The Concealed Gun
Introduction
The carrying of the concealed gun poses the sphere of the interest for the contemporary society in the United States of America. In 2015 several units of the USA were requested to consider the controversial proposals which may provide the legal framework for the concealed carrying of the guns in the college campuses and in the other educational facilities. Despite the importance of the issue, the laws have not been adopted by the Congress so that this issue is submitted for the consideration today. With that, the concealed carry should be understood as the practice of the holding the weapons in the public places in the hidden manner from the rest of the individuals. It should be said the the current legislation of the USA cover the limited types of the weapons that may be carried in the concealed manner. In addition, certain types of the weapons are not lethal so that they carrying is allowed.
Given the importance of the question to the contemporary society, the paper dwells on the causes for the extension of the list of the weapons that may be carried in the concealed manner by the individuals. Moreover, the consequences of the concealed gun are assessed as they may pose the risk to the safety of the individual and the welfare of the society. In addition, the paper contains the comparative analysis between the legislation of the units in the United States of America and its impact over the exposure to the aggressive actions by the individuals in the ordinary living.
Overview of the Legislation in the USA on the Concealed Gun
The concealed gun is allowed by the current legislation of the United States of America approximately within the different units of the country. According to the statistic given by the experts, up to thirty-three states within the country have the legislation that establishes the obligation for the state authority to provide the individual with the official permit or license which enables the concealed carry. At the same time, there are particular limitations imposed over the issuing of the concealed gun to everyone. According to the current legislation, the state authority should investigate the mental illness of the person and evaluate the reasons for the request preceding the receipt of the license. By virtue of these actions, the leadership of the country tries to prevent the unlimited spread of the licenses for the concealed gun within the country in order to shave the control over the population and the exposure to the criminal behavior and aggressive actions. Therefore, the majority of the experts can not reach the consensus today as to the effect of the concealed gun over the welfare of the society. Some people believe that the impact of the approval of the numerous licenses for the concealed carry may take the for of the harmful consequences, while the others stand to the point that the effect of this carry is the detrimental. Thus, it is not easy to evaluate all the effects of the concealed carry while the consensus can not be reached. Among the causes of the approval of the new legislation establishing the framework for the concealed carry, the experts are afraid that it may force the people to purchase the guns without the further authorization from the state authorities (Carter & Binder, 2016).
Today the new tendency is spreading within the country as to the relaxation of the restriction on the carry of the concealed guns. Accordingly, the entire amount of the units is divided into two groups: “no-issue” category and “may-issue”. The first group of the units establishes that legislation that do not provide any legal reasons for the carrying of the concealed guns in public places. The second type of the legislation refers to the latest group of the countries which request the persons to present the evidence on the existence of the specific reason for the receipt of the permit and authorization from the state authorities. Among the legal reasons, the state authorities define the self-defense. However, this ground is no favored by the justice organs as the person does not usually provide the evidence of the existing threat to this life in order to rely on the self-defense clause. Moreover, the new category of the legislation regarding the concealed gun is developing. It is called the “shall-issue group”. According to this approach, the overall amount of the applications for the receipt of the approval should be satisfied by the state authorities only in case the defines requirements are met by the person (Lew & Kleiner, 2002).
The available classification of the states as to the granting of the permission lead to the existence of the ambiguity in the interpretation of the reasons for the submission of the applications. Accordingly, several states are now reconsidering the current legislation as to the concealed law in order to approve the unrestricted legal acts. For example, in April 2015, Kansas took the decision to choose the unrestricted approach.
The followers of the concealed gun believe that the caring of it may provide the individual with the particular opporunity to deter the crime and criminal behavior. At the same time the opponents of this approach believe that the overwhelming presence of the guns in the society will not influence positively the justice systems as well. Besides the statistic collected within the country in the different regions shows that the level of the criminal actions has been decreased in such units as Alaska, Arizona upon the adoption of the legislation favouring the concealed guns carry. In fact, the other factors may influence the reduction of the criminal behaviour in the state regardless of the policy towards the shall-use approach of the concealed fact. However the facts are reliable and the followers of the favoring approach may rely on them. In addition, it is highly important to note the findings of the Crime Prevention Research Center. The center provided the assessment of the connection between the exposure to the violent and aggressive actions within the society to the approach of the leadership for the allowance of the concealed gun carry. In fact, the outcome of the survey shows that regardless of the increase of the approvals and authotizations for the concealed gun, the crimes have been reduced (Elaad, 2011).
