. However hopelessly naive this might be, Republicans would show a great deal of courage if they risked alienating the gun rights constituency to pass gun control legislation that might actually work.