ProCon’s Gun Control Quiz

Question: Which amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms”?

Answer: The Second Amendment reads, “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.”

Question: The Gun Control Act of 1968, a landmark piece of legislation that imposed stricter regulations on firearms and created new categories of firearm offenses, was inspired by which of the following?

Answer: In the wake of a series of high-profile shootings—including the assassinations of Pres. John F. Kennedy (1963), Malcolm X (1965), Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968), and Robert Kennedy (1968), as well as the 1966 University of Texas mass killing—Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Gun Control Act of 1968 on October 22 of that year.

Question: Violence associated with which Chicago event spurred a national call for gun control?

Answer: The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago on February 14, 1929, resulted in the death of seven associates of gangster George “Bugs” Moran (an enemy of fellow gangster Al Capone) and sparked a national debate over gun control, especially concerning machine guns.

Question: Which of the following is not an argument in favor of gun control laws?

Answer: The belief that gun control laws are discriminatory, infringe on citizens’ rights, and could even lead to the confiscation of all guns is commonly held among gun supporters.

Question: Which event inspired the gun control act called the Brady Bill?

Answer: Popularly known as the Brady Bill (later Brady Act), this law imposed a five-day waiting period for the purchase of a handgun. It was inspired by the shooting of James Brady, the White House press secretary who was seriously injured in the attempted assassination of Pres. Ronald Reagan in 1981.

Question: Which group, now heavily involved in the gun control debate, was founded in 1871?

Answer: The National Rifle Association was founded in 1871 by American Civil War Union veterans Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate to “promote and encourage rifle shooting” for improving the marksmanship of Union troops.

Question: During the colonial era, gun regulations and restrictions targeted which of the following people?

Answer: Although guns were common in colonial America, so were gun restrictions, which targeted Native Americans, indentured servants, enslaved people, and Roman Catholics, among others.

Question: Which of the following was common in the American Wild West?

Answer: Contrary to portrayals of the Wild West in movies and TV shows, cities on the frontier often required visitors to disarm and check their guns with the local sheriff or at a stable on the outskirts before entering the town.