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I am a University of Pittsburgh PhD focused on gun violence.
There are three political parties
(1) Republican – conservative
(2) Democrat – liberal
(3) Centrist – independent
There are three political perspectives on gun violence
(1) Gun rights – everybody should have the right to bear arms (e.g., law-abiding citizens)
(2) Gun control – nobody should have the right to bear arms (e.g., mental defectives and felons)
(3) Anti-gun violence – some should have, and some should not have, the right to bear arms
What is blamed for gun violence?
(1) Mental illness – “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.”
(2) Easy access to guns – “Yes, but guns are the instruments of death.”
(3) Absent law enforcement – “Gun violence undermines public safety.”
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill bicker because they believe they are talking about one cause when actually they are talking about three separate causes (and a person needs all three to act):
(1) Motivation
(2) Ability
(3) Opportunity
Here is an integration of mass shooting theories:
(1) A homicidal maniac who…
(2) Brandishes an easily procured gun, and who…
(3) Attacks when the police are not around
Three government entities each supervise an aspect of the gun trade:
(1) National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) – a database of felony convictions and institutionalizations
(2) Federal Firearms Licensees (FFL) – those licensed to buy and sell firearms
(3) Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) – oversees the gun trade
Three problems with these government entities
(1) Missing records – local/state records do not always make their way to the Federal database
(2) “Straw purchases” – when a person who can’t buy a gun gets someone else to buy it for him
(3) Short-staffed – there are only 5,000 ATF agents in total
For this to work much better than now, we need…
(1) a more comprehensive NICS database
(2) more compliant FFLs
(3) more ATF oversight
Some solutions to these current deficiencies:
(1) During a NICS search at the FFL, the database should check state and local records, too
(2) Maximum prison time, maximum fines, and loss of FFL license upon first straw purchase violation
(3) Send ATF agents undercover to bust the small coterie of rogue FFLs causing most of the problems
Since (1) Motivation (2) Ability (3) Opportunity must all exist for a mass shooting to occur, only one of these three has to be thwarted to prevent mass shooters from achieving their goals:
(1) NICS must identify the bad record (i.e., demotivate)
(2) FFL must refuse a straw purchase (i.e., disable)
(3) ATF must arrest if a gun law has been broken (i.e., deter)
Even if each operates at less-than-perfect 90% effectiveness, a criminal will have difficulty overcoming all three thresholds.
This concludes my proposal. Thank you for your attention.
J.J.
jasonjjpark.com