Hostname: page-component-6dbcb7884d-hdw28 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-13T21:12:18.694Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Ethics of Restrictive Licensing for Handguns: Comparing the United States and Canadian Approaches to Handgun Regulation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Jon S. Vernick ,
James G. Hodge Jr.  and
Daniel W. Webster
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

On April 16, 2007, Cho Seung-Hui used two semiautomatic handguns to kill 32 persons and then himself at Virginia Tech University in the largest campus shooting in U.S. history. Mr. Cho purchased his handguns from a pawnshop and a gun store in Virginia, where under state law a background check was conducted to determine whether he had any disqualifying criminal or mental health history. The paperwork for the background check was completed at the gun store, and the check itself was conducted through an “instant” system facilitated by a toll-free telephone number. The entire transaction took approximately 20 minutes. At no point was Mr. Cho asked why he wished to purchase the guns. And although he had been deemed a potential danger to himself by a state magistrate in 2005 – which should have disqualified his purchase of a gun under federal law – this information never reached those conducting the background check.

Type
Symposium
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 35 , Issue 4 , Winter 2007 , pp. 668 - 678
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Buncombe, A. Taylor, J., “Massacre – The Dealer's Defence: ‘I Just Sold Him the Gun,’” The Independent (U.K.), April 18, 2007, available at <http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2458871.ece> (last visited October 9, 2007).Google Scholar
Luo, M., “U.S. Rules Made Killer Ineligible to Purchase Guns,” New York Times, April 21, 2006.Google Scholar
Vernick, J. S. Mair, J. S., “How the Law Affects Gun Policy in the United States: Law as Intervention or Obstacle to Prevention,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 30, no. 4 (2002): 692–704.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hepburn, L. Miller, M. Azrael, D. Hemenway, D., “The U.S. Gun Stock: Results from the 2004 National Firearms Survey,” Injury Prevention 13 (2007): 15–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Web-Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System,” available at <http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate.html> (last visited October 9, 2007).+(last+visited+October+9,+2007).>Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
“Key Facts at a Glance: Nonfatal Firearm-Related Violent Crimes, 1993–2005,” Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, 2007, available at <http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/tables/firearmnonfataltab.htm> (last visited October 9, 2007).+(last+visited+October+9,+2007).>Google Scholar
“2006 Crime in the United States: Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report,” Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice, 2007, available at <http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/06prelim/index.html> (last visited October 9, 2007).+(last+visited+October+9,+2007).>Google Scholar
Cook, P. J. Ludwig, J., Gun Violence: The Real Costs (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000): at 113.Google Scholar
Graduate Institute of International Studies, Small Arms Survey 2002: Counting the Human Cost (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).Google Scholar
Cukier, W. Sidel, V. W., The Global Gun Epidemic (Westport, CT: Praeger Security International, 2006).Google Scholar
See Hepburn, et al. , supra note 4.Google Scholar
18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(1) (2007).Google Scholar
18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(3) (2007).Google Scholar
18 U.S.C. § 922(d) (2007).Google Scholar
Cook, P. J. Ludwig, J. Braga, A. A., “Criminal Records of Homicide Offenders,” JAMA 294 (2005): 598–601.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wintemute, G. J. Drake, C. M. Beaumont, J. J. Wright, M. A. Parrham, C. A., “Prior Misdemeanor Convictions as a Risk Factor for Later Violent and Firearm-Related Criminal Activity among Authorized Purchasers of Handguns,” JAMA 280 (1998): 2083–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18 U.S.C. § 923(a) (2007).Google Scholar
18 U.S.C. § 922(t) (2007).Google Scholar
