Demarco is with us, for marylanders trying to prevent gun violence, and hes with attorneys. You heard dr. Monget before the break, and her desire that we allow federal dollars for research, and is it reasonable to begin there . One of the things that struck me, all of the things that we dont know, but many of them we do know. We know who the violent actors are, and if we wanted to do research, we should determine why those violent actors do what we do. We know what the safe storage of a firearm is, and as a firearms instructor, i can tell you. We also know the four rules of gun safety. So a lot of what i think she says she doesnt know, im not sure shes looking in the right place to find it. Im not sure youre right about that. We know, yes, observely what works and doesnt work, but we cant count the number of homes that currently use gun locks or safe boxes. We cant find out what percentage of households store their guns in different manners. Assembly those kinds of stats is really hard. Well, there are some things that we do know, and one is that the longterm trend in violence, and i think that we should be talking about violence, not just gun violence, but all violence. The longterm trend in Violent Crimes is decreasing. From 1995 to 2012, there were 1. 8 million Violent Crimes in the United States in 1995, reduced to 1. 2 million in 2012. The Violent Crime rate went from 747 per 100,000 to 387 per 100,000. And in that time, the ownership of firearms went from approximately 210 million to 310 million in the United States. Now, i hear people say that more guns are not the answer, but it certainly seems that more guns arent causing more of a problem. I would also note that in that same time period, 22 states adopted carry laws, and approximately five states there were no issue whatsoever became shall issue. Demarco, do you agree . I think that we all agree with dr. Monget that there should be no limit to research on gun violence, and theres no reason that we can study automobile accidents and tobacco problems, which we should study, but we cant study gun deaths and the cause. That it doesnt make any sense. But there are studies not by the federal government. But by private research that it tells us a lot. A group of researchers led by the John Hopkins Center on policy research studied a policy that really works, which is simply requiring anyone who wants to purchase a handgun to first get a license from the police like you have to get a license to drive a car, and they it studied two states, connecticut and missouri. And in connecticut, inbe acted such a law in 1994. And over 10 years after the law was enacademy, there was a 40 drop in gun homicide, and a large drop in gun suicides also, directly linked to that policy and it became harder for people to get guns. And it didnt at all interfere with Second Amendment rights to bear arms. And similarly, in 2007, missouri had such a law, and they repealed it. As a result of that repeal, over the next few years, there was a 25 increase in gun homicides in missouri, and an increase in gun suicide. And the researchers study very carefully the cause and affect here, found for example there was not a similar decrease in neighboring states when they enacted the law and similar decrease when they repealed it. This is what i want to emphasize, in connecticut, before the law enact, most laws originated in gun stores, and after the law was enact, the gun crimes came from out of states, because it became harder for criminals and others to get them from instate. Thats why the gun deaths went down, because it got harder. And again, to not interfere with Second Amendment rights of gun owners. We passed such a law in maryland in 2013, and i want to emph gun lobby opposed it, and never responded in court. Well give you a chance to respond after the break. Looking at the place of guns in america. Its inside story. Welcome back to inside story. Im ray suarez. George lions, and vin be sent demarco, are still with me. And george lyons, before the break, you heard mr. Demarco lay out two states changing their laws in minor ways and getting very different results, and whats your response . Well, i dont think that those changes are minor to begin with. To require a license to own a firearm is a significant imposition on your rights. Would you require a license to read a book . A license to vote . These are fundamental rights. To impose a government license to exercise a fundamental right. And i think that its a significant impingement on Second Amendment rights. But you would agree that its difficult to kill somebody with a library book. Absolutely, but the point is, is a right a right, or are there some rights that are less of a right than other rights . Mr. Marco suggested that connecticuts address was at trippable, and just the time that i told you about, where the Violent Crime right is cut in half. That it didnt have that much of an be affect. But you also related to an increasing number of firearms but if you took the list of ten states with the highest rates of death by firearm, they line up almost entirely bill the highest levels of ownership. If you want to put jux ca position statistics together, why not that one . Let me say go ahead, mr. Demarco. Well, i just want to completely