U.S. Federal Gun Control Policy: Analysis of Regulations and Impact

This essay provides an overview of the U.S. Federal Gun Control Policy, grounded in the Second Amendment of the Constitution. It discusses the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the roles of federal and state governments in regulating firearms. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) is identified as the primary federal institution responsible for enforcing gun control policies, while organizations like the National Rifle Association advocate for gun rights. The essay also examines key legislations, including the National Firearm Act of 1934 and the Brandy Violence Prevention Act of 1993, highlighting the ongoing challenges of balancing public safety with individual rights and emphasizing the need for adaptive policies to address evolving societal threats like school shootings. Desklib offers students access to this assignment solution and many other resources.

Running head- U.S FEDERAL GUN CONTROL POLICY
U.S Federal Gun Control Policy
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1U.S Federal Gun Control Policy
Answer to A
The Gun Control policy has been adopted in order to keep any arm or ammunition
with a person a legal right. The Gun control policy is guaranteed under the Second
Amendment of the Constitution of the United States (Pederson, Hall, Foster & Coates, 2015).
These policies provided a right to the citizen to keep arms and ammunition with them, as
stated under the statute. Gun control is stated as one of the most significant issues in the
American states. With the increasing cases of mass shootings and the reportings regarding the
killings of the masses at a high rate, there require such policies that will allow protecting the
person with reasonable means. Gun regulations are made strict by the fear of repeated and
increasing offenses like school shooting that necessitates the policies to be made much more
strict and hence be regulated by the institution that will look after such policies and maintain
the balance in order to implement such policies all over the country.
The legislation controlling the gun keeping policies is The Gun Control Act of 1968,
which regulates the usage of such arms and ammunitions at the federal and the intermediate
levels of the government (Mehalko, 2015). This Act mandates the age of the person to be
more than 18 who will be eligible to possess the arm or ammunition, specifically shotguns
and riffle, and to be at least more than 21 years to obtain these arms along with other
weapons such as the fire guns. The Second Amendment is considered as the legal framework
that provides the rights to the people to keep such weapons or arms. Despite all such
legislations, all the levels of the government in the central and the state level is responsible
for regulating the functioning of such gun policies in the United States (Andrés, &
Hempstead, 2014).
The Federal government has the power to regulate the functioning of the policies
upon who may carry such guns or any other arms in public, and the responsibility of the

2U.S Federal Gun Control Policy
federal government is to regulate the possession of such guns by any people. The Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, firearms, and Explosives are known as the (ATF), is the division of the
Department of Justice of the U.S. that regulates the gun control policies at the state level.
They are basically the federal law enforcement agencies that look after the possession of such
arms and ammunitions by the people. Their primary responsibility is to conduct the
investigation processes and prevent the offences that generally involves the illegal purchase
of such arms, possession of the unlawful arms without permission, unlawful manufacture and
the use of such arms , bombing, trafficking and acts of arson. They regulate these processes
through licensing the purchase, sale transportation, use and possession of such weapons.
They operate a fire research laboratory in Maryland where the reconstruction of such
pyromanias is done. They are the primary Federal Institution responsible for looking after the
legislations and the policies that regulate gun control in the U.S. In contrast, the National
Rifle Association that was founded in 1871 is responsible for encouraging and promoting the
rifle shooting all over the U.S. They have been the organization fighting for the gun rights in
the U.S.

