TransMUN Conference 2016 Committee Background Guide

Committee: United States Senate

Topic: Gun Violence and Regulations in United States
Chair: Tao Hsu
Deputy Chair: Christine Liu, Lucy Liu
Assisting Executive of Academics: Cyrus Chuang, How-Chen Wang
Supervisor (Director of Academics): Tony Hsu
Committee Overview
History
The United States Congress was officially convened in 1789, with its powers established in Article
One of the U.S. Constitution. To ensure representation in the newly established government after the
American Revolutionary War, the Constitutional Framers designed a legislature that would represent both the
people and the interests of the states. The bicameral structure of a House of Representatives and a Senate was
the result of the Great Compromise of 1787, which ended the debate over the New Jersey Plan and the
Virginia Plan. The House was created to represent the interests of the people and was based on proportional
representation, while the Senate represented the interests of the states and required equal representation from
each state.

Mandate & Functions

The United States Senate is a legislative chamber that partners with the House of Representatives in
passing laws. The Senate consists of 100 members. Every state, regardless of population, is granted two
senators. Senators serve six-year terms, and elections for one-third of the Senate occur every two years. The
Vice President is the president of the Senate, but only votes to break a tie. The real power in the Senate lies
with the Senate Majority Leader as he or she controls the legislative agenda and acts as a policy initiator. The
Committee System allows Members of the Senate to specialize in wide policy areas of expertise, including
agriculture, nutrition, forestry, appropriations, armed services, banking, housing, urban affairs, budget,
foreign relations, homeland security and governmental affairs.
Powers of Congress include collecting taxes, regulating foreign and domestic commerce, declaring
war, establishing lower federal courts, admitting new states to the Union, proposing amendments to the
Constitution, and enforcing protection and extension of civil rights. The unique powers of the Senate further
allow Senators to ratify international treaties negotiated by the president, judge impeachment cases, and
confirm judicial and executive branch appointments.

Objectives
Approximately 5,000 bills are introduced each year, with only 2.5 percent of these bills made into
law. Many interests can influence the passing of a bill. The Senate often struggles with compromise, making
legislative process lengthy and deliberate, thus often frustrating the public. In recent times, the U.S. Senate is
often led by the opposite party of the President. This has led to controversies and has weakened the influence
of Congress in general.

About the Topic

Statement of the Problem
Guns. Firearms killed 13,286 people and injured 26,819 in the U.S. in 2015. Among them, hundreds
of children under the age of 18 were shot or shot themselves by accident. Gun violence in the U.S. is
increasing alarmingly. It has killed significantly more people than terrorism, with 911 included. President
Obama has responded with frustration, "The one thing we do know is that we have a pattern now of mass
shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world."

Firearms per 100 People (2007)

Data Source: Small Arms Survey

One of the root causes of these tragedies is the proliferation of guns: the United States has the highest
homicide-by-firearm rate among the world's most developed nations. According to Small Arms Survey, the
United States, with only less than 5 percent of the world's population, has about 3550 percent of the world's
civilian-owned guns. US civilians own 310 million guns, approximately 90% of its citizens. It means nearly
one firearm for every man, woman and child.

Firearms Homicides per 100,000 People (2013)

Data Source: gunpolicy.org, University of Sydney
Credits: Jonathan Masters and Julia Ro

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However, efforts to regulate guns have led to problems of illicit trading. Prolific, easy to conceal, and
lethal, guns are a smugglers dream and a law enforcement nightmare. Black markets thrive from selling
illegal arms and weapons. Guns are stolen from government forces and looted from private owners. Illicit
trade of guns has risen in response as many guns are unregistered and sold to minors. In addition, due to the
advancement of technology, gun sales are increasingly moving online and into largely unregulated areas. The
effects of the 1968 Gun Control Act are no longer effective. The flow of these arms just can hardly be
stymied despite President Obamas delivered statements on gun violence 15 times during his presidency.
With the alarming rise of gun violence, debates on gun regulations in the Senate have escalated
recently even though gun control has always been a controversial issue. Many have argued for gun control as
the most effective solution to fewer casualties; on the other hand, opponents contend that guns are needed for
self-defense and the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the people's right to bear arms.

