discussin class

This week we will look at the debate on gun issues and 2nd Amendment rights.  Numerous tragedies, from the Tuscon shootings of Congresswoman Giffords and others in January 2011 to the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shootings of July 2012, to the school shootings in Newtown back in December 2012, to the mass shooting in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, have prompted current discussion of the gun issue.  With the more recent Bernadino, Orlando, and Ft Lauderdale incidents, the gun issue has and will continue to play an important role in political campaigns and legislative policy-making over time.  Take a look at this article from CNN, Why Do People Buy Guns After a Mass Shooting: http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/01/health/gun-sales-mass-shootings-study/.   After a mass shooting, public opinion for more gun control measures also often increases.  Here are some statistics on the state of gun ownership in  the US: a General Social Survey which has been tracking gun ownership in surveys since 1872, has found that 31 percent of households reported owning a gun in 2014, which is down from approximately half of households in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s:http://www.norc.org/PDFs/GSS%20Reports/GSS_Trends%20in%20Gun%20Ownership_US_1972-2014.pdf.  And a more recent Harvard/Northeastern survey shows guns concentrated in the hands of fewer Americans than previously.