Background and Significance Even though there are recent tragedies that happened in the country that resulted on many fatal injuries due to gun violence, gun laws are basically remains unchanged. One of recent gun law that was passed was The Brady Handgun Violence Act that was signed by President Bill Clinton in 1993 that allowed a waiting period for criminal background check that dealers must perform before selling a handgun. However, an amendment was added to this bill which replaced the waiting period with National Instant Criminal Background Check System by licenses (Vizzard, 2015). The following year, The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act became law. This law allowed ban on guns that is considered as assault weapons. However, the law has an expiration which was in 2004 and the Congress failed to renew the law (Vizzard, 2015). On state level, local law enforcement offices in many states are allowed to issue gun permit and concealed carry permit at their own discretion. However, it varies from state to state. Some states like …show more content…
A decrease in incidence of gun-related violence has also decreased in the US during the time when the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act was in effect. There are two arguments dominating the gun control issue. The anti-gun control people believes that the problem is with the people not with the guns and imposing heavier sanctions, harsher punishments on criminals, and more armed guards should solve the problem of gun violence. On the other hand, the pro-gun control people argues that the easy accessibility of firearms directly correlates gun-related violence and mass shooting (Lemieux, 2014). Both arguments have its merits, but in dealing with the gun control issue, it is important to put ethics and public health implications into consideration (Boylan,