Gun Control and Violence

Changing Conditions

Amid growing urban violence, especially associated with gun use, there is a significant increase of legislation aimed at effective gun control, concern about the glorification of violence in the entertainment industry and its possible effect on violence in our society, and efforts aimed at preventing the premature release of violent criminals.

Background

The need to stem violence has become one of the highest priorities for American political leaders and citizens. The deep concern over crime has arisen not only out of fear for person and property, but also derives from a commitment to the cohesive nature of the society and the fear that the fabric of society is being torn. Constitutional protections in a pluralistic democracy are only as strong as the law-abiding commitments of its citizenry. Criminal violence can weaken this commitment.

Between 1987 and 1990, gunshot wounds to children aged 16 and under nearly doubled in major urban areas. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 14 children age 19 and under are killed every day in homicides, suicides and gun accidents. Firearms claim more lives of persons age 14-24 than all natural causes. In 1990, handguns were used to murder 13 people in Sweden, 91 in Switzerland, 87 in Japan, 68 in Canada, 22 in Great Britain, 10 in Australia, and 10,567 in the United States. Billions of dollars are spent annually in emergency health care for victims of violence. Perhaps most important, there is increased concern over the appearance and use of firearms in schools. It is estimated that in 1994 there are more than 200 million firearms in circulation in the United States. Gun violence, criminal or negligent, targeted or random, is not confined to urban areas.

There is no single factor contributing to violence and therefore no single remedy. A range of social issues must be addressed. Additionally, among the direct signals that must be sent to reverse the spiral of violence are control of the issuance and use of weaponry, and efforts aimed, through the criminal justice system, at controlling violent and repeat offenders.

Gun control, on the legislative agenda since the 101st Congress, came to a head with the passage of the Brady handgun bill and the Omnibus Crime Bill during the first session of the 103rd Congress. The Brady Act (H.R. 1025/ S. 414) was passed by the House and Senate and signed into law by the President in November 1993. The legislation requires a waiting period of at least five business days to purchase a handgun in order to enable local police to run background checks on purchasers. (See Joint Program Plan for 1991-92 for details on the Brady Act and its legislative history.) Twenty-two states already have various waiting periods for the purchase of handguns. The NJCRAC, long concerned about the growing problems of urban violence, and about the fact that he United States remains the only industrialized country that does not restrict the availability of guns, called for final passage of the Brady bill.

Legislation that would ban the manufacture and sale of military-style assault weapons passed the Senate as part of the omnibus crime bill, and, by a two vote margin, passed the House as separate legislation on May 5, 1994 (H.R. 4296/S. 1607). A House-Senate conference committee was scheduled to reconcile small differences between the House and Senate versions. The organized Jewish community supports passage of this legislation and views a ban on assault weapons and ammunition as not contradicting the Second Amendment guarantee of the right to bear arms. (For discussion of congressional remedies, including the Crime Bill in the 103rd Congress, the death penalty and habeas corpus reform, see the section on Constitutional Protections in a Pluralistic Democracy.)

The Jewish community relations field will be called upon to examine the issues of crime and violence, and appropriate remedies, in the context of the field's longstanding commitment to constitutional and Bill of Rights protections, including those of civil liberties and civil rights, and of "due process." Coordinating this effort will be the NJCRAC's newly established ad hoc committee on the causes and prevention of crime and violence.

Priority Strategic Goals

The Jewish community relations field should

• continue vigorous support of legislation on gun control, consistent with NJCRAC policy on gun and ammunition control, including legislation that would ban the manufacture, sale, possession and transfer of military-style assault weapons.