History
1791 Second Amendment ratified
1871 National Rifle Association founded
1934 National Firearms Act
1938 Federal Firearms Act
1939 Supreme Court upholds federal ban on sawed-off shotguns
1968 Gun Control Act
1972 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms created
1986 Law Enforcement Officers Protection Act ;
Firearms Owners Protection Act
1990 Crime Control Act
1993 Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act
1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act
1998 FBI launches National Instant Criminal Background Check System
2003 Taihrt Amendment
2004 Repeated efforts to renew the Assault Weapons Ban fails
2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act
2007 Seung-Hui Choi shoots 56 people at Virginia Tech
2008 District of Columbia v. Heller Second Amendment gives Americans right to possess firearms for
traditionally lawful purpose
2009 Jiverly Wong opens fire at an immigration center in Binghamton, New York, killing 13 and commits
suicide
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2011 Eduardo Sencion shoots 12 people at an IHOP restaurant in Carson City, NV

2012 President Obama vows to regulate guns ;
22-year-old Jacob Tyler Roberts kills 2 people and commits suicide
2013 President Obama proposes Sweeping Changes to Gun Control ;
Colorado Recalls Pro-Gun Control State Senators ;
12 killed and 3 injured at the Washington Navy Yard killing
2014 Deadly attack on the Isla Vista community kills 6 and wounds 7
2015 Shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church kills 9 ;
Shooting at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino kills 14

Major Bills Proposed and Major Players

Across the country, new gun legislation is being proposed at a steady pace. As the 2015 state
legislative sessions began, many states were focused on fixing the most dangerous loophole in federal
firearms law, which allowed unlicensed sellers to transfer firearms without conducting a background check.
Bills that would solve this problem were introduced in eleven states. However, none passed.
Surprisingly, in September 2015, beyond federal law, 18 states and Washington D.C. began to have
background check requirements. The following table summarizes these laws:

(FFL stands for Federal Firearms License)

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Moreover, one of the most active gun violence prevention approaches is to reduce the access of
firearms by domestic abusers and stalkers. A South Carolina bill that would prohibit domestic violence
misdemeanants and the subject of domestic violence protective orders from possessing firearms has passed
the Senate Committee. Also, a measure was made legal to allow a family, household member or law
enforcement to petition a court for an order preventing a dangerous person from acquiring or possessing
firearms.
On the other hand, the debate over whether arming teachers would make schools safer has raged since
the 1999 Columbine High School shooting. And in 2015, seven statesArkansas, Indiana, Montana, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginiahave introduced bills that would expand the ability to carry
firearms on the grounds of K12 schools (kindergarten to senior high school), as well as on the campuses of
universities.
In addition to campus carry, concealed carry in public also drew the Congress' attention. Twelve
statesColorado, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South
Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and West Virginiahave introduced measures that would allow concealed
carry of handguns in public without a license.

Policies and Solutions Proposed

Our shared humanity compels us to care about people dying from gun violence on the streets of
Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles and elsewhere.
This section provides:
An overview of the route that many firearms take from legal purchase in gun shops to illegal
purchase on the underground market.
Policy proposals to stop the trafficking of guns to people who would use them for harmful purposes
and to limit the civilian use of military-grade assault weapons, while protecting the Second Amendment
rights of hunters, sportsmen and others who use guns responsibly.

Making Connections
When you and your loved ones are not threatened by violence, it is possible to feel disconnected from
the people who are. It is easy to feel insulated from violence that affects others.
Yet were more connected than we realize, and laws in one area can have far-reaching effects in other
places. A tragic example of this is handgun trafficking in Pennsylvaniaa result of inadequate gun laws in
the state.
Case study: Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania is a favorite source of gun traffickers, according to a March 2008 story in The
Philadelphia Inquirer. Straw purchasespurchasing guns to give or sell to othersare exceptionally
easy in the state.
Thousands of guns originally purchased in Pennsylvania are used in crimes within the state, as well as
exported and used in crimes in surrounding states. In 2006, investigators traced 332 crime guns in New
Jersey and 461 in New York back to Pennsylvania gun shops.
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Pennsylvania is not alone. Other states, including Georgia, Ohio, Florida and Texas, maintain gun
sale policies that unintentionally promote illegal gun trafficking.
Enforcing current gun laws is also important. Approximately 40 percent of all guns connected with
crime nationwide originate at less than 1 percent of the 100,000 gun shops operating in the United States.
A gun violence prevention strategy that includes the introduction of smart laws to target straw
purchasers along with better enforcement of current anti-trafficking laws will make illegal weapons sales
more difficult, less profitable and less prevalent.
Straw purchases
The straw purchasing cycle is the most common way that guns are trafficked and sold to individuals
who are restricted from owning them. According to a 2000 report, nearly 50 percent of ATF (Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms) investigations involved firearms being smuggled by straw purchasers either directly
or indirectly.
Straw purchases explained:
1. Step 1. The straw purchaser, a person with no criminal record, legally buys a large number of
guns, usually handguns, from a gun shop.
2. Step 2. The straw purchaser sells the guns to an underground market dealer for a profit.
3. Step 3. The underground market dealer sells the guns to people who are unable to buy the
weapons legally. These guns are often used in crimes. Dirty guns are then often resold to
juveniles for as little as $50.
4. Step 4. When guns used in a crime are traced back to a straw purchaser, they claim the guns
were lost or stolen. In some states, this gets them off the hook and able to continue supplying
guns to the underground market.
Ultimately, states with lenient gun-purchasing laws, such as Pennsylvania, are directly connected to
the gun violence that occurs in other states. It also suggests that making small changes to block the straw
purchasing cycle could save hundredsor thousandsof lives each year.

