Archive
Just Released — A Review of ATF’s Operation Fast and Furious and Related Matters
A Review of ATF’s Operation Fast and Furious and Related Matters (PDF)
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General
During the course of our review we received information about other ATF firearms trafficking investigations that raised questions about how those investigations were conducted. This report describes one of them, Operation Wide Receiver. We plan to issue a separate report on at least one other ATF investigation that involves an individual suspected of transporting grenade components into Mexico, converting them into live grenades, and then supplying them to drug cartels. The OIG also is completing its investigation of an allegation that one or more Department employees provided to a member of the media a copy of a May 2010 undercover operation proposal drafted by one of the ATF agents who publicly testified about his concerns with the conduct of Operation Fast and Furious. Additionally, we are reviewing allegations that two ATF agents who publicly testified about their concerns regarding Operation Fast and Furious were reassigned to positions within ATF that could have subjected them to retaliation. We also will continue to review information that has been provided to us to determine whether other reports are warranted on additional topics related to Operation Fast and Furious, such as information sharing among ATF, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the FBI regarding key figures in parallel investigations.
AU — Firearm trafficking and serious and organised crime gangs
Firearm trafficking and serious and organised crime gangs
Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
Despite strict regulations on the import, export, ownership, use, transfer and storage of licit firearms, there exists in Australia a potentially large pool of illicit firearms, some of which are acquired, stockpiled and used for serious and organised crime. This report follows a modest group of publicly released examinations of firearm trafficking operations in Australia, to describe what can be determined about the composition and maintenance of the illicit firearm market, its use by serious and organised crime groups and the diversity of transaction arrangements used to vend illicit firearms.
2012 United States Peace Index
2012 United States Peace IndexSource: Institute for Economics & Peace
The 2012 United States Peace Index (USPI) has found that the U.S. is more peaceful now than at any other time over the last twenty years.
The second annual edition of the index, produced by Institute for Economics and Peace, provides a comprehensive analysis of peacefulness at the state and city levels, as well as an analysis of the costs associated with violence and the socio-economic measures associated with peace.
The USPI measures peacefulness according to five indicators: the number of homicides, number of violent crimes, the incarceration rate, number of police employees and the availability of small arms.
It is the only statistical analysis of crime, and the cost of crime, in all 50 states and, for the first time this year, the 61 most populous metropolitan areas.
Key Findings
- Maine is the most peaceful state for the 11th consecutive year, Louisiana least peaceful state.
- Wyoming has improved the most while Arizona records the biggest fall.
- Cambridge metro area is the most peaceful, Detroit the least peaceful.
- The U.S. is more peaceful than at any time in the last 20 years.
- Further improvements in peacefulness would generate hundreds of billions of extra economic activity.
Weapons Make the Man (Larger): Formidability Is Represented as Size and Strength in Humans
In order to determine how to act in situations of potential agonistic conflict, individuals must assess multiple features of a prospective foe that contribute to the foe’s resource-holding potential, or formidability. Across diverse species, physical size and strength are key determinants of formidability, and the same is often true for humans. However, in many species, formidability is also influenced by other factors, such as sex, coalitional size, and, in humans, access to weaponry. Decision-making involving assessments of multiple features is enhanced by the use of a single summary variable that encapsulates the contributions of these features. Given both a) the phylogenetic antiquity of the importance of size and strength as determinants of formidability, and b) redundant experiences during development that underscore the contributions of size and strength to formidability, we hypothesize that size and strength constitute the conceptual dimensions of a representation used to summarize multiple diverse determinants of a prospective foe’s formidability. Here, we test this hypothesis in humans by examining the effects of a potential foe’s access to weaponry on estimations of that individual’s size and strength. We demonstrate that knowing that an individual possesses a gun or a large kitchen knife leads observers to conceptualize him as taller, and generally larger and more muscular, than individuals who possess only tools or similarly mundane objects. We also document that such patterns are not explicable in terms of any actual correlation between gun ownership and physical size, nor can they be explained in terms of cultural schemas or other background knowledge linking particular objects to individuals of particular size and strength. These findings pave the way for a fuller understanding of the evolution of the cognitive systems whereby humans – and likely many other social vertebrates – navigate social hierarchies.