agree with george, that those laws were not gun violence prevention measures which really work, and in no way did they infringe on Second Amendment rights. And the proof is that the gun lobby has never challenged them. New jersey has had a gun law since the 30s, and new york since the 60s, and they have rates. Many dont know, new york city has one of the lowest gun death rates than any other city. 90 of the guns that kill people in new york come from out of state. Because new york has a handgun purchaser law. These work, and 60 of gun owners support the measures. The vast majority of gun owners support them and they dont violate Second Amendment rights and they make sense. Were not talking about licensing owners, but licensing handgun purchasers. You have to get a license, not to own any gun, but to purchase a handgun, and that makes sense. It deters people from buying guns for criminals, and guns in the wrong hands. It simply works, and we encourage other states to do that. Representatives from connecticut have introduced a law into congress to incentivize states to enact these laws. If every state had a handgun purchasing law, america would be a lot safer. Since both of you objected to the word minor, the reason i used it is that it didnt involve prohibition of ownership or see seizure of weapons, nothing that drastic. But what it does do, it significantly imposes a higher cost. In order to buy a handgun in maryland now, you have to pay somebody like me to teach you a course to get your handgun qualification license, and you have to jump through a lot of hoops. Thats on top of the federal law that does a background check on every gun thats sold by a dealer, and 95 of firearms transactions in this country go through licensed dealers. I agree with you that its more burdensome, but dont maryland and connecticut both have lower firearm rates than missouri . Well, what i would compare is connecticut definitely does. What i would compare is marylands firearm death rates versus virginia. Virginia has virtually no gun control and a much lower violent rate than maryland. If gun control actually works, then virginia would be one of the most violent states in the country, and washington d. C. And maryland would be some of the least. And its entirely the opposite. Go ahead, mr. Demarco. The fact of the matter is, that the state that have had handgun purchaser licensing laws for decades have significantly lower gun death rates than similar states that dont. You compare new jersey and pennsylvania. New jersey has much lower gun violence death rates than pennsylvania, and 80 of the handguns that kill people come from new jersey because its harder for criminals to get them in new jersey and many of them come from pennsylvania. Luckily hayward in pennsylvania is going to be introducing legislation to get licensing in pennsylvania. We need them all across the country. Lets stop there, and i want to give george lyons a chance for a quick response. If i could respond to that, what you also have are that lawabidingen citizens are prevented from purchasing handguns. For example, the woman in new jersey recently who was being stalked by a former partner applied for a handgun license, was caught in the bureaucracy, and in the meantime, she was killed. I want to thank my guests. George lions jr. Is with a group of attorneys, and george demarco. Ill be back with what we talk about when we talk about guns. Stay with us, its inside story. The persistent findings that more people die from gunshot wounds in gunowning households never mick make a dn the widely held belief among gun owners that having a gun in the house makes them safer. Their use in it storage. Those are other people. The ones who speak up loudly for the guns status in society as a peacemaker and crime stopper, theyre all if to be believed, living totally by the book. Maintaining that guns are, roughly speaking, inert objects. They dont kill people, but people do. But any act of violence is more likely to be lethal if committed with a gun. Yes, they are just objects, but the part we leave out is they are objects designed to deliver the maximum force in little physical of effort. So theyre different than knives, and hammers and baseball bats. We ex stole them for the tremendous power that they unleash with little effort. And maximum, rather than minimum damage. But you would never know it from the tone, have a hellence and emotion from people. The Supreme Court has recognized an individual right to own firearms, but even the Current Court recognizes that people and their elected governments still have a right to place limits on types of weapons categories of ownership. Right now, were not in a National Moment where we can even agree on that much as a starting point to it discuss the role that firearms will play, not in our past, but in our future. Im ray suarez, and thats the inside story. The United States says its ready to help iraq step up the fight against i. S. I. L. Welcome to al jazeera. Coming up in the next half hour the first steps on towards justice over a massacre carried out in the philippines six years ago. 21 Police Officers face sanction. Christina kirchner says goodbye to argentina. We take a look at what challenges lie ahead for her divided country. A