Online: Web Site Provides Information on Gun Control Issues

If you need to research gun control issues, check out The Violence Policy Center (VPC) at www.vpc.org. The VPC, based in Washington, DC, is a national nonprofit educational foundation that conducts research on violence in America and works to develop violence-reduction policies and proposals. The VPC examines the role of firearms in America, conducts research on firearms violence, and explores new ways to decrease firearm-related deaths and injuries. As a gun control think tank, the VPC analyzes a wide range of current firearm issues and provides information to policymakers, journalists, public health professionals, grassroots activists, and members of the general public.

Each year, the VPC releases between 15 and 20 fact-based studies on a full range of gun violence issues. The VPC works with national, state, and local advocacy organizations representing affected constituencies ' such as women, children, minorities, consumers, and public health practitioners ' to keep neighborhoods, homes, schools, and workplaces safe from gun violence.

The home page of the site contains links to the recent relevant news items, eg, a fact sheet on the Ominibus Spending Bill, which the VPC opposed on the grounds that it would enable criminals to obtain guns more easily; and a description of a recent federal district court case, Seegars v. Ashcroft, in which the court upheld a ban on handguns in Washington, DC. The judge rejected a challenge to the ban on Second Amendment grounds. There is a link to the decision and an amicus brief filed by the VCP.

The site index directs you to press releases, fact sheets and studies on many topics, such as assault weapons, the elderly and firearms violence, gun shows, Saturday night specials, pro-gun special interests, and gun violence. The topic “Firearm Violence,” for example, directs the reader to press releases and studies on events involving gun violence. One of the studies, “'Officer Down' ' Assault Weapons and the War on Law Enforcement,” illustrates the threat of assault weapons to law enforcement officers throughout the United States. The 26-page study reveals that at least 41 of the 211 law enforcement officers slain in the line of duty between Jan. 1, 1998, and Dec. 31, 2001, were killed with assault weapons. If you click on “Federal Policy Issues,” you will be able to access federal legislation to regulate the gun industry and several fact sheets, such as those titled “An Agenda for Real Gun Control,” “Criminal Use of the 50 Caliber Sniper Rifle,” and “Handgun Ban Backgrounder.”

If you want to know about firearm laws, there is a link to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' publication that provides each state's laws on firearms. The link to press releases contains a chronological list and press releases from 1992 through 2004.

A Jan. 20, 2004 press release concerned the VPC's praise of the Senate's rejection of an Omnibus Spending Conference Report that the VPC described as “Loaded with Provisions That Would Arm Criminals, Protect Corrupt Gun Dealers.” There is a link to order any of the VPC's publications, as well as other links that include: Pro-Gun Special Interests, National Organizations Working to Reduce Firearms Violence, State Organizations Working to Reduce Firearms Violence, and Organizations Dealing with Militias and the Political Fringe.

If you click on “Latest Reports,” there is a press release and study on bullet hoses ' semi-automatic assault weapons. The May, 22, 2003 press release describes the study titled “Bullet Hoses: Semiautomatic Assault Weapons ' What Are They? What's So Bad About Them?”

The study traces the design history of assault weapons from the 1944 Nazi Sturmgewehr (STG) 44 ' the first assault weapon ' to the current Bushmaster XM-15, the assault rifle used last year by the Washington, DC-area snipers. You can read the study online or order it in hard copy.

If you need to research gun control issues, check out The Violence Policy Center (VPC) at www.vpc.org. The VPC, based in Washington, DC, is a national nonprofit educational foundation that conducts research on violence in America and works to develop violence-reduction policies and proposals. The VPC examines the role of firearms in America, conducts research on firearms violence, and explores new ways to decrease firearm-related deaths and injuries. As a gun control think tank, the VPC analyzes a wide range of current firearm issues and provides information to policymakers, journalists, public health professionals, grassroots activists, and members of the general public.

Each year, the VPC releases between 15 and 20 fact-based studies on a full range of gun violence issues. The VPC works with national, state, and local advocacy organizations representing affected constituencies ' such as women, children, minorities, consumers, and public health practitioners ' to keep neighborhoods, homes, schools, and workplaces safe from gun violence.

The home page of the site contains links to the recent relevant news items, eg, a fact sheet on the Ominibus Spending Bill, which the VPC opposed on the grounds that it would enable criminals to obtain guns more easily; and a description of a recent federal district court case, Seegars v. Ashcroft, in which the court upheld a ban on handguns in Washington, DC. The judge rejected a challenge to the ban on Second Amendment grounds. There is a link to the decision and an amicus brief filed by the VCP.

The site index directs you to press releases, fact sheets and studies on many topics, such as assault weapons, the elderly and firearms violence, gun shows, Saturday night specials, pro-gun special interests, and gun violence. The topic “Firearm Violence,” for example, directs the reader to press releases and studies on events involving gun violence. One of the studies, “'Officer Down' ' Assault Weapons and the War on Law Enforcement,” illustrates the threat of assault weapons to law enforcement officers throughout the United States. The 26-page study reveals that at least 41 of the 211 law enforcement officers slain in the line of duty between Jan. 1, 1998, and Dec. 31, 2001, were killed with assault weapons. If you click on “Federal Policy Issues,” you will be able to access federal legislation to regulate the gun industry and several fact sheets, such as those titled “An Agenda for Real Gun Control,” “Criminal Use of the 50 Caliber Sniper Rifle,” and “Handgun Ban Backgrounder.”

If you want to know about firearm laws, there is a link to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' publication that provides each state's laws on firearms. The link to press releases contains a chronological list and press releases from 1992 through 2004.

A Jan. 20, 2004 press release concerned the VPC's praise of the Senate's rejection of an Omnibus Spending Conference Report that the VPC described as “Loaded with Provisions That Would Arm Criminals, Protect Corrupt Gun Dealers.” There is a link to order any of the VPC's publications, as well as other links that include: Pro-Gun Special Interests, National Organizations Working to Reduce Firearms Violence, State Organizations Working to Reduce Firearms Violence, and Organizations Dealing with Militias and the Political Fringe.

If you click on “Latest Reports,” there is a press release and study on bullet hoses ' semi-automatic assault weapons. The May, 22, 2003 press release describes the study titled “Bullet Hoses: Semiautomatic Assault Weapons ' What Are They? What's So Bad About Them?”

The study traces the design history of assault weapons from the 1944 Nazi Sturmgewehr (STG) 44 ' the first assault weapon ' to the current Bushmaster XM-15, the assault rifle used last year by the Washington, DC-area snipers. You can read the study online or order it in hard copy.