Study Disputes Claim of 20,000 U.S. Gun Laws

[Drizzt]

Copyright 2003 U.S. Newswire, Inc.
U.S. Newswire


January 23, 2003 Thursday 11:55 AM

SECTION: National Desk

LENGTH: 524 words

HEADLINE: Study Disputes Claim of 20,000 U.S. Gun Laws;
Research of Federal and State Gun Laws Yields 300 Relevant Statutes

DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Jan. 23

BODY:
Since 1965, national political leaders and gun safety opponents have rejected calls for gun legislation, stating that there are already more than 20,000 gun laws on the books in the United States. A new study casts doubt on that claim, revealing only 300 relevant federal and state laws regarding the manufacture, design, sale, purchase, or possession of guns.

The study, "Description and Analysis of State and Federal Laws Affecting Firearm Manufacture, Sale, Possession And Use, 1970-1999," disputes the "20,000 gun law" claim based on a thorough examination of the number and type of state and federal gun laws in the United States. The number of laws per state range from one to 13; among the most common concern mandatory minimum sentencing, dealer background checks, "shall issue" or carrying a concealed weapon, dealer licensing, and child access protection. The study will be released as a chapter in the book "Evaluating Gun Policy," a collection of articles on the consequences of gun possession and policies from Brookings Institution Press to be released the first week in February 2000. Copies of the chapter can be obtained by contacting the Brookings Institution.

State laws were organized into four categories in the study: 1) laws banning certain firearms; 2) sales and purchase restrictions; 3) possession, carrying, and storage laws; and 4) sentence enhancement laws for the use of a firearm in a crime. Jon S. Vernick, associate professor and co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and co-author Lisa M. Hepburn, of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center at the Harvard School of Public Health, concluded that even the most liberal interpretation of what constitutes a gun control law would still fall far short of the 20,000 figure.

"Since the notion of the United States having more than 20,000 significant gun laws has become such an important point of reference in the ongoing debate over guns in America, we thought that it would be worthwhile to document the meaningful state and federal laws," said Vernick.

The reference to 20,000 gun laws, which is often quoted by opponents of gun regulation, first appeared in Congressional testimony in 1965, but no source was given. The number, however, has taken hold in the public consciousness. In 1981, 11 weeks after being shot, President Reagan rejected a call for additional gun legislation, saying "there are today more than 20,000 gun control laws in effect -- federal, state and local -- in the United States." The study notes a search of an electronic news database for "20,000 gun laws" or "20,000 gun control laws" that yielded more than 200 such citations in the last five years.

Although the study does not include a tally of local gun laws, the authors contend that since more than 40 states preempt all or most local gun control laws, the inclusion of such laws is irrelevant. "In the future, rather than trying to count the number of gun control laws, we should try to better evaluate the effect of those laws," added Vernick.
http://www.usnewswire.com

CONTACT: Steve Bowers of the Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy, 202-797-6414, [email protected], or Mark Karlin of Mark Karlin and Associates, 312-474-1740, [email protected]

LOAD-DATE: January 23, 2003

 

[cuchulainn]

Although the study does not include a tally of local gun laws, the authors contend that since more than 40 states preempt all or most local gun control laws, the inclusion of such laws is irrelevant.

Well a lot of local statutes were on the books when the preemption laws were passed and often were grandfathered, so there are plenty of gun laws at the local level in preemption states ... they're just old (discharge within town limits and whatnot).

Maybe the 20,000 number is bogus, but the Brookings guys didn't do their job.

 

[MN_Strelok]

Since 1965, national political leaders and gun safety opponents have rejected calls for gun legislation, stating that there are already more than 20,000 gun laws on the books in the United States.

Yeah, that's us.

The number of laws per state range from one to 13...

Not to quibble with these esteemed researchers, but I think I can name more than 13 Illinois firearm restrictions off the top of my head. What criteria did they use to determine a "single law"?

 

[Boats]

To really, really, not quibble, these guys should take a trip through the US Code and the Code of Federal Regulations.

Let's begin with the basics:

I cannot manufacture ammunition in commercial quantities without permission of the FedGov.

Cannot build firearms.

Cannot ship firearms to or from my home.

Cannot import ammo or guns.

Cannot export ammo or guns.

The list gets endless pretty fast.

Since regulations are created by agencies from statutory grants of power, and have the force of law, they should be counted. Through counting all of the regulations on the state and federal registers, I am confident one can get to or within spitting distance of 20,000 "laws" impeding firearms ownership, manufacture, use, sale and transport, pretty quickly.

 

[geekWithA.45]

NJ Has like 3 gunlaws....

With about 40 chapters each.

 

[Monkeyleg]

US Code Title 18, Section 922, Chapter 44 has 11,311 words in it. And that's just the section that deals with what is illegal with respect to guns. Other sections deal with full-auto's, explosive devices, punishments, etc.

Too many laws? Nah.

 

[Calmwater]

I saw this at Alan Korwin's site on the FAQ: http://www.gunlaws.com/faq.htm#howmany

"So, how many already? [Gun Laws]

Counted how? The Brady law, for example, is one law passed by Congress, but more than 3,000 words long (some laws are only a few words; the 1999 budget bill -- one law passed by Congress -- was 400,000 words, and included entire new bodies of law). Brady ended up as several different numbered statutes on the books, and amendments to others. How many laws is that?

