LAW611
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GUN CRIMES
Course Title
GUN CRIMES
Course Number
611
Min
2
Course Types
Letter Grading, Writing Requirement
Credit Type
GPA SEMINARS
Description
May satisfy Writing Requirement.
The seminar will serve as an introduction to the doctrine and politics of gun laws in contemporary America. In particular, the seminar will introduce students to the criminal regulation of guns. What laws regulate the possession, manufacture, sale, and carrying of guns? How do these laws differ from place and to place, both in terms of the laws on the books and in their enforcement? Students will read an assortment of sources from case law, legal scholarship, sociology, and economics. They will also gain experience in gathering and analyzing primary sources, especially court records. At the heart of the course will be a research and writing assignment. Students will choose a particular gun law-for example, the law requiring safe storage of ammunition-and they will become experts on this gun in at least two jurisdictions that take different approaches to defining and enforcing it. The research and writing paper will be a thesis-driven white paper that compares varying approaches to this particular gun law - both through case law and through actual cases - and makes a concrete policy recommendation for reform.
The seminar will serve as an introduction to the doctrine and politics of gun laws in contemporary America. In particular, the seminar will introduce students to the criminal regulation of guns. What laws regulate the possession, manufacture, sale, and carrying of guns? How do these laws differ from place and to place, both in terms of the laws on the books and in their enforcement? Students will read an assortment of sources from case law, legal scholarship, sociology, and economics. They will also gain experience in gathering and analyzing primary sources, especially court records. At the heart of the course will be a research and writing assignment. Students will choose a particular gun law-for example, the law requiring safe storage of ammunition-and they will become experts on this gun in at least two jurisdictions that take different approaches to defining and enforcing it. The research and writing paper will be a thesis-driven white paper that compares varying approaches to this particular gun law - both through case law and through actual cases - and makes a concrete policy recommendation for reform.