3U.S Federal Gun Control Policy
Answer to B
The following flowchart demonstrates that the gun control policies provided in the Second
amendment Of the US Constitution. The ATF is the federal body regulating the policies and
in charge to control all the unlawful activities relating to the gun crimes (Jena, Sun, & Prasad
2014).
Answer to C
The key players to regulate the gun policies in the U.S. are The Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. They responsibly regulate the various policies that are
formulated in order to maintain the gun control and restrict the possession of all such arms
and ammunition, especially those who are below the age of 18 years. There are various
policies that regulate the gun control. The policies include a proper age to carry such arms
and a proper license that permits the possession of such a gun or any other arms or
ammunitions. Various other central laws control the possession, manufacturing, and illegal
activities relating to the usage of such arms or ammunitions. These legislations include the
Second Amendment
Of the US Constitution
The Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, firearms, and
Explosives (ATF)
Restricts the posession
of Arms below the age
of 18 years
Regulates the sale and
purchase of the arms
without proper
licencing
Regulates the
manufacturing of arms
in an unlawful way or
unlawful purpose
Controls the unlawful
trafficking of the arms
and the ammunitions

4U.S Federal Gun Control Policy
National Firearm Act, 1934, which mandates the registration in order to possess the kind of
gun. Federal Firearm Act, 1938 that regulates proper trade of the arms and ensures that there
is no such illegal trafficking for any mala fide purpose. The Omnibus Crime control and safe
street Act,1968, restricts the age level o a person that will be permitted in order to possess
such a weapon. The Undetectable firearms act, 1988 that controls the production and the sale
of such ammunition. The other acts, such as the Brandy Violence Prevention Act,1993, and
the Federal Assault Weapon ban, controls the sale and purchase of the arms by conducting
the background searches and by banning any arm that is designed in a way that may impose a
threat (Vizzard, 1999). All these legislations make the gun control policies in the U.S. as it
empowers the federal structure of the country to intervene with the public rights as they even
possess the power to regulate the safety of a person through control.
As firearms are a dangerous weapon, it may be used to impose a threat and not for
mere protection purposes (Siegel et al, 2014). For such reason, it becomes very much
necessary for the federal authorities, especially the ATF, to strengthen the impact and the
enforcement of such policies that will not impose a threat upon the society and only used to
protect the individual. Their responsibility includes proper investigation and proper forces in
order to regulate the legal framework laid in order to control the functioning of the sale and
purchase of such arms and ammunitions. Over time the powers of the forces have reduced
with the increasing rate of school shootings and mass shootings in the U.S that questions the
existence and the functioning of the federal bodies. Though the legislations are present, due
to the lack of measures, adequate implementation is not done. With the growing time, the
policies should also modify as per the needs of the society. As per the provision, children
below the age of 18 years is a child and above 18 is an adult. So this age difference of mere
one year should not make a person eligible to carry those deadly weapons as they might use it
in order to harm somebody. Hence the policies shall be made much more durable so the

5U.S Federal Gun Control Policy
future generations do not face such crimes like school or mass shootings. With the change of
time, the age bar should also increase along with the increasing forces to check the possession
and regulating the illegal trades that might continue with freedom.

6U.S Federal Gun Control Policy
Reference
Andrés, A. R., & Hempstead, K. (2014). Gun control and suicide: The impact of state firearm
regulations in the United States, 1995–2004. Health Policy, 101(1), 95-103.
Jena, A. B., Sun, E. C., & Prasad, V. (2014). Does the declining lethality of gunshot injuries
mask a rising epidemic of gun violence in the United States?. Journal of general
internal medicine, 29(7), 1065-1069.
Mehalko, L. (2015). This is Gun Country: The International Implications of US Gun Control
Policy. BC Int'l & Comp. L. Rev., 35, 297.
Pederson, J., Hall, T. L., Foster, B., & Coates, J. E. (2015). Gun ownership and attitudes
toward gun control in older adults: Re-examining self interest theory. American
Journal of Social Science Research, 1(5), 273-281.
Siegel, M., Negussie, Y., Vanture, S., Pleskunas, J., Ross, C. S., & King III, C. (2014). The
relationship between gun ownership and stranger and nonstranger firearm homicide
rates in the United States, 1981–2010. American Journal of Public Health, 104(10),
1912-1919.
Vizzard, W. J. (1999). The Gun Control Act of 1968. . Louis U. Pub. L. Rev., 18, 79.