Cook, P. J. Ludwig, J., Guns in America: Results of a Comprehensive National Survey on Firearms Ownership and Use (Washington, D.C.: Police Executive Research Forum, 1996).Google Scholar
18 U.S.C. § 926(a) (2007).Google Scholar
Bowling, M. Lauver, G. Hickman, M. J. Adams, D. B., Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of Justice, 2006.Google Scholar
Legal Community Against Violence, Carrying Concealed Weapons, 2006, available at <http://www.lcav.org/content/carrying_concealed_weapons.pdf> (last visited October 9, 2007).+(last+visited+October+9,+2007).>Google Scholar
Vernick, J. S. Webster, D. W., “Policies to Prevent Firearm Trafficking,” Injury Prevention 13 (2007): 78–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive, State Laws and Published Ordinances – Firearms, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., 2005.Google Scholar
N.J. Rev. Stat. 2C:58–3c (2007).Google Scholar
U.S. Constitution, amend. 2.Google Scholar
Cornell, S., A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).Google Scholar
Vernick, J. S. Teret, S. P., “Firearms and Health: The Right to Be Armed with Accurate Information about the Second Amendment,” American Journal of Public Health 83 (1993): 1773–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker v. District of Columbia, 478 F. 3d 370 (D.C. 2007).Google Scholar
Vernick, J. S. Mair, J. S., “How the Law Affects Gun Policy in the United States: Law as Intervention or Obstacle to Prevention,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 30, no. 4 (2002): 692–704.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Even if the Supreme Court were to uphold the Court of Appeals' decision to strike down Washington, D.C.'s law imposing a virtual ban on handguns, restrictive licensing laws might remain constitutionally permissible.Google Scholar
Vernick, J. S. Teret, S. P. Howard, K. A. Teret, M. D. Wintemute, G. J., “Public Opinion Polling on Gun Policy,” Health Affairs 12 (1993): 198–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canada Firearms Centre, “Frequently Asked Questions,” available at <http://www.cfc-cafc.gc.ca/faq/default_e.aspia1> (last visited October 9, 2007).+(last+visited+October+9,+2007).>Google Scholar
Cukier, W. Sidel, V. W., The Global Gun Epidemic (Westport, CT: Praeger Security International, 2006).Google Scholar
Jacobs, S., “Toward a More Reasonable Approach to Gun Control: Canada as a Model,” New York Law School Journal of International and Comparative Law 15 (1995): 315–43.Google Scholar
Cukier, W., “Firearms Regulation: Canada in the International Context,” Chronic Diseases in Canada 19 (1998): 25–34.Google Scholar
Graduate Institute of International Studies, Small Arms Survey 2002: Counting the Human Cost (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002): at 135.Google Scholar
Findlay, A., “Registry for Guns on Ropes,” Toronto Sun, September 16, 2006.Google Scholar
See Cook, Ludwig, , supra note 20.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Committee to Improve Research Information and Data on Firearms, National Research Council, Firearms and Violence: A Critical Review (Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2005).Google Scholar
Hemenway, D. Azrael, D., “The Relative Frequency of Offensive and Defensive Gun Uses: Results from a National Survey,” Violence and Victims 15 (2000): 257–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kleck, G. Gertz, M., “Armed Resistance to Crime: The Prevalence and Nature of Self-Defense with a Gun,” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 86 (1995): 150–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hemenway, D., “Survey Research and Self-Defensive Gun Use: An Explanation of Extreme Overestimates,” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 87 (1997): 1430–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brent, D. A. Perper, J. A. Allman, C. J. Moritz, G. M. Wartella, M. E. Zelenak, J. P., “The Presence and Accessibility of Firearms in the Homes of Adolescent Suicides: A Case-Control Study,” JAMA 266 (1991): 2989–95; Kellermann, A. L. Rivara, F. P. Somes, G. et al. , “Suicide in the Home in Relation to Gun Ownership,” New England Journal of Medicine 327 (1992): 467–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cummings, P. Keopsell, T. D. Grossman, D. C. Svarion, J. Thompson, R. S., “The Association between the Purchase of a Handgun and Homicide or Suicide,” American Journal of Public Health 87 (1997): 974–78; Wintemute, G. J. Parham, C. A. Beaumont, J. J. Wright, M. Drake, C., “Mortality among Recent Purchasers