Abstract

The gun control debate has been placed at the forefront of American politics, as some of the most deadly mass shootings have happened in the last year. Much of the research on the effectiveness of gun control laws have shown inconsistent results. The purpose of the study is to compare states with stricter gun laws to states with more lax laws. This in turn will allow policy makers to identify effective strategies to implement in states that are lacking effective laws. The study examined state gun laws for all 50 states using the Gifford's Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The laws that were examined in this study were background checks, license requirements, mental health reporting, wait periods, concealed carry requirements, open carry, disarming prohibited people, and disarming domestic abusers. The states were then given a letter grade based on the laws that they have implemented. The results show that many states have failed to implement any sort of laws that would take guns out of the hands or prevent prohibited people from accessing guns. This study helps identify what laws each state has implemented to control guns throughout their state. This is important because states that are lacking laws in any area can identify and implement effective strategies that other states have put in place.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2018

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Huff-Corzine, Lin

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Sociology

Degree Program

Applied Sociology

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0007035

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0007035

Language

English

Release Date

May 2018

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

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Sociology Commons

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