Gun control advocates believe that tighter government restrictions on guns will help curb gun violence in America. While some are not arguing for a gun ban, they do believe in stronger laws.
Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly created the group Americans for Responsible Solutions in the wake of a 2011 incident in which Giffords was shot in the head and six other people were killed.
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Giffords and Kelly say they are gun owners and do not support a gun ban. They support current gun laws and the Second Amendment but are concerned about loopholes in Federal laws. Federal laws that restrict the purchase of guns from licensed dealers for mentally ill people, criminals and others are not applicable between “private sellers” such as those that exchange hands at gun shows. They say 40 percent of gun exchanges in this country happen during these kinds of “private sales.”
Americans for Responsible Solutions also notes that the National Instant Criminal Background Check System is not as good as it could be, as it often misses “millions of relevant records” due to the problems of reporting and tracking people who should be in the system.
Another gun Control group is the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, which opposes the 40 percent of unregulated gun sales in this country. The group, which has been around since 1974, is a partnership of organizations which advocate for political change around gun ban topics. It is vocal against the National Rifle Association’s efforts to protect gun rights, claiming the group has an “insurrectionist ideology.”
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The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence advocates against the growing legalization of conceal carry. They point to problems in the screening process for people who have conceal carry licenses and a number of criminal acts by people who legally had handguns and conceal carry permits. The group fights against a growing push for guns to be allowed in an increasing number of public places.
The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence calls their work a pushes for “smart gun laws," rather than an overall ban. The group helps governments put together laws that will withstand constitutional scrutiny. The group provides the data to “bolster the arguments in favor of strong gun laws.”
The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence started in California in the wake of a 1993 shooting that left eight people dead. Members of the group began advocating in California for stronger gun laws and then began to advocate on a national level. Currently, the group has worked on helping local governments legally defend their gun ban regulations in the wake of the Heller V District of Columbia 2008 Supreme Court decision that upheld a provision for self-defense as a part of Americans' right to bear arms. The group tracks state-to-state laws as they have changed in the wake of this decision, particularly those that have increased gun freedoms with legalizing conceal and carry as well as the lifting of other gun ban laws. The group believes that laws are the answer to reducing gun violence.
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