of Handguns,” New England Journal of Medicine 341 (1999): 1583–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kellermann, A. L. Rivara, F. P. Rushforth, N. B. et al. , “Gun Ownership as a Risk Factor for Homicide in the Home,” New England Journal of Medicine 329 (1993): 1084–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiebe, D. J., “Homicide and Suicide Risks Associated with Firearms in the Home: A National Case-Control Study,” Annals of Emergency Medicine 41 (2003): 771–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, J. C. Webster, D. Koziel-McLain, J. et al. , “Risk Factors for Femicide in Abusive Relationships: Results from a Multisite Case Control Study,” American Journal of Public Health 93 (2003): 1089–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saltzman, L. E. Mercy, J. A. O'Carroll, P. W. Rosenberg, M. L. Rhodes, P. H., “Weapon Involvement and Injury Outcomes in Family and Intimate Assaults,” JAMA 267 (1992): 3043–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiebe, D. J., “Firearms in U.S. Homes as a Risk Factor for Unintentional Gunshot Fatality,” Accident Analysis and Prevention 35 (2003): 711–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
See National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, supra note 5.Google Scholar
The phrase has been attributed to science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein. Heinlein, R. A., Beyond This Horizon (Riverdale, NY: Baen Books, 2002). It has since been used by those supporting greater access to firearms.Google Scholar
Lott, J. R., More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2000).Google Scholar
Lott, J. R. Mustard, D. B., “Crime, Deterrence, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns,” Journal of Legal Studies 26 (1997): 1–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plassman, F. Whitley, J. E., “Comments: Confirming More Guns, Less Crime,” Stanford Law Review 55 (2003): 1313–69.Google Scholar
Black, D. A. Nagin, D. S., “Do Right-to-Carry Laws Deter Violent Crime?” Journal of Legal Studies 27 (1998): 209–19; Ayres, I. Donohue, J., “Shooting Down the More Guns, Less Crime Hypothesis,” Stanford Law Review 55 (2003): 1194–1312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Committee to Improve Research Information and Data on Firearms, National Research Council, Firearms and Violence: A Critical Review (Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2005): at 150.Google Scholar
Gottlieb, A. M., Gun Rights Fact Book (Bellevue, WA: Merril Press, 1989).Google Scholar
Hoskin, A. W., “Armed Americans: The Impact of Firearm Availability on National Homicide Rates,” Justice Quarterly 18 (2001): 569–92; Hepburn, L. M. Hemenway, D., “Firearm Availability and Homicide: A Review of the Literature,” Aggression and Violent Behavior 9 (2004): 417–40; Hemenway, D. Miller, M., “Firearm Availability and Homicide Rates across 26 High-Income Countries,” Journal of Trauma 49 (2000): 985–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zimring, F. E. Hawkins, G., Crime Is Not the Problem: Lethal Violence in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999); Hemenway, D., “The Public Health Approach to Reducing Firearm Injury and Violence,” Stanford Law & Policy Review 17 (2006): 635–56.Google Scholar
Krug, E. G. Powell, K. E. Dahlberg, L. L., “Firearm-Related Deaths in the United States and 35 Other High- and Upper-Middle-Income Countries,” International Journal of Epidemiology 27 (1998): 214–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
“Statistics Canada,” Statistics Canada Web site, available at <http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/legal12b.htm> (last visited September 5, 2007).+(last+visited+September+5,+2007).>Google Scholar
See National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, supra note 5.Google Scholar
Committee to Improve Research Information and Data on Firearms, National Research Council, Firearms and Violence: A Critical Review (Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2005): at 54.Google Scholar