Ending the cycle of gun violence

Ending gun violence requires effective policies to prevent straw purchasers from trafficking guns to
the underground market, gun purchasers from accessing guns without background checks, and assault
weapons and high-capacity magazines from being purchased and used for civilian use.
Policy I: Require that gun owners report lost or stolen firearms
Virtually every crime gun in the United States starts off as a legal firearm, writes Bradley A.
Buckles, former director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in Following the Gun. This means
that in almost every case, illegal guns used in crimes are transferred from someone who is constitutionally
entitled to possess firearms to someone who is not.
This transfer constitutes a federal felony, but straw purchasers can often avoid prosecution by
claiming that the guns they sold to underground dealers were lost or stolen.
An easy way to target straw dealers is to implement policies requiring legal gun owners to report lost
or stolen guns within 24 hours of discovery and hold them accountable if unreported guns are used in a crime.
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Because they would earn criminal convictions for selling their legally purchased guns to underground dealers,
straw purchasers would be unable to buy more guns in the future.
Lost or stolen laws do not place an undue burden on responsible gun owners who willingly report
the actual theft of their weapons. These laws do, however, remove the easiest excuse straw purchasers can
use to avoid prosecution for their crimes.
Policy II: Require universal background checks for gun sales
Once unlicensed dealers receive guns from straw purchasers, they can sell these guns without
requiring their customers records to be examined through the FBIs National Instant Criminal Background
Check System (NICS). These gun sales are often done in private marketplaces such as online sites, classified
advertisements and gun shows. While exact numbers are hard to come by, some have estimated that
unchecked gun purchases comprise approximately 40 percent of total gun sales in the United States.
Implementing universal background checks is an effective and nonintrusive way to make it more
likely that guns will not be accessible to people who would use them for harm. Since NICS started operating
in 1998, background checks have denied 2.1 million gun purchases that could have been used for violent
intent, 5 while allowing gun sales to people who wish to use them for hunting, sportsmanship or other
responsible purposes. A Gallup survey in 2013 showed that 91 percent of Americans support universal
background checks on gun sales.
Policy III: Reauthorizing and strengthening an assault weapons ban
In 1994, Congress nearly unanimously passed a 10-year ban on the civilian sale of military-grade
assault weapons in the United States. This law banned specific weapons, such as semi-automatic AK-47s,
Uzis and TEC-9s, as well as other rifles, handguns and shotguns that include two or more assault features
including bayonet mounts, grenade launchers and pistol grips for non-pistols. The law expired in 2004 and
has not been reinstated.
While assault weapons and high-capacity magazines are not used extensively in crimes involving
firearms, cases that involved these firearms and elements are much more fatal.
Furthermore, although the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban was a step to reduce gun violence,
many critics have argued that it still allowed many loopholes. For instance, military-grade assault weapons
could still be sold as long as they had undergone cosmetic changes to exempt these weapons out of the
assault weapons category. Assault weapons produced prior to the enactment of the law also continued to be
sold to the public. Thus, not only should the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban be reauthorized, but the law needs to
be expanded.
In 2013 federal lawmakers proposed to reauthorize and strengthen the expired assault weapons ban
and to limit ammunition magazines to 10 rounds, but these proposals failed to pass in Congress.

Other Gun Violence Prevention Laws

Gun violence in the U.S. is a huge problem with many factors contributing to the deadly cycle. Some
people have argued that more funding is needed for mental health services. Such funding is important and
necessary and should be provided in conjunction with comprehensive gun safety laws.