Cato Policy Report, vol. XXXIV, no. 2 (March/April 2012)
- “Capitalism, Peace, and the Historical Movement of Ideas” by John Mueller [PDF] [HTML]
- “Reflections on Inequality” by Robert A. Levy [PDF] [HTML]
- The Social Costs of Patent Trolls [PDF] [HTML]
- Private Property, the Rule of Law, and the Perils of Political Discretion [PDF] [HTML]
- Demography, Democracy, and Global Capitalism [PDF] [HTML]
- Scholar Profile: Daniel J. Ikenson [PDF] [HTML]
- Is Immigration Good for America? [PDF] [HTML]
- The Internet Is Not .gov’s to Regulate [PDF] [HTML]
- How Guns Stop Crimes [PDF] [HTML]
CRS — Gun Control Legislation
Gun Control Legislation (PDF)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists)
Congress has debated the efficacy and constitutionality of federal regulation of firearms and ammunition, with strong advocates arguing for and against greater gun control. Since March 2011, much of the gun control debate in the 112th Congress has swirled around allegations that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) mishandled a Phoenix, AZ-based gun trafficking investigation known as “Operation Fast and Furious.” In the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2012 (P.L. 112-55), Congress included a provision that reflects a Senate-adopted amendment that forbids the expenditure of any funding provided under it to be used by a federal law enforcement officer to transfer an operable firearm to a person known or suspected to be connected with a drug cartel without that firearm being continuously monitored or controlled. The act, however, does not include language adopted during House full committee markup to prohibit ATF from collecting multiple rifle sales reports in Southwest border states.
On November 16, 2011, the House passed a bill (H.R. 822) that would establish a greater degree of reciprocity between states that issue concealed carry permits for handguns to civilians than currently exists under state law. On October 11, 2011, the House passed a Veterans’ Benefits Act (H.R. 2349) that would prohibit the Department of Veterans Affairs from determining a beneficiary to be mentally incompetent for the purposes of gun control, unless such a determination were made by a judge, magistrate, or other judicial authority based upon a finding that the beneficiary posed a danger to himself or others. In May 2011, firearms-related amendments to bills reauthorizing the USA PATRIOT Act were considered (H.R. 1800, S. 1038, and S. 990), but they were not passed.
The tragic shootings in Tucson, AZ, on January 8, 2011, in which six people were killed and 13 wounded, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords, have also generated attention. Several Members introduced proposals that arguably address issues related to the shooter’s mental illness and drug use (see S. 436/H.R. 1781) and his use of large capacity ammunition feeding devices (LCAFDs) (see H.R. 308 and S. 32), as well as a proposal to ban firearms within the proximity of certain high-level federal officials (see H.R. 367 and H.R. 496).
This report concludes with discussion of other salient and recurring gun control issues that have generated past congressional interest. Those issues include (1) screening firearms background check applicants against terrorist watch lists, (2) reforming the regulation of federally licensed gun dealers, (3) requiring background checks for private firearms transfers at gun shows, (4) more-strictly regulating certain firearms previously defined in statute as “semiautomatic assault weapons,” and (5) banning or requiring the registration of certain long-range .50 caliber rifles, which are commonly referred to as “sniper” rifles. To set these and other emerging issues in context, this report provides basic firearms-related statistics, an overview of federal firearms law, and a summary of legislative action in the 111th and 112th Congresses.
Tough Targets: When Criminals Face Armed Resistance from Citizens
Tough Targets: When Criminals Face Armed Resistance from Citizens
Source: Cato Institute
The ostensible purpose of gun control legislation is to reduce firearm deaths and injuries. The restriction of access to firearms will make criminals unable to use guns to shoot people. Gun control laws will also reduce the number of accidental shootings. Those are the desired effects, at least in theory. It is important, however, for conscientious policymakers to consider not only the stated goals of gun control regulations, but the actual results that they produce.
What would be the effect of depriving ordinary, law-abiding citizens from keeping arms for self-defense? One result seems certain: the law-abiding would be at a distinct disadvantage should criminals acquire guns from underground markets. After all, it is simply not possible for police officers to get to every scene where they are urgently needed.
Outside of criminology circles, relatively few people can reasonably estimate how often people use guns to fend off criminal attacks. If policymakers are truly interested in harm reduction, they should pause to consider how many crimes — murders, rapes, assaults, robberies — are thwarted each year by ordinary persons with guns. The estimates of defensive gun use range between the tens of thousands to as high as two million each year.
This paper uses a collection of news reports of self-defense with guns over an eight-year period to survey the circumstances and outcomes of defensive gun uses in America.