Miller, M. Azrael, D. Hemenway, D., “Rates of Household Firearm Ownership and Homicide across U.S. Regions and States, 1988–1997,” American Journal of Public Health 92 (2002): 1988–1993; Miller, M. Azrael, D. Hemenway, D., “Household Firearm Ownership and Suicide Rates in the United States,” Epidemiology 13 (2002): 517–24; Miller, M. Lippmann, S. J. Azrael, D. Hemenway, D., “Household Firearm Ownership and Rates of Suicide across the 50 United States,” Journal of Trauma 62 (2007): 1029–35; Miller, D. Azrael, D. Hemenway, D., “Firearm Availability and Unintentional Firearm Deaths, Suicide, and Homicide among 5–14 Year Olds,” Journal of Trauma 52 (2002): 267–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webster, D. W. Vernick, J. S. Bulzacchelli, M. T., Association Between Regulations and Oversight of Firearm Dealers and Gun Trafficking, paper to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Atlanta, Georgia, November 2007; Webster, D. W. Vernick, J. S. Hepburn, L. M., “The Relationship between Licensing, Registration and Other State Gun Sales Laws and the Source State of Crime Guns,” Injury Prevention 7 (2001): 184–89.Google Scholar
See Cook, Ludwig, , supra note 20.Google Scholar
Cook, P. J. Ludwig, J., “Guns and Burglary,” in Cook, P. J. Ludwig, J., eds., Evaluating Gun Policy: Effects on Crime and Violence (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2003): 74–118.Google Scholar
Reiss, A. J. Roth, J. A., eds., Understanding and Preventing Violence (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1993).Google Scholar
Cook, P. J. Ludwig, J., Gun Violence: The Real Costs (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000): at 115.Google Scholar
Research, Statistics and Evaluation Directorate, Department of Justice Canada, A Statistical Analysis of the Impacts of the 1977 Firearms Control Legislation, Department of Justice Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, 1996.Google Scholar
Beauchamp, T. L. Childress, J. F., Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 4th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994): at 327.Google Scholar
We use the term “right” in this context to refer to ethical, not legal or constitutional, conceptions of “rights.”76. La Follette, H., “Gun Control,” Ethics 110 (2000): 263–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boylan, M., “Gun Control in the United States: Ethical Perspective for the Twenty-First Century,” Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 408 (2003): 17–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
See Beauchamp, Childress, , supra note 74, at 288–91.Google Scholar
Gostin, L. O., Public Health Law: Power, Duty, Restraint (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000): at 88.Google Scholar
Veatch, R. M., The Basics of Bioethics: Second Edition (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2003): at 12.Google Scholar
Turner, L., “Bioethics, Public Health, and Firearm-Related Violence: Missing Links between Bioethics and Public Health,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 25, no. 1 (1997): 42–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
See Beauchamp, Childress, , supra note 74, at 126.Google Scholar
See Gostin, , supra note 79, at 88.Google Scholar
Hodge, J. G. Gostin, L. O., “Legal Methods,” in Sugarman, J. Sulmasy, D. P., eds., Methods in Medical Ethics (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2001): 88–103.Google Scholar
See supra notes 61 to 66 and accompanying text.Google Scholar
See supra note 67 and accompanying text.Google Scholar
Teret, S. P. Webster, D. W. Vernick, J. S. et al. , “Public Support for Innovative Gun Policies: The Results of Two National Surveys,” New England Journal of Medicine 339 (1998): 813–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gielen, A. C. McDonnell, K. A. O'Campo, P. J. Burke, J. G., “Suicide Risk and Mental Health Indicators: Do They Differ by Abuse and HIV Status?” Women's Health Issues 15 (2005): 89–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
See supra notes 46 and 52 and accompanying text.Google Scholar
See Beauchamp, Childress, , supra note 74, at 288–91.Google Scholar
Kass, N. E., “An Ethics Framework for Public Health,” American Journal of Public Health 91 (2001): 1776–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powers, M. Faden, R., Social Justice (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006): at 9.Google Scholar
Id., at 10.Google Scholar
See Beauchamp, Childress, , supra note 74, at 288–91.Google Scholar
Gostin, L. O. Hodge, J. G., “Personal Privacy and Common Goods: A Framework for Balancing under the National Health Information Privacy Rule,” Minnesota Law Review 86 (2002): 1439–80.Google Scholar
Reiss, A. J. Roth, J. A., eds., Understanding and Preventing Violence (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1993).Google Scholar
See National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, supra note 5.Google Scholar