Historical context
If you look back at the second amendment, you could argue that the controversial topic of gun control has been around since the nineteenth century. Through the years though discordant topics such as gun control have become more public. People have become more aware of things going on around them, due mainly to the media and growing global awareness. For example the environment has become a widely discussed topic along with aids and other diseases. Especially in the last decade, people have really taken notice in such areas and many are trying to make a difference. This is certainly the case with gun control, in addition to some of the tragedies that have happened over the last few years which have opened the world's eyes to the subject, there has been significant government involvement. In relation to the courts, the topic of gun control has never really been affected, until recently. For example when somebody commits a gun-related crime there is rarely an issue about the gun, nor is it even a surprise when a gun is involved. Here are some of the most significant laws that have been put forward against guns.
1911: New York passes the Sullivan law, which makes buying or carrying a handgun without a permit a felony. The NRA enters the political arena for the first time in order to oppose the law.
1934: Reacting to an increase in organized crime, Congress passes the National Firearms Act, which places heavy taxes on machine guns and other firearms favored by mobsters. One point of controversy when handguns are left off the list of class III weapons.
1938: The Federal Firearms Act is passed, requiring anyone sending or receiving guns across state lines to be federally licensed.
1968: The Gun Control Act was passed.
1993: After years of failed attempts the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act is signed into law, establishing a five-day waiting period and background check for all handgun purchases.
1994: Violent Crimes Control Act bans 19 types of semi-automatic firearms, classifying them as "assault weapons."
1998: On October 30, New Orleans became the first city to file suit against firearms manufacturers. Then followed by Philadelphia, Connecticut, and many others.
1998: The Brady law's five-day wait is replaced with an instant check system, which rifle buyers are also required to undergo.
1999: Presidential candidates begin to lay out a series of anti-gun proposals in order to prove they're willing to do something in order to combat the gun control issue.
2000: Gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson give in to courts, in an agreement to end lawsuits against the company in on going debate over gun safety regulations.
2000: A group of gun manufacturers files a lawsuit against federal state and local officials, charging that efforts to impose safety measures were a conspiracy that violated constitutional guarantees of free trade.
Seven gun manufacturers and the National Shooting Sports Foundation filed the lawsuit in U.S. federal court in Atlanta against the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut, and officials from 14 municipalities. After looking at these events it is clear that there are things being done in order to achieve some sort of gun control. But is it enough? Or too much?
Who represents the Pro Side? 
Picture from: http://www.redshift.com/~jamesm2/2nda2.htm
There is no real reason why someone has completely different views to that of someone else. You can put it down to genes, upbringing, or simply even experience. The stereotypical character representing gun control would be a middle class, housewife and mother. There will be a million mum march this month (05/14/00) in Washington for complete gun control. Indeed, this march is badly needed. The Children's Defense Fund, the nation's leading advocate for children, reports that in 1997, 191 children under age 10 lost their lives to gunfire. Eighty-four were under 5 years old! The people that really represent the pro argument for gun control, are people all over the world that feel that with stricter gun laws, then they will be living in a safer place. Unfortunately some of these individuals fighting for gun control have had to lose a loved one in order for them to realize how important the cause is. Others due to either the media or simply personal views feel that there must be a change in gun laws.
Interview: I corresponded with the author of a website on gun control http://www.redshift.com/~jamesm2/2nda2.htm His name is James Taylor and he is very much for strict gun control. He works at a Monteray Radio Station, which has a free chat room
Significant landmarks
Unfortunately most of the significant events that have taken place, which help the cause for gun control are tragedies. Probably one of the most significant occurred on April 20, 1999, in Littleton Colorado. Two high school students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire on fellow students, killing 12 classmates and a teacher, a further fourteen were left wounded. This immediately sparked off controversy around the world, and really made people think about some sort of gun control. Unfortunately there were a lot more incidents similar to this although they never received the same amount of press. See Diagram.