Federal and state lawmakers often oppose repealing or amending laws governing the ownership or carrying of guns. That opposition is typically based on assumptions that the average citizen is incapable of successfully employing a gun in self-defense or that possession of a gun in public will tempt people to violence in “road rage” or other contentious situations. Those assumptions are false. The vast majority of gun owners are ethical and competent. That means tens of thousands of crimes are prevented each year by ordinary citizens with guns.
+ Full Paper (PDF)
Cummings Issues Report Detailing Five Years of Gunwalking Operations in Arizona
Cummings Issues Report Detailing Five Years of Gunwalking Operations in Arizona
Source: U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (Minority)
Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued a 95-page minority staff report entitled “Fatally Flawed: Five Years of Gunwalking in Arizona.” The report describes the results of the Committee’s year-long investigation into the actions and circumstances that led to multiple gunwalking operations in Arizona from 2006 to 2010.
According to a letter Cummings sent to Committee Members accompanying the report, “this report tells the story of how misguided gunwalking operations originated in 2006 as ATF’s Phoenix Field Division devised a strategy to forgo prosecutions against low-level straw purchasers while they attempted to build bigger charges.”
The report finds that this strategy failed to include sufficient operational controls to stop these dangerous weapons from getting into the hands of violent criminals, creating a danger to public safety on both sides of the border. Rather than halting operations after flaws became evident, ATF’s Phoenix Field Division launched several similarly reckless operations over the course of several years, according to the report, also with tragic results.
+ Full Report (PDF)
CRS — Gun Control Legislation
Gun Control Legislation (PDF)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists)
Congress has debated the efficacy and constitutionality of federal regulation of firearms and ammunition, with strong advocates arguing for and against greater gun control. Since March 2011, much of the gun control debate in the 112th Congress has swirled around allegations that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) mishandled a Phoenix, AZ-based gun trafficking investigation known as “Operation Fast and Furious.” Senator Charles Grassley, ranking minority Member on the Committee on the Judiciary, and Representative Darrell Issa, chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, have issued two joint staff reports on Operation Fast and Furious, and the House committee has held three related hearings. On November 1, 2011, a high-ranking DOJ official testified before the Senate Judiciary’s Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee that he had identified “gun walking” as a potentially risk laden investigative technique in April 2010 in connection with another ATF investigation, Operation Wide Receiver, but failed to inform the Attorney General about the potential risks.
Also, on November 1, 2011, the Senate passed an FY2012 Minibus Appropriations bill (H.R. 2112) that includes an amendment offered by Senator John Cornyn that would prevent the expenditure of any funding under that bill for gun trafficking investigations that allowed firearms to be transferred to drug cartels without those firearms being monitored or controlled. The House Committee on Appropriations has reported a parallel funding measure that includes other firearms-related riders on DOJ and ATF funding (H.R. 2596). For example, one House rider would prohibit ATF from collecting multiple rifle sales reports from federally licensed gun dealers in Southwest border states.
In addition, on October 25, 2011, the House Committee on the Judiciary ordered reported a bill (H.R. 822) that would establish a greater degree of reciprocity between states that issue concealed carry permits for handguns to civilians. On October 11, 2011, the House passed a Veterans’ Benefits Act (H.R. 2349) that would prohibit the Department of Veterans’ Affairs from determining a beneficiary to be mentally incompetent for the purposes of gun control, unless such a determination were made by a judge, magistrate, or other judicial authority based upon a finding that the beneficiary posed a danger to himself or others. In May 2011, firearms-related amendments to bills reauthorizing USA PATRIOT Act provisions were considered (H.R. 1800, S. 1038, and S. 990), but they were not included in the enacted legislation (P.L. 112-14).
The tragic shootings in Tucson, AZ, on January 8, 2011, in which 6 people were killed and 13 wounded, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords, have generated attention in the 112th Congress. Several Members introduced proposals that arguably address issues related to the shooter’s mental illness and drug use (see S. 436) and his use of large capacity ammunition feeding devices (LCAFDs) (see H.R. 308 and S. 32), as well as a proposal to ban firearms within the proximity of certain high-level federal officials (see H.R. 367 and H.R. 496).