In contrast, the International Association of Chiefs of Police expressed the clear opposition to the facilitation of the adoption of the concealed guns legislation. The representatives of the police department state the law enforcement agencies will face the prroblem with the identification of the criminals due to the fact that a huge amount of the people gains the opportunity to have the concealed gun with the purpose to protect the life of the individual. Accordingly, the attitude of the officers to the concealed gun legislation differs. For example, the line officers which are responsible for the maintenance the order in the streets believe that the increase of the amount of the approvals will lead to the additional risks to the society. At the same time, the people performing the funcitons as the chiefs of the departments present the desire to extend the legislation favouring the concealed gun carry as thay do not see any reasonable grounds which may undermine the desire of the state authorities to adopt the following legislation (Wintemute, 2007). Moreover, the police officers as the key enforcement agencies linked to the criminals and the offenders state that only properly educated individuals should gain the right to obtain the guns. Besides, there is an opinion that the increase of the entire amount of the approvals will form the basis for the appearance of the armed conflict between the different classes of the society. Given the fact that the criminal justice system evidences about the high level of the racial discrimination and disparity, this threat is seemed to be real. Moreover, it is approximately impossible to predict the behaviour of the person that may use the gun in any time. The additional survey conducted by the police departments within the country shows that the individual is exposed to the higher percent to the criminal behaviour in case this individual is carrying the gun (Kovandzic & Marvell, n.d.).
Consequently, there are a lot of concerns regarding the actions pertaining to the misrepresentation in the submission of the information to the state authorities with the purpose to obtain the apporal for the concealed gun carry. Therefore, certain portion of the individuals present the untruthful information to the state authorities about the existence of the particular threat to the life, property in order to obtain the right to carry the concealed gun in the legal way. Therefore, there are still no reliable instruments that may provide the representatives of the law enforcement agencies with the opportunity to identify the reliability of the information submitted by the applicant. Moreover, there are not enough financial and human resources in order to the polic officer or the representative of the granting authority may check the information submitted by the applicant. Thus, this flaw should be reconsidered and improve in order to remove the threat related to the granting of the authorization for the carry of the concealed gun (McElroy & Wang, n.d.).
The majority of the units maintain the legislation allowing the concealed gun carry, while Wisconsin stays aside from this policy. The main concern of the people within this territory in addition to the position of the legislators is surrounded about the potential public health risk related to the injury within the youth and other several vulnerable categories of the society. With that, the state authorities in this unit believe that the adoption of the conceal legislation may lead to the overloading with the handguns in the risky environment. Therefore, the society faces the necessity to decide upon two important issues:
What guns should be covered by the concealed and carry legislation in order to prevent the detrimental harm to the human life;
The examination of the safety of the covered guns should be provided (Mialon & Wiseman, 2005).
The last question is quite significant for the consideration of the guns falling within the scope of the concealed legal act due to the fact that certain level of the legislation in the other states have adopted the approach according to which the producers of the guns are not obliged to bear the responsibility for the design negligence and flaws. In this regard, the legislators have the aim to conduct the additional assessment of the safety of the particular type of the weapons. At the same time, the opponents to the concealed gun policy state that all risks should be taken into account. For example, there is no understanding as to the actions and the prosecution against the person whose gun under the authorization was stolen by any third person. In this regard, it is highly important to identify the legal consequences for this person and the share of the responsibility between the applicant having the authorization and the third party. Moreover, the majority of the experts emphasize on the necessity for the several experts covering the representatives of the law enforcement agencies, politicians, police officers, scientists to enter the cooperation in order to elaborate the efficient policy towards the concealed gun carry so that to prevent the risks to the public health (Ludwig, 1998).
The society is divided approximately into the equal shares as to the gun policy. Besides, approximately about 35% of the households have at least one gun for the reason of the self-defense. In general, it should be said that the United States represents the solely example of the country with the high rates of the crimes and the gun ownership. Besides, it is not reasonable to link the concealed gun legislation to the levels of the crimes within the country. Despite the evident negative consequences of this policy, there are certain benefits as well. For example, the individual may prevent the criminal behaviour towards his property by presenting the gun to the offender. Moreover, the possession of the gun may only disrupt the proper behaviour of the person (Koper & Mayo-Wilson, 2006).
Approximately within entire territory of the United States of America, any individual can purchase the handgun or any other type of the guns in the legal manner. Besides, the exceptions guiding the prohibition to buy the gun extends to the following feaatures:
Individual which is subject of the indictment;
The person has been accused of any felony conviction or acts falling within the scope of the domestic violence;
Illegal immigrants;
People having the mental illness or the similar mental disorders (Hope, 2015).
In general these restrictions are similar, but the state regardless of the federal legislation has the power to introduce local act with the following requirements as to the purchase of the guns. In order to provide the purchase, the person having the intend to obtain the gun should provide the dealer with the identification card and relevant completed form which presents the evidence as to whether this person is eligible for this transaction. Besides, some state impose the obligation over the dealers to request the buyer provide the criminal-record check so that to confirm the truthfulness of the words and status. Moreover, in accordance with BRady Handgun Violence Prevention Act this obligation has the binding force since 1998 in relation to the particular types of the guns ad the handgun (Ghent & Grant, 2014).
