NRA = No Rational Argument - How the Nation Rifle Association Exploits Public Irrationality
![handle is hein.journals/tfcl11 and id is 45 raw text is: NRA - No RATIONAL ARGUMENT?
HOW THE NATIONAL RIFLE
ASSOCIATION EXPLOITS PUBLIC
IRRATIONALITY
By: Scott Medlock*
I. INTRODUCTION: ARMING THE IRRATIONAL
Many Americans responded to the terrorist attacks of
September 11, 2001 by purchasing firearms. The Federal Bureau of
Investigation reported that it conducted 455,000 more background
checks on gun buyers during the six-month period following 9-11
than during the same period the year before.1 Although a handgun is
unlikely to effectively defend against a suicide attack with an
airplane, an anthrax letter, or a car bomb, owning a deadly weapon
made many people feel safer. One gun retailer reported, My
handgun [sales] have gone crazy. It seemed like immediately [after
September 11] it was real, real crazy, people walking in right after
each other wanting a gun.2 Numerous studies show that the
presence of a firearm in the home increases the likelihood of violence
against family members.' Despite this, gun ownership is widespread
*.. Scott Medlock earned his J.D. at the University of Texas School of Law in 2005,
and his B.A. in European History and Political Science at Northwestern University in 2002.
He has worked for the Legal Action Project of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and
is active in the central Texas chapter of the Million Mom March. Mr. Medlock currently
works as an attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project in Austin, TX.
1. ROBERT J. SPITZER, THE POLITICS OF GUN CONTROL viii (3d ed. 2004). The
author notes gun sales then dropped off sharply in 2002. Id.
2. James F. Sweeney, Aimingfor Defense: More People, Including Ohioans, Are Buying
Guns Since Sept. 11, CLEVELAND PLAIN-DEALER, Dec. 7, 2001, at El. A similar reaction
followed the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina. See John Burnett, Hurricane Katrina
Prompts Growth in Gun Ownership (NPR radio broadcast Oct. 12, 2005).
3. Wendy Cukier & Antoine Chapdelaine, Global Trade in Small Arms: Public Health
Effects and Interventions 10, at 14 (March 2001) (Int'l Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear
War, Working Paper), availale at http://www.research.ryerson.ca/SAFER-
Net/issues/GlobMH0l.pdf ([Tlhe homicide of a family member was 2.7 times more likely to
occur in a home with a firearm than in homes without guns. After accounting for several
independent risk factors, another study concluded that keeping one or more firearms was
associated with a 4.8-fold increased risk of suicide in the home.) (citing A.L. Kellermann, F.P.
Rivara and N.B. Rushforth, Gun Ownership as a risk factor for homicide in the Home, NEW
ENG. J. MED. 1993, 329(15): 1084-91, and A.L. Kellermann, F.P. Rivara, and G. Somes, et al.,
Suicide in the Home in Relation to Gun Ownership, NEW ENG. J. MED., 1992 Aug. 13, 327(7):
467-472.). See also Mark Duggan, More Guns, More Crime, 109 J. POL. ECON. 1086, 1088
(2001) (stating that changes in rates of gun ownership are positively correlated with increases in
homicide rates); FRANKLIN E. ZIMRING & GORDON HAWKINS, CRIME IS NOT THE PROBLEM
(1998) (arguing that gun violence is a public health problem and should not be addressed](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/tfcl11&div=7&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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NRA = No Rational Argument - How the Nation Rifle Association Exploits Public Irrationality
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