Title
Organizations Advocating Gun Control
Publication Date
2016
Document Type
Book Chapter
Abstract
This chapter examines organizations that favor gun control, focusing primarily on groups whose sole concern is gun control. Some groups that do not only advocate gun control do take positions on the topic. One example is the American Academy of Pediatrics, which is one of many organizations in the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV), an organization examined in this chapter. This chapter focuses primarily on national-level organizations, although it will consider several state-level groups. This is especially important because successful efforts at gun regulation are now occurring more frequently on the state level. The term 'gun control' runs the gamut from regulations aimed at making guns safer to imposing increased limits on gun purchases to outright banning, usually of handguns. Examining the major organizations favoring gun control can help in understanding the high level of gun violence in the United States. Many observers and scholars have argued that at least part of the explanation for such violence is our weak gun laws and that an important reason for the weakness of those laws is the relatively weak gun control movement in the United States.
Original Citation
Carrol, W.F. (2016). Organizations Advocating Gun Control. In G.H. Utter (Ed.), Guns and Contemporary Society: The Past, Present, and Future of Firearms and Firearm Policy (pp. 165-195). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.
Virtual Commons Citation
Carroll, Walter F. (2016). Organizations Advocating Gun Control. In Sociology Faculty Publications. Paper 29.
Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/sociology_fac/29