It originally required a waiting period, now it's a national background check, and it even regulates airline baggage. Would you call that three "laws"? Attempts to count the various things controlled by a law are fruitless -- the law is designed to expand and encompass any case brought before it.

You still want numbers? The book that describes the Texas gun laws is nearly 300 pages long. The unabridged federal guide is almost 400.

Most (though not all) of the language in an enacted "law" ends up as numbered and named "sections" or "articles." By Bloomfield Press' count, Texas has 228 numbered gun laws. Federally, there were 231 numbered statutes in February, 1996, but federal gun law has grown by 14,715 words, a full 20%, since then. No count of newly assigned section numbers has been made -- no one knows precisely how many there are.

Which brings us to the most metrical way of figuring how many laws there are. Texans are under 42,042 words of state gun law, and 88,584 words of federal gun law -- a total of more than 130,000 words of law. An average novel is around 40,000 words.

So now you have a number. In Texas, you have to follow 130,000 words of law to stay legal, and on the flip side, we have this huge body of rules to use against bad people. What does that do for you? How do you interpret it against the obvious bias -- is that enough words? Let's go for 200,000, you think? Maybe 500,000, hey, go for the gold, a million. That ought to be enough to outlaw crime.

With such an overwhelming glut of gun law on the books, maybe we should (perish the thought!), try repealing some and concentrating on those that are more effective? Or even look at the endemic roots of the problem -- why do people in modern society become vicious predatory animals, and how should we handle them and protect ourselves?

The how-many-gun-laws question is specious and deceitful. Guess what. Crime is already outlawed.

Examine every new law proposed and ask:

1 - does it address a crime with a victim that is not already covered by law (exceedingly rare),

2 - On a personal level -- will it affect you in some way, or make your actions criminal if you do not follow it (frighteningly common), and

3 - is it a smart way to expend limited police and court resources, or would those precious tax dollars be best used elsewhere.

Don't forget, criminals and an armed public are not the same thing.

 

[2dogs]

Sure looks like more than 300 to me.

Shouldn't Johns Hopkins stick to medicine?




http://www.nraila.org/GunLaws.asp?FormMode=state

 

[Destructo6]

I love this:

"In the future, rather than trying to count the number of gun control laws, we should try to better evaluate the effect of those laws," added Vernick.

Practically in the same breath in which he gave the result of counting the number of gun control laws.

I never thought of that figure as anything more than a statement that the vast amount of legislation already in place isn't doing much, but restrict those who need no restriction (law abiding).

 

[El Tejon]

Yeah, right. Are there counting an entire chapter as "one law"?

 

[Blackhawk]

Although the study does not include a tally of local gun laws....

Well, DUH! There 'ya go!

If you ignore all the sand on the beach you can just keep right on wonderin' what's gettin' in your shorts.

 

[Leatherneck]

We Need One More Law

and I propose this:

"The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

TC
TFL Survivor

 

[Mad Man]

"6,500 Statutory Sections"

UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh wrote this on his blog a few months ago.

Tuesday. November 12, 2002. 8:44 AM

20,000 GUN LAWS: The gun control debate is unfortunately full of erroneous, misleading, or empty factoids; one from the pro-gun-rights side is that there are already "over 20,000 gun laws" in the U.S. This is sometimes elaborated to statements such as "Considering federal, state, and local statutes, the United States has more than 20,000 gun laws, which surpasses the firearms legislation of any other country" (I quote this from a law review article).

Does anyone know the origin of this factoid, and how the 20,000 number was arrived at? My suspicion is that, to the extent that it's even possibly accurate, it counts every statutory section as a separate "law," which isn't the normal definition of "law," and is a pretty pointless way of counting things. (The Copyright Act, for instance, would thus amount to 160 "laws," a strange conclusion.) But even if you count each section, I'm not sure 20,000 is the right number: A quick WESTLAW search through state and federal laws found about 6500 statutory sections that mentioned "gun", "firearm", "handgun", "rifle", or "shotgun," and while it's possible that there are 13,500 more local laws on this, I'm a bit skeptical (and how would one figure it out?).

And comparing the number of gun laws in the U.S. to the number of gun laws in other countries would be unsound even if you could somehow come up with a clear definition of what "law" is: Many countries have fewer major political subdivisions than the U.S. does (consider, for instance, Australia and Canada), or give their political subdivisions much less power (consider England and France, which are basically unitary governments, where power is more centralized than in the U.S.). The large number of U.S. gun laws may be largely an artifact of the existence of 50 states, and the devolution of considerable power to the municipalities. They say little about the number of gun laws that a typical person is actually subject to at any one time, which would be a more relevant number.

But finally, let's just step back for a moment from these technical items, and look at the big picture -- what's the point of counting the number of laws in any event? Would gun rights supporters prefer a regime of 20,000 gun laws, or just one federal gun law -- "no person may possess a gun without the permission of the U.S. Department of Justice"? Laws, like pieces of evidence, should be weighed, not counted.

Regular readers of this blog know that I often get annoyed at false, misleading, or meaningless factoids put out by the pro-gun-control forces. Similarly bad factoids from the pro-gun-rights side bug me just as much. But in any case, I would like to know where the factoid originally came from, and how it was arrived at -- if you know the answer to this, please e-mail me. (Please pass along only specific leads; I already have a few general speculations that I'll be trying to track down.

 

[Viking6]

"ONLY" 300!