Thesis (M.S.)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 49-56).

Thesis (M.M. (Security))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Public and Development Management, 2013. / This study is about the challenges inherent in the implementation of the firearms control policy in the management and control of Estate Firearms. The interest in the phenomenon emerged in the midst of the recently developed new Firearms Control Act, 2000 (Act No. 60 of 2000). Amongst other things, this policy sought to facilitate the prevention of the proliferation of firearms that in most instances eventually become available for the commission of violent crimes. Despite this development, a gap has been identified that firearms owned and left by deceased persons are not properly managed and controlled. In order to unravel the challenges the South African Police Service is confronted with in implementing the firearms control policy the study resorted to using the qualitative. An interpretive approach blended with descriptive study was used in order to generate deeper understanding of issues investigated. The research environments were the South African Police Service, the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Justice & Constitutional Development within the Master of the High Court: South Gauteng. The research established that although some measures were put in place to implement the firearms control policy, there still are many challenges such as: monitoring and evaluation, poor management of systems, insufficient outreach and awareness rousing and the lack of enforcement by all the role players as identified in the study. A Inter-Agency Co-creation Model is also proposed as a means to consolidate suggestions that were presented by respondents. Further research is recommended into: • A quantitative study be done on the same topic. • The management of the EFRS and its impact on the implementation of the Firearms Control Policy.

Museums have always had and displayed weapons, including firearms. As museums have evolved, so too has exhibit design and practice. However, many weapons displays have not kept up with changing practices, and many of them are now irrelevant, have limited audiences, or are unhelpful to the broader public. Simply displaying weapons by type or as art is not enough anymore, and keeping them in storage does not take advantage of their potential. Also, many museums are increasingly trying to become places for public discourse about current issues. They often create exhibits meant to be relevant to today and promote discussions about controversial topics. Many museums are also trying to make their collections and objects more accessible to the public. Innovative displays of firearms could help them accomplish both these tasks. The battle over gun control and gun rights is often more of a shouting match than reasoned discourse. Museums could use historic firearms as an opportunity to help facilitate a more responsible conversation about the issue. These firearms are typically not as emotionally charged as modern guns, and could be used as a pathway into the gun debate if displayed creatively. Guns, historic or not, are often not very approachable objects for many people. This can be for a variety of reasons, including their associations with masculinity, power, and nationality. Museums should experiment with new ways to display firearms that can make them more approachable and accessible to broader audiences, and ideally to the entire public. / History

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, 2008. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 46-06, page: 3258. Adviser: Dorothy K. Waller. Includes bibliographical references.

The aim of this thesis is to introduce the basic information about the forensic ballistics and about the procedure of ballistic experts. The first chapter is dedicated to clarification the fundamental terms of the subject matter of this thesis. Beside the term of forensic ballistics I also introduce the meaning of some other related terms used in the following text. Next chapter deals with the history and development of the ballistics. The key feature of every ballistic researches are the ballistics marks described in the third chapter. I focus on the ballistic marks division, the origin and occurrence and receiving of these. The gunshot residues are mentioned in their own subchapter. The objects of the ballistic researches, listed in the chapter four, are firearms, ammunition and animate or inanimate target. Next chapter deals with the range of ballistic researches which can be divided into two groups. Within the frame of the identification examination of firearms and ammunition, the individual and group identification of the gun used in a criminal offence is performed. That means the ballistic marks from the seized firearm are compared with the ones detected in a crime scene. Within the frame of the non- identification examination the firearms and ammunition characteristics, the shooting direction,...

Using data from the 2000 American National Election Study and the Uniform Crime Reports, this research studies the impact of core values and contextual effects on gun control policy preferences. The research seeks to produce a contextually sensitive model of gun control policy preferences that accounts for the nature of the elite message war regarding the issue of gun control and for both long and short-term contextual factors that might sway individual opinions at the point of stimulus (e.g., the survey question). While the analysis does find conditioning effects, the effects do not conform to the theoretical expectations, and they are generally weaker than expected. In contrast, the research demonstrates the strong connections that formed in the public’s mind between ideological, partisan and gender-based core values and gun control policy preferences. These results are consistent with research that found the effects of political messages often vary in counterintuitive ways due to variance in the strength of the message and political awareness (Zaller 1992). Replicating this research across various time periods permits the investigation of the decay rate of impacts on individual policy preferences created by substantial, one-time contextual effects. It may be that contextual effects have a substantial impact in the short-term, but these short-term impacts are mitigated over the longterm by continual reinforcement of the basic themes employed by elites in the message war surrounding the issue.

For almost forty years gun ownership and the motivational underpinnings of why guns are valued has received little attention in psychology. The gun rights debate is an unresolved salient item that has been on the national agenda for decades, and national polls provide evidence for a slow and steady voter realignment over this issue. Motivation science tools that explain value creation, regulatory focus and regulatory fit, help to explain the salience and importance of gun rights for millions of Americans. Three field experiments, with replications and extensions, demonstrated motivational fit between the prevention orientation (marked by vigilant concern for threats) and gun ownership. This research remained agnostic regarding the legal and moral components of the gun rights debate. Instead, these experiments demonstrate the malleability of gun value as a function of fundamental motivations. This applied political psychology research made two basic contributions to regulatory fit theory. First, these field experiments found fit effects between motivational inductions and distinct field environments. Also, by incorporating a pure control condition into these regulatory fit experiments, this research pinned down that literal dollar value of motivationally relevant objects is intensified by fit (as opposed to decreased by non-fit).

No description available.

This research explores the various security and post-conflict complications that are in part a result of the global proliferation of small arms — including organized crime, rebellion, civil war, and fractionalization of the state. The paper 1) defines the issue, 2) contextualizes why the issue matters, and 3) evaluates the effectiveness of policies at the international level. I define the actors in the debate, defines the solutions at regional and international levels, and draw conclusions about the effectiveness of weapons collection, destruction, disarmament, tracing, import and export control, and associated legislation. I find that serious violence-reducing measures should include: increasing the role of local law enforcement organizations capable of carrying out meaningful and region-specific legislation, tightening border controls, uniform implementation of the International Tracing Instrument, and effectively disarming and integrating former opposition groups in post-conflict societies.