You talkin' to me? A history of United States gun rights

"You talkin' to me?"
Source: 1978 film "Taxi Driver", directed by Martin Scorsese

The economic principle I’m exploring is Institutions are the “rules of the games” that influence choices.

My research question to help me study the economic principle is In the US Government, how does the institutional design of the legislative and judicial branches shape and influence policymaking surrounding the hot topic of guns, as related to the recent school shootings?

"Same price as a Chip 'n' Dip."
Source: TV show "Mad Men" created by Matthew Weiner

The article published in Times Magazine titled “Here’s a Timeline of the Major Gun Control Laws in America” demonstrates this economic principle because it shows that there have been some laws and court cases that have shaped the Second Amendment. The second amendment, ratified in 1791 among others, explicitly states: “ “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”.


Second, during Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidency, in 1934, the NFA imposed a tax on the manufacturing, selling, and transporting of firearms listed in the law, among them short-barrel shotguns and rifles, machine guns, firearm mufflers and silencers. He did this to stop gang violence. Furthermore, following the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., Lyndon B. Johnson pushed for the Gun Control Act of 1968. This act revised several of the NFA’s rules, banning importing guns that have “no sporting purpose,” imposing age restrictions of 21, prohibited criminals, the mentally ill, and others from buying guns. Overall, there were tighter restrictions on gun ownage.


Third, in 1986, with the American conservative backlash, Reagan and Congress passed the Firearm Owners Protection Act. These laws really helped and loosened restrictions for gun owners. By loosening the definition of what a gun is and the business of, and loosened restrictions on the sale of guns. And lastly, in 1993, Bill Clinton passed a law that criminal checks were mandatory in purchasing a gun. It established the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).