The another concern related to the concealed gun policy and the subsequent owenrship relates to the imrpvement of the safety of the life of the individual and his property upon the purchase of the gun. Some surveys show that having the gun in the household leads to the increase of the level of the homicide victimization. Besides, this behaviour is not common for all people having the concealed gun, while the additional features should be seen in the behaviour of the person as the exposure to the alcohol, drug use, etc. Meanwhile, some surveys present the evidence to the link between the increase of the gun prevalance wihin the country and the criminal rate. With the spread of the gun ownership in the society up to 10%, the homicide rate in this region may raise up to 2%. This statement shows that the entire ownership of the guns does not influence directly the increase of the criminal activity which is caused by numerous other factors. Besides, the seriuous risk to the life of the individual should be discussed upon the usage of the gun leading to the deadly force for the self-defense. Despite the fact that the majority of the actions can be justified with the self-defense, there are numerous other effects and issues which should be addressed by the individual having the concealed gun:
Gun fight surviving
Overcoming the criminal justice system
Resolution of the consequences under the civil justice system (Gau, 2008).
With regard to the first issue, any person having the concealed gun is imposed with the responsibility to take care over the gun carried in order to prevent its disapperance by any means. Moreover, the person should improve the skills on the shooting so that to prevent the disastrous consequences in case the firearm will be needed. Besides, there are several schools providin the special training for the person with the concealed gun. This fact resembles the desire of the state to maintain the existence of the concealed gun legislation without its strict restriction (Unnithan, Pogrebin, Stretesky & Venor, 2008).
With regard to the general overview of the concealed carry legislation, it is necessary to state that today 50 units of the USA provide the legal framework for this carry. Moreover, 5 states allow for the individuals to carry the gun in terms of the «constitutional carry» without the special permit given on behalf of the state authorities. At the same time, 40 states take the shall-use approach. In this respect, the person should satisfy the requirements and conditions met in order to receive the authorization. Besides, 9 states in the USA follow the may-use direction according to which the state has the freedom of choice in the provision of the approval to the person. Under this approach one should understand that the state may decided with regard to the particular circumstances as to whether the request of the individual should be satisfied or not regardless of the fact that the person may meet the established criteria. The common practice within the states with the shall-use approach evidences about the next stages of the receipt of the approval and eligible requirements:
Appropriate age
Residency within the United States of America
Reliable criminal history of the behaviour of the individual
Ability to possess the firearm
Confirmation of the training as to the usage of the guns in addition to the fact that the person is aware of the legal consequences of the deadly force upon the usage of the guns without any legal and reasonable reasons
Evidence about the firearms proficiency (Cramer, n.d.).
Consequently it should be said that there are place in the society where the concealed carry is not allowed in accordance with the federal or local legislation of the unit. The places where this act is prohibited extend to the premises of the court institutions, police stations, schools, airports. However, regardless of the fact that the society supports the absence of the concealed gun in the educational facilities, Texas follows the another approach and has adopted the legislation allowing to carry the gun in the campuses. This policy was taken with the purpose to improve the safety of the children which are subject of the attacks. Moreover, the level of the criminal activity in this uni forces the state authorities to consider the apporpriate measures that may assist in the protection of the life and health of the individuals. Therefore, the approval of new concealed gun policy is regarded by the government of the unit as the positive and beneficial approach which may assist to the society (Romero, 2003).
Conclusion
The overview of the current legal framework guding the concealed gun carry presents the evidence in the difference among the approaches of he units to the carry of the concealed gun. Besides, the current situation in the criminal justice system contains no evidence that the increase of the approvals for the carry of the guns within the country is linked to crime rates. Given the fact that the United States of America is the friendliest country that favours the concealed gun, the established limits should be met by the population. Under this statement, one should understand that the usage of the concealed gun should be based on the legal and reasonable grounds. Moreover, the state authorities should monitor the situation with the issuing of the approvals to the citizens as the absence of the surveillance will lead to the fact that the society will treat the concealed gun carry as the ordinary practice which does not require the attention of the police officers and other representatives of the law enforcement agencies. Beyond the impact of the increase of the concealed gun over the homicides in the households, there are no evident negative consequences appeared upon the adoption of this policy. At the same time, given the other problems within the criminal justice system, the maintenance of the concealed gun legislation is seen as the option provided by the state authorities to the society with the purpose to address the actions of the criminal offenders. Moreover, it is seen that the concealed gun may-use approach among the other types of the treatment of the state authorities benefit the welfare of the society as they gain the instrument for the appropriate self-defense. In this regard, the state should monitor the cases relating to the usage of the concealed gun. If the particular limits are overcomed or ignored by the individuals, then the concealed gun policy will require the consequent amendment.
References
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