Would banning firearms reduce murder and suicide? A review of international evidence

The world abounds in instruments with which people can kill each other. Is the widespread availability of one of these instruments, firearms, a crucial determinant of the incidence of murder? Or do patterns of murder and/or violent crime reflect basic socio-economic and/or cultural factors to which the mere availability of one particular form of weaponry is irrelevant? This article examines a broad range of international data that bear on the question whether widespread firearm access is an important contributing factor in murder and/or suicide. Our conclusion from the available data is that suicide, murder and violent crime rates are determined by basic social, economic and/or cultural factors with the availability of any particular one of the world's myriad deadly instrument being irrelevant

Handgun Prohibition and the Original Meaning of the Second Amendment

One of the purposes of this Article will be to sketch out at least some of the very substantial limitations on the right of individuals to keep and bear arms suggested by the historical evidence. First, however, the controversy between the individual right and the exclusively state\u27s right views must be resolved. The evidence to be examined must include: the literal language of the second amendment; the history of its proposal and ratification; the philosophical and historical background that gave rise to the Founders\u27 belief in the necessity of an armed populace to effect popular sovereignty ; and the contemporary understanding of the second amendment. This Article will then consider the amendment\u27s subsequent judicial interpretation, and the question of its incorporation against the states, before returning to constitutional limitations on the right to keep and bear arms

Local Gun Bans in California:A Futile Exercise

This Article examines the authority of California local governments to license firearms possession-i.e., the authority to permit or deny the possession of firearms and/or ammunition within a locality\u27s geographical limits. As such, the relevant case law makes clear that local governments may not ban handguns and other firearms that state law does not forbid the law-abiding adult citizenry from possessing

Of Holocausts and Gun Control

This Article seeks to reclaim a serious argument from the lunatic fringe. We argue a connection exists between the restrictiveness of a country\u27s civilian weapons policy and its liability to commit genocide upon its own people. This notion has received a good deal of disdainful public attention over the past several years because of the Oklahoma City bombing, the Republic of Texas siege, and the inflamed subculture from which the defendants in those incidents emerged. We argue that there is a great deal more to weapons policy than some sort of cost-benefit calculation of firearms\u27 crime control benefits versus public health costs. The larger point, that no one who has lived through the greater part of the twentieth century may conscientiously disregard, is that sometimes people in power behave like Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, or Mao Zedong rather than like President Clinton. Of course public policy must acknowledge that exceptional brutality is indeed exceptional rather than commonplace. But it is senseless to pretend that what has happened many times before cannot possibly happen again. Sound policy makes allowances for even remote contingencies when they are grave enough, and denies opportunity to predators whenever it can

Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in 22q11 Deletion Syndrome

OBJECTIVE: People with velo-cardio-facial syndrome or 22q11 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) have behavioral, cognitive and psychiatric problems. Approximately 30% of affected individuals develop schizophrenia-like psychosis. Glutamate dysfunction is thought to play a crucial role in schizophrenia. However, it is unknown if and how the glutamate system is altered in 22q11DS. People with 22q11DS are vulnerable for haploinsufficiency of PRODH, a gene that codes for an enzyme converting proline into glutamate. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that glutamatergic abnormalities may be present in 22q11DS. METHOD: We employed proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) to quantify glutamate and other neurometabolites in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and hippocampus of 22 adults with 22q11DS (22q11DS SCZ+) and without (22q11DS SCZ-) schizophrenia and 23 age-matched healthy controls. Also, plasma proline levels were determined in the 22q11DS group. RESULTS: We found significantly increased concentrations of glutamate and myo-inositol in the hippocampal region of 22q11DS SCZ+ compared to 22q11DS SCZ-. There were no significant differences in levels of plasma proline between 22q11DS SCZ+ and 22q11DS SCZ-. There was no relationship between plasma proline and cerebral glutamate in 22q11DS. CONCLUSION: This is the first in vivo(1)H-MRS study in 22q11DS. Our results suggest vulnerability of the hippocampus in the psychopathology of 22q11DS SCZ+. Altered hippocampal glutamate and myo-inositol metabolism may partially explain the psychotic symptoms and cognitive impairments seen in this group of patients