Over the last couple of years there have been a number of tragedies
in the news, which have all made people sit up and take note of the problem,
because obviously it is a problem. Here a just a few dating back to the
end of last year. August 6, 1999 A man shot dead three office workers in
an Alabama suburb, just days after a shooting spree in neighboring Georgia
where a disgruntled investor Mark Barton killed 12 people including
his wife and children reportedly after losing sums on internet trades.
September 16, 1999 a man shouting obscenities and mocking religion walked
into a church service in Fort Worth, Texas, pulled out a gun and opened
fire, fatally shooting eight people before killing himself. On December
26, 1999, celebrities Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs and his film star
girlfriend Jennifer Lopez were charged after a shooting outside a New York
nightclub left three people in hospital. The New Year has already started
with numerous tragedies. March 1, 2000 a six-year-old boy shoots and kills
a girl at a primary school in Michigan. Then the following day one person
was killed and several others injured when a man went on a shooting spree
in Macdonald's and Burger King after he killed a workman in his flat. The
man had told a neighbor he was "out to kill all white people."
Then another church shooting takes place in Texas this time in Pasadena
when a man shoots four people then kills himself. April 26, 2000 a 15-year-old
was arrested in connection with a shooting that wounded seven children at
Washington's national zoo. And most recently in perhaps the most disturbing.
In 72 minutes Richard Scott Baumhammers drove 20 miles across four Pittsburgh
suburbs and carefully picked out his victims. By the end of his journey,
a Jewish woman, a black man, two Asian women and an Indian man were dead.
Two synagogues were sprayed with bullets, one spray-painted with swastikas.
It is as though we are simply waiting for another tragedy to happen. The debate is currently taking place all over the world, but I am mainly concentrating on the United States. I have included though statistics and information from other countries around the world in comparison. These include Japan, which has incredibly strict laws, and Great Britain, which also has firm laws regarding firearms. Over the last ten years there has definitely been a forward movement regarding stricter gun control. It is becoming a recognized and extremely published debate and one that will be ongoing for many years to come. Opponents over the gun-rights issue are unlikely to reach unanimity anytime soon. Perhaps someone else will have to settle their differences.
"We're not more than a few years away from a major Supreme Court battle over the meaning of the Second Amendment," says Harvard Law School professor Richard Fallon.
Current Status
This heated debate seems as though it will never end. Both sides having respectable arguments on the subject. As I mentioned before the argument for gun control laws are basically about the safety of the public. With a fundamentally simple idea, no guns = no violence. If only it were as easy as this. One of the main obstacles facing them is the much-talked about Second Amendment. "[The amendment] bears no connections with hunting, sporting, personal self-protection or any other personal use," says Robert Spitzer, author of The Politics of Gun Control. The continuous counter argument against the amendment is not only is it out dated, having been founded some two hundred years ago, yet it doesn't even hold truth. According to the Pro gun control believers the amendment specifies that gun rights apply only to members of a militia organized and regulated by the government, not private citizens. One thing that cannot be argued though is statistics, or can they?
Take, for example, the question of how often guns are used in self-defense.
Gun control advocates say firearms are used 108,000 times a year for self-defense.
Gun control opponents say the figure is as high as 2.5 million times a year. Who do you believe? The 108,000 figure comes from the Justice Department's National Crime Victimization Survey, the nation's most comprehensive survey of victims. But gun control opponents discount the number, arguing that many people who used guns to protect themselves successfully don't count themselves as victims and are therefore not included in the study. They prefer the 2.5 million estimate from Florida State University criminologist Gary Kleck, who surveyed 5,000 households and examined other studies. This holds no weight in the eyes of the gun control activists, as the sample size is too small to be accurate.
Here are some figures that don't lie.
Guns kill 34,000 Americans every year, 393 senior citizens every month, and 13 children every day. Out of the 34,000 almost 5,000 are people under the age of twenty. At the current rate, guns will be the leading cause of injury-related fatalities in the U.S. by 2003. Currently, medical and psychological treatment for gunshot victims costs the U.S. health care system an estimated $4 billion per year.
This certainly adds up to quite a convincing argument.
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