This report concludes with discussion of other salient and recurring gun control issues that have generated past congressional interest. Those issues include (1) screening firearms background check applicants against terrorist watch lists, (2) reforming the regulation of federally licensed gun dealers, (3) requiring background checks for private firearms transfers at gun shows, (4) more strictly regulating certain firearms previously defined in statute as “semiautomatic assault weapons,” and (5) banning or requiring the registration of certain long-range .50 caliber rifles, which are commonly referred to as “sniper” rifles. To set these and other emerging issues in context, this report provides basic firearms-related statistics, an overview of federal firearms law, and a summary of legislative action in the 111th Congress.
Self-Reported Gun Ownership in U.S. Is Highest Since 1993
Self-Reported Gun Ownership in U.S. Is Highest Since 1993
Source: Gallup
Forty-seven percent of American adults currently report that they have a gun in their home or elsewhere on their property. This is up from 41% a year ago and is the highest Gallup has recorded since 1993, albeit marginally above the 44% and 45% highs seen during that period.
The new result comes from Gallup’s Oct. 6-9 Crime poll, which also finds public support for personal gun rights at a high-water mark. Given this, the latest increase in self-reported gun ownership could reflect a change in Americans’ comfort with publicly stating that they have a gun as much as it reflects a real uptick in gun ownership.
Republicans (including independents who lean Republican) are more likely than Democrats (including Democratic leaners) to say they have a gun in their household: 55% to 40%. While sizable, this partisan gap is narrower than that seen in recent years, as Democrats’ self-reported gun ownership spiked to 40% this year.
Arms trade to Middle East and North Africa shows failure of export controls
Arms trade to Middle East and North Africa shows failure of export controls
Source: Amnesty International
The USA, Russia and European countries supplied large quantities of weapons to repressive governments in the Middle East and North Africa before this year’s uprisings despite having evidence of a substantial risk that they could be used to commit serious human rights violations, Amnesty International said today in a new report.
Arms Transfers To The Middle East And North Africa: Lessons For An Effective Arms Trade Treaty examines arms transfers to Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen since 2005.
“These findings highlight the stark failure of existing arms export controls, with all their loopholes, and underline the need for an effective global Arms Trade Treaty that takes full account of the need to uphold human rights,” said Helen Hughes, Amnesty International’s principal arms trade researcher on the report.
“Governments that now say they stand in solidarity with people across the Middle East and North Africa are the very same as those who until recently supplied the weapons, bullets and military and police equipment that were used to kill, injure and arbitrarily detain thousands of peaceful protesters in states such as Tunisia and Egypt and are even now being deployed by security forces in Syria and Yemen.”
The main arms suppliers to the five countries included in the report were Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, the UK and the USA.
At least 11 states have provided military assistance or allowed exports of weaponry, munitions and related equipment to Yemen, where some 200 protesters have lost their lives in 2011. These include Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, the Russian Federation, Turkey, Ukraine, the UK and the USA.
+ Full Report (PDF)
A Criminal’s Delight: Gun Manufacturers “Lost” More Than 16,000 Firearms Since 2009
A Criminal’s Delight: Gun Manufacturers “Lost” More Than 16,000 Firearms Since 2009
Source: Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
A new Brady Center report, “Missing Guns: Lost and Dangerous” shows that licensed gun manufacturers nationwide “lost” an average of at least 18 firearms every day over the last two and a half years, according to a Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence analysis of new data released in August by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
The “Missing Guns: Lost and Dangerous” report shows that, from 2009 to the middle of 2011, at least 16,485 firearms left gun manufacturers’ inventory without a record of being legally sold. This report follows a January 2011 Brady Center report, “Missing Guns,” which found that the nation’s gun retail dealers also “lost” more than 62,000 firearms since 2008.
…
Firearms that leave gun manufacturers’ plants without records of sale are frequently trafficked by gun traffickers and prized by criminals because the guns are difficult, and often impossible, to trace. Some guns are taken from gun manufacturing plants before they have been stamped with serial numbers, making them virtually untraceable – a criminal’s delight.
+ Full Report (PDF)
CRS — U.S.-Mexican Security Cooperation: The Merida Initiative and Beyond
U.S.-Mexican Security Cooperation: The Merida Initiative and Beyond (PDF)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via U.S. Department of State Foreign Press Center)
Increasing violence perpetrated by drug trafficking organizations and other criminal groups is threatening citizen security and governance in Mexico. According to Mexican government data, organized crime-related violence claimed more than 34,500 lives in Mexico between January 2007 and December 2010. That toll may now exceed 40,000. Escalating violence has increased U.S. concerns about stability in Mexico, a key political and economic ally, and about the possibility of violence spilling over into the United States. Mexican drug trafficking organizations dominate the U.S. illicit drug market and are now considered the greatest organized crime threat facing the United States. In recent years, U.S.-Mexican security cooperation has increased significantly, largely as a result of the development and implementation of the Mérida Initiative, a counterdrug and anticrime assistance package for Mexico and Central America that was first proposed in October 2007.
