Between 2011 and 2020, the most recent decade for which data is available, 14,763 children ages 5-17 died by suicide in the U.S. – a rate of approximately four deaths every day. Over 40% of these suicides involved a firearm. The great majority of guns involved in youth suicides come from the victim’s home or the home of a relative.
Second Amendment
Why Can’t Florida’s Medical Pot Patients Buy Guns? Ag Commissioner Fried Challenges U.S. Law
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried is relying on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to support arguments in a challenge to federal regulations that make it illegal for medical-marijuana patients to buy guns.
Attorney General and NRA Use New Decision to Challenge Under-21 Gun Restrictions
As they battle over a 2018 Florida law that raised the minimum age from 18 to 21 to buy rifles and other long guns, attorneys for the state and the National Rifle Association are trying to use a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling to bolster their arguments.
Supreme Court Brandishes Second Amendment Rights to New Heights
For most of the history of the court, Second Amendment rights have been seen as distinct, more dangerous and thus more open to regulation. Now, the majority of justices has invoked a major change, with implications for many rights and regulations in American society.
U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Limits on Concealed Carry Laws, Expands Gun Rights
The court ruled that New York’s concealed carry law violates the 14th Amendment of the Constitution — a major decision that expands the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. The opinion came at the same time Congress is considering new gun control legislation following two deadly mass shootings.
Influential NRA Lobbyist Marion Hammer, 83, Retires Into ‘Gunshine State’ Sunset
Hammer, 83, successfully shepherded a host of measures that helped to earn Florida the “Gunshine State” moniker and made it a launching pad for gun-related laws that later took hold throughout the country.
Did the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban Diminish Mass Shootings? Yes.
The risk of a person in the U.S. dying in a mass shooting was 70% lower during the period in which the assault weapons ban was active. The proportion of overall gun homicides resulting from mass shootings was also down, with nine fewer mass-shooting-related fatalities per 10,000 shooting deaths.
The Legal Age to Buy Assault Weapons Doesn’t Make Sense
Considering someone an adult once they turn 18 is a relatively recent trend, and it’s not clear that it can stand up to public scrutiny as a meaningful threshold for legally purchasing firearms.
Why the NRA Is So Successful at Stopping Gun-Safety Legislation
NRA has vigorously rejected any charge that its policies contribute to America’s gun problem, instead advancing proposals such as improving mental health responses, “hardening” schools with increased security, and potentially even arming teachers, which leaders claim, without evidence and against educators’ wishes, can serve as a deterrent.
Florida’s Relatively New Red-Flag Law Emerging as Model for Other States in Gun Debate
As a national debate rages over gun laws after last month’s mass shooting at a Texas elementary school, proponents of “red-flag” policies point to a Florida law as a model for states seeking to strip deadly weapons from people who could cause harm.