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Limit handgun sales to one per month

Handguns make their way to the underground market when straw purchasers legally buy guns and
illegally sell them to underground dealers. However, this system is only profitable when straw purchasers sell
large numbers of guns at a time. Because few people need to buy more than 12 handguns per year, a one
handgun per month policy would be a nonintrusive way to limit the flow of guns to the underground market.
As of 2013, three states (California, Maryland and New Jersey) and the District of Columbia have active
one handgun per month laws.
Local handgun bans
Some localities have passed various bans on handguns. As noted in the introductory section of this
guide, the Supreme Court has ruled blanket handgun bans unconstitutional. The Court has not ruled, however,
on whether it is legal for cities to ban specific classes of handguns such as semi-automatic pistols, which can
often fire 15 or more rounds in a matter of seconds.
Gun show loophole
Unlicensed, person-to-person sales of firearms are allowed at gun shows in approximately half of the
states in the U.S. These sales do not require the buyer to undergo a background check. Thus, it is possible in
some states for individuals restricted from purchasing and possessing firearms to illegally acquire guns they
would be unable to purchase from licensed gun shops.
Call to Action
By enacting and enforcing practical laws that target the transfer of legal guns to the underground
market, U.S. elected officials could make a sizeable impact in the number of gun violence deaths that occur
each year. But politicians rarely act unless they feel that they have their constituents support, or are prodded
by their constituents complaints.

Questions to be Answered
Facts you should know:
What are the federal gun laws currently, what ideology does it based on?
What are the gun laws in your home state?
What is the position on gun control your political party stands?
What position do you hold in your political party, and in the congress?
What past actions you took and speeches you gave concerning gun control?
Which states have the highest and lowest gun homicide rates?
How do gun laws differ in states like California and Arizona?
Where is it legal for adults to carry concealed weapons?
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 What does the federal background check loophole refer to?

How do gun ownership rates in America compare to other nations?
Which states have the strictest/loosest gun laws?
On what grounds did the U.S. Supreme Court strike down Washington D.C.s handgun ban?

Guiding Questions:
Are rules and guidelines that were created over 200 years ago still applicable today?
When a greater number of people in our society own guns, are we a safer or more at risk?
Should the federal government be able to dictate gun laws in individual states?
How accurate is the statement: The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.?
If stricter gun law isnt the way to go, what might be the answer to gun violence in U.S.?
What kind of compromise we have to make to come to consent between all the factions?

For Further Study

1. http://smartgunlaws.org/
2. http://concealedguns.procon.org/
3. https://www.congress.gov
4. http://csgv.org/
5. https://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/preventing-gun-violence
6. http://www.gunpolicy.org/
7. https://www.nationalgunrights.org/
8. https://www.gunowners.org/
9. http://www.nytimes.com/topic/subject/guns-and-gun-control
10. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/issues/guns/
11. https://home.nra.org/

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Delegate Assignments
The Committee, United States Senate's Position Paper may include:
1) A brief intro of the issue;
2) Past national actions and how the state has responded or reacted to them;
3) How the issue affects your states interest;
4) Actions taken by your state government with regard to the issue;
5) Bills that your state have passed or ratified;
6) How the delegate wishes to solve the issue.
Length: 1~2 page(s) at least
Language: English
Font: Times New Roman
Size: 12
Deadline for Delegates' Position Paper: 7/19 (Wed.) 23:59:59
Please hand in your assignments via the DAIS Teams E-mails:
joshua89122@gmail.com / christineliu1234@gmail.com / itslucyliu@gmail.com

Bibliography
"Congress.Gov." Congress.Gov. USA.gov, n.d. Web. 11 May 2016.
<https://www.congress.gov/>.

NPR research, and Associated Press. "U.S. Gun Laws: A History." npr. 2016 npr,
26 June 2008. Web. 11 May 2016. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/
story.php?storyId=91942478>.

"A Timeline of Mass Shootings in the US since Columbine." Thinkprogress.

Center For American Progress Action Fund, n.d. Web. 11 May 2016.
<http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/12/14/1337221/
a-timeline-of-mass-shootings-in-the-us-since-columbine/>.

Masters, Jonathan. "U.S. Gun Policy: Global Comparisons." CFR Backgrounders.

Council on Foreign Relations, 12 Jan. 2016. Web. 11 May 2016.
<http://www.cfr.org/society-and-culture/us-gun-policy-global-comparisons/
p29735>.

Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence http://smartgunlaws.org/

"Gun Show Loophole" from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_show_loophole

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Center for American Progress https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/civilliberties/report/2013/05/09/60705/preventing-domestic-abusers-and-stalkers-from-accessing-guns/

US News http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/02/04/states-renew-push-for-guns-in-k-12-schools

A Favorite Source of Gun Traffickers, The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 23, 2008.

A small number of gun shops account for a large number of weapons used in crimes, The Associated Press,
July 12, 2007.

Following the Gun: Enforcing Federal Laws against Firearms Traffickers, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms, June 2000.

Guns in America: National Survey on Private Ownership and Use of Firearms, National Institute of Justice,
May 1997.

Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2010: Statistical Tables, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Department
of Justice.

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