Between FY2008 and FY2010, Congress provided $1.5 billion for Mérida Initiative programs in Mexico, with an early emphasis on training and equipping Mexican security forces engaged in counterdrug efforts. As part of the Mérida Initiative, the Mexican government pledged to intensify its efforts against transnational criminal organizations and the U.S. government pledged to address drug demand and the illicit trafficking of firearms and bulk currency to Mexico.
With funding for the original Mérida Initiative technically ending in FY2010 and new initiatives underway for Central America and the Caribbean, the Obama Administration worked with the Mexican government to develop a new four-pillar strategy for U.S.-Mexican security cooperation. That strategy, adopted in March 2010, focuses on (1) disrupting organized criminal groups; (2) institutionalizing the rule of law; (3) building a 21st century border; and (4) building strong and resilient communities. The first two pillars largely build upon existing efforts, whereas pillars three and four broaden the scope of Mérida programs to include efforts to facilitate “secure flows” through the U.S.-Mexico border and to improve conditions in violence-prone border cities. Congress appropriated $143.0 million in Mérida assistance for Mexico for FY2011 in P.L. 112- 10. The Administration requested $282 million in Mérida assistance for FY2012. As of August 1, 2011, a total of $473.8 million worth of assistance had been provided to Mexico.
The 112th Congress is likely to continue funding and overseeing the Mérida Initiative, as well as examining the degree to which the U.S. and Mexican governments are fulfilling their pledges to tackle domestic problems contributing to drug trafficking and crime in the region. Congress may also examine the degree to which the Administration’s new strategy for the Mérida Initiative complements other counterdrug and border security efforts as outlined in the 2011 National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy. Given current budget constraints, Congress may also debate how best to measure the impact of current and future Mérida Initiative programs. Another congressional interest is likely to focus on whether human rights conditions placed on Mérida Initiative funding are appropriate or sufficient.
For related information, see CRS Report R41576, Mexico’s Drug Trafficking Organizations: Source and Scope of the Rising Violence, by June S. Beittel and CRS Report R41075, Southwest Border Violence: Issues in Identifying and Measuring Spillover Violence, coordinated by Kristin M. Finklea. This report will be updated periodically.
Surveillance for Violent Deaths — National Violent Death Reporting System, 16 States, 2008
Surveillance for Violent Deaths — National Violent Death Reporting System, 16 States, 2008
Source: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (CDC)
For 2008, a total of 15,755 fatal incidents involving 16,138 deaths were captured by NVDRS in the 16 states included in this report. The majority (58.7%) of deaths were suicides, followed by homicides and deaths involving legal intervention (i.e. deaths caused by police and other persons with legal authority to use deadly force, excluding legal executions) (26.4%), deaths of undetermined intent (14.5%), and unintentional firearm deaths (0.4%). Suicides occurred at higher rates among males, American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/ANs), non-Hispanic whites, and persons aged 45–54 years. Suicides occurred most often in a house or apartment (70.6%) and involved the use of firearms (51.5%). Suicides were precipitated primarily by mental health (45.4%), intimate partner (30.9%), or physical health problems (22.6%), or by a crisis during the preceding 2 weeks (27.9%). Homicides occurred at higher rates among males and persons aged 20–24 years; rates were highest among non-Hispanic black males. The majority of homicides involved the use of a firearm (65.8%) and occurred in a house or apartment (52.5%) or on a street/highway (21.3%). Homicides were precipitated primarily by arguments (41.4%) and interpersonal conflicts (18.4%) or in conjunction with another crime (30.2%). Other manners of death and special situations or populations also are highlighted in this report.
The State of America’s Children 2011
The State of America’s Children 2011
Source: Children’s Defense Fund
CDF’s new report The State of America’s Children 2011 finds children have fallen further behind in many of the leading indicators over the past year as the country slowly climbs out of the recession. This is a comprehensive compilation and analysis of the most recent and reliable national and state-by-state data on population, poverty, family structure, family income, health, nutrition, early childhood development, education, child welfare, juvenile justice, and gun violence. The report provides key child data showing alarming numbers of children at risk: children are the poorest age group with 15.5 million children—one in every five children in America—living in poverty, and more than 60 percent of fourth, eighth and 12th grade public school students are reading or doing math below grade level.
