Right: An advertisement for the Bushmaster semi-automatic rifle, the weapon used to murder teachers and children at Sandy Hook school. A similar weapon was used by the Orlando nightclub killer.
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Background information
Much of the information found below has been abbreviated from a Wikipedia entry titled 'Gun law in the United States'. The full text can be accessed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_law_in_the_United_States
United States gun laws
Gun laws are found in a number of United States federal statutes. These laws regulate the manufacture, trade, possession, transfer, record keeping, transport, and destruction of firearms, ammunition, and firearms accessories. They are enforced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
The right to keep and bear arms is protected by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Second Amendment
In the United States the right to keep and bear arms is protected by the Second Amendment to the Constitution. While there have been vigorous debates on the nature of this right, there was a lack of clear federal court rulings defining the right until two relatively recent United States Supreme Court cases.
An individual right to own a gun for personal use was affirmed in the landmark District of Columbia v. Heller decision in 2008, which overturned a handgun ban in the Federal District of Columbia. In the Heller decision, the court's majority opinion said that the Second Amendment protects 'the right of law-abiding, responsible citizens to use arms in defense of hearth and home.'
However, in delivering the majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote on the Second Amendment not being an unlimited right: 'Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose: For example, concealed weapons prohibitions have been upheld under the Amendment or state analogues. The Court's opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.'
The four dissenting justices argued that the majority had broken prior precedent on the Second Amendment, and took the position that the Amendment refers to an individual right, but in the context of militia service.
In the McDonald v. City of Chicago decision in 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that, because of the incorporation of the Bill of Rights, the guarantee of an individual right to bear arms applies to state and local gun control laws and not just federal laws.
The Supreme Court has not ruled on whether or not the Second Amendment protects the right to carry guns in public for self defense.
Federal appeals courts have issued conflicting rulings on this point. For example, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled in 2012 that it does, saying, "The Supreme Court has decided that the amendment confers a right to bear arms for self-defense, which is as important outside the home as inside."[13] But the Tenth Circuit Court ruled in 2013 that it does not, saying, "In light of our nation's extensive practice of restricting citizen's freedom to carry firearms in a concealed manner, we hold that this activity does not fall within the scope of the Second Amendment's protections." More recently, the Ninth Circuit Court ruled in its 2016 decision Peruta v. San Diego County that the Second Amendment does not guarantee the right of gun owners to carry concealed weapons in public.
Eligible persons
The following persons are eligible to possess and own firearms within the United States:
a. US citizens
b. permanent resident aliens
c. non-immigrant aliens admitted into the United States for lawful hunting or sporting purposes or if the non-immigrant alien falls under one of the following exceptions:
i. possesses a valid hunting license or permit issued by any US state
ii. an official representative of a foreign government who is accredited to the United States Government or the Government's mission to an international organization having its headquarters in the United States or is en route to or from another country to which that alien is accredited
iii. an official of a foreign government or a distinguished foreign visitor who has been so designated by the Department of State
iv. a foreign law enforcement officer of a friendly foreign government entering the United States on official law enforcement business has received a waiver from the Attorney General as long as the waiver petition shows this would be in the interests of justice and would not jeopardize the public safety under 18 U.S. Code õ 922(y)(3)(c)
Deadliest mass shootings in the United States between 1982 and 2016
(The data shown below has been extracted from the Mother Jones Internet site. Mother Jones is a United States-based, non-profit news organisation which features independent, investigative reporting. The report from which this information has been drawn can be accessed at http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-mother-jones-full-data)
Please note, we have included only those shootings which resulted in ten or more deaths.
In 2010, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 67% of all homicides in the U.S. were conducted using a firearm. In this year alone there were 30,470 firearm-related deaths. 30,000 is approximately the number of people who die annually in the United States through misuse of firearms.
June 12, 2016: Orlando nightclub massacre, Orlando, Florida; 49 killed, 53 injured
Dec 2, 2015: San Bernardino mass shooting, San Bernardino, California; 14 killed, 21 injured
Sept 16, 2013: Washington Navy Yard shooting, Washington, D.C. ; 12 killed, 8 injured
Dec 14, 2012: Newtown school shooting (Sandy Hook Elementary School), Newtown, Connecticut; 28 killed, 2 injured
July 20, 2012: Aurora theater shooting, Aurora, Colorado;12 killed, 58 injured
Nov 5, 2009: Fort Hood massacre, Fort Hood, Texas; 13 killed, 30 injured
April 3, 2009: Binghamton shootings , Binghamton, New York; 14 killed, 4 injured
April 16, 2007: Blacksburg, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg Virginia; 33 killed, 23 injured
March 21, 2005: Red Lake Senior High School, Minnesota, Red Lake, Minnesota; 10 killed, 5 injured
April 20, 1999: Columbine High School, Littleton, Colorado; 13 killed, 24 injured
Oct 16, 1991: Luby's cafeteria, Killeen, Texas; 24 killed, 20 injured
Aug 20 1986: United States Postal Service shooting , Edmond, Oklahoma; 15 killed, 6 injured
July 18, 1984: San Ysidro McDonald's massacre, San Ysidro, California; 22 killed, 19 injured
Terrorist watch lists in the United States
(The information given below on the construction of the various terrorist watch lists in the United States has been drawn from a June 14, 2016 report published in The Daily Signal.
The full text can be accessed at http://dailysignal.com/2016/06/14/the-terrorist-watchlist-explained/)
The Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB) is the official name for the main United States terrorist watch list; it is maintained by the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center. The terrorist watch list is the central United States' repository of known and suspected terrorists, both foreign and domestic.
The list receives names of suspected international terrorists from the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, maintained by the National Counterterrorism Center in connection with the United States intelligence community and security agencies that have information on terrorists. It also receives data on domestic terrorists from the FBI.
The terrorist watch list includes only information used to identify terrorists. The database itself does not include classified information on terrorists regarding what they have done and how they have been tracked.
From the Terrorism Screening Database, or terrorist watch list, more specific lists are created for different purposes. For example, the no-fly list and the selectee list are used to prevent individuals from traveling or to subject them to greater scrutiny. For an individual to be included on the no-fly list or selectee list, additional evidence of his threat to aviation security and clear identifying information is needed above and beyond the standard of reasonable suspicion.
Another list extracted from the terrorist watch list is the Known and Suspected Terrorist File, or KST file. For someone to be included in the KST file, clear identifying information is needed.
Terrorist watch lists and the right to buy firearms
The National Instant Criminal Background Check System, used to check firearm purchases, draws on the KST file. Inclusion in the file does not itself prevent a gun purchase, but flags the purchase for further review.
Currently, the individual is allowed to purchase a firearm so long as he is not a felon, adjudicated to be mentally ill, a fugitive from justice, an illegal immigrant, or prohibited from making gun purchases for another statutory reason.