Non-Self Defense Deaths Involving Persons Legally Allowed to Carry Concealed Handguns Hits 370–VPC Concealed Carry Killers July/August Update
Non-Self Defense Deaths Involving Persons Legally Allowed to Carry Concealed Handguns Hits 370–VPC Concealed Carry Killers July/August Update
Source: Violence Policy Center
At least 370 people, including 11 law enforcement officers, have been killed in incidents not ruled self-defense involving private citizens legally allowed to carry concealed handguns according to the July/August update of the Violence Policy Center’s (VPC) Concealed Carry Killers on-line resource (http://www.vpc.org/ccwkillers.htm).
…
The Violence Policy Center’s Concealed Carry Killers database documents 266 incidents in 31 states since May 2007. In more than three quarters of the incidents (209) the concealed carry killer has already been convicted (73), committed suicide (130), or was killed in the incident (six). Of the 53 cases still pending, the vast majority (43) of concealed carry killers have been charged with criminal homicide, three were deemed incompetent to stand trial, and seven incidents are still under investigation. Four incidents were fatal unintentional shootings involving the gun of the concealed handgun permit holder. Nineteen of the incidents were mass shootings, resulting in the deaths of 84 victims.Because most state systems that allow the carrying of concealed handguns in public by private citizens release little data about crimes committed by them, the primary source for Concealed Carry Killers is published news reports. It is likely that the actual number of fatal incidents involving citizens legally allowed to carry concealed handguns is far higher.
Adult Blood Lead Epidemiology and Surveillance — United States, 2008–2009
Adult Blood Lead Epidemiology and Surveillance — United States, 2008–2009
Source: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (CDC)
Lead exposure can result in acute or chronic adverse effects in multiple organ systems, ranging from subclinical changes in function to symptomatic, life-threatening toxicity. Despite improvements in public health policies and substantial reductions in blood lead levels (BLLs) in adults, lead exposure remains an important health problem worldwide. Approximately 95% of all elevated BLLs reported among adults in the United States are work-related (1), and recent research has raised concerns regarding the toxicity of BLLs as low as 5 µg/dL (2,3). CDC’s state-based Adult Blood Lead Epidemiology and Surveillance (ABLES) program tracks laboratory-reported elevated BLLs. To update rate trends and identify industry subsectors and nonoccupational activities with high lead exposures, CDC collected and analyzed 2008–2009 data from 40 state ABLES programs. The results of that analysis indicated that a decline in the prevalence of elevated BLLs (≥25 µg/dL) was extended, from 14.0 per 100,000 employed adults in 1994 to 6.3 in 2009. Industry subsectors with the highest numbers of lead-exposed workers were battery manufacturing, secondary smelting and refining of nonferrous metals, and painting and paper hanging. The most common nonoccupational exposures to lead were shooting firearms; remodeling, renovating, or painting; retained bullets (gunshot wounds); and lead casting. The findings underscore the need for government agencies, employers, public health professionals, health-care providers, and worker-affiliated organizations to increase interventions to prevent workplace lead exposure, and the importance of conducting lead exposure surveillance to assess the effectiveness of these interventions.
CRS — Gun Control Legislation
Gun Control Legislation (PDF)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists)
Congress has debated the efficacy and constitutionality of federal regulation of firearms and ammunition, with strong advocates arguing for and against greater gun control. The tragic shootings in Tucson, AZ, on January 8, 2011, in which six people were killed and 13 wounded, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords, could prompt the 112 th Congress to examine issues related to the shooter’s mental illness and drug use (see S. 436) and his use of large capacity ammunition feeding devices (LCAFDs) (see H.R. 308 and S. 32), as well as a proposal to ban firearms within the proximity of certain high-level federal officials (see H.R. 367 and H.R. 496). Other emerging issues include the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’s (ATF) proposal to require multiple rifle sales reports from Southwest border state gun dealers and its conduct of Operation Fast and Furious. More recently, gun-related amendments to bills reauthorizing USA PATRIOT Act provisions were considered (H.R. 1800, S. 1038, and S. 990), but were not included in the enacted legislation (P.L. 112-14). To set these and other emerging issues in context, this report provides basic firearms-related statistics, an overview of federal firearms law, and a summary of legislative action in the 111 th Congress.
During the 111 th Congress, the gun control debate was colored by two key Supreme Court findings. In District of Columbia v. Heller, the Court found that the District of Columbia (DC) handgun ban, among other regulations, violated an individual’s right under the Second Amendment to lawfully possess a firearm in his home for self-defense. In McDonald v. City of Chicago, the Court found that the Second Amendment also applied to the states. Congress considered amendments to DC voting rights bills that would have further overturned DC gun laws (S. 160 and H.R. 157), effectively scuttling the House bill. In addition, some Members passed several other gun-related provisions included in enacted legislation that address
- carrying firearms on public lands (P.L. 111-24),
- transporting firearms in passenger luggage on Amtrak (P.L. 111-117),
- widening law enforcement off-duty concealed carry privileges (P.L. 111-272), and
- prohibiting higher health care premiums for gun owners (P.L. 111-148).
The 111 th Congress reconsidered or newly considered several other provisions that were not enacted. These issues could re-emerge in the 112 th Congress. These provisions address
gun rights restoration for veterans previously deemed to be mentally incompetent
(S. 669 and H.R. 6132),firearms possession in public housing (H.R. 3045 and H.R. 4868), interstate reciprocity of concealed carry privileges (S. 1390 and S. 845), and the treatment of firearms under bankruptcy proceedings (H.R. 5827/S. 3654). The report concludes with discussion of other salient and recurring gun control issues that have generated past congressional interest. Those issues include (1) screening firearms background check applicants against terrorist watch lists; (2) reforming the regulation of federally licensed gun dealers; (3) requiring background checks for private firearms transfers at gun shows; (4) more-strictly regulating certain firearms previously defined in statute as “semiautomatic assault weapons”; and (5) banning or requiring the registration of certain long-range .50 caliber rifles, which are commonly referred to as “sniper” rifles.
Halting U.S. Firearms Trafficking to Mexico
Halting U.S. Firearms Trafficking to Mexico (PDF)
Source: U.S. Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control
“Military-style weapons are arming Mexico’s brutal drug trafficking organizations at an alarming rate. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) has consistently found that the overwhelming majority of firearms recovered at crime scenes and traced by Mexican officials originate in the United States.
These guns have contributed to Mexico’s dangerous levels of violence. Since the start of the administration of President Felipe Calderon in December 2006, according to Mexican government estimates, 34,612 people have died in organized crime-related killings in Mexico. The killings reached their highest level in 2010, increasing by almost 60 percent to 15,273 deaths from 9,616 the previous year.
As the U.S. partners with Mexico to combat drug-related violence, we must enhance our efforts to curb firearms trafficking from the United States to Mexico. This report provides background information on firearms trafficking and makes recommendations to Congress and the Obama Administration on key next steps.”
Violence-Related Firearm Deaths Among Residents of Metropolitan Areas and Cities — United States, 2006–2007
Violence-Related Firearm Deaths Among Residents of Metropolitan Areas and Cities — United States, 2006–2007
Source: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (CDC)
Violence-related firearm deaths remain an important public health concern in the United States. During 2006–2007, a total of 25,423 firearm homicides and 34,235 firearm suicides occurred among U.S. residents (1). These national totals include 4,166 firearm homicides and 1,446 firearm suicides among youths aged 10–19 years; the rate of firearm homicides among youths slightly exceeded the rate among persons of all ages. This report presents statistics on firearm homicides and firearm suicides for major metropolitan areas and cities, with an emphasis on youths aged 10–19 years in recognition of the importance of early prevention efforts. It integrates analyses conducted by CDC in response to requests for detailed information, arising from a heightened focus on urban violence by the media, the public, and policymakers over the past year. Firearm homicides and suicides and annual rates were tabulated for the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and their central cities* for 2006–2007, using data from the National Vital Statistics System and the U.S. Census Bureau. Firearm homicide rates in approximately two thirds of the MSAs exceeded the national rate, and 86% of cities had rates higher than those of their MSAs. The youth firearm homicide rate exceeded the all-ages rate in 80% of the MSAs and in 88% of the cities. Firearm suicide rates in just over half of the MSAs were below the national rate, and 55% of cities had rates below those of their MSAs. Youth firearm suicide rates in the MSAs and cities were collectively low compared with all-ages rates. Such variations in firearm homicide and firearm suicide rates, with respect to both urbanization and age, should be considered in the continuing development of prevention programs directed at reducing firearm violence.
