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STUDENT NHD MEMOS

Article 3: Meridia Initiative--Ideas for Memo 4 http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/elibweb/curriculum/do/document?set=search&dictionaryClick=on&secondaryNav=&groupid=1&requestid=lib_standard&resultid=8&edition=&ts=B6934FAC4230EE620C71C1EE7A79F28F_1335384991823&start=1&publicationId=&urn=urn%3Abigchalk%3AUS%3BBCLib%3Bdocument%3B161818200

Article 4; Source of problem--Guns from US http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/elibweb/curriculum/do/document?set=search&dictionaryClick=on&secondaryNav=&groupid=1&requestid=lib_standard&resultid=25&edition=&ts=B6934FAC4230EE620C71C1EE7A79F28F_1335385096592&start=1&publicationId=&urn=urn%3Abigchalk%3AUS%3BBCLib%3Bdocument%3B200283965

Essential Question: REVOLUTION, REACTION, REFORM-- HOW DOES REVOLUTION CHANGE SOCIETY?

MEMO I: TOPIC PROPOSAL......................................................due Thursday, April 5th

**Part 1. Identify and explain the problem** created by a revolution. Organize your description in an extended power paragraph and cite evidence from two credible sources. Create an annotation for each source. Post the annotations at the bottom of this page. Annotated Bibliography Guide

Black market weapons trafficking and selling has been a growing global problem, especially in the past few years in poorer countries. Between 50,000 and 100,000 people are killed each year due to small arms and light weapons, nearly twice that die indirectly as 'collateral' victims. Illegal weapons sales has increased so much that "global sales of illicit small arms total $US1 billion, about a quarter of the annual value of the legal trade" (Defence and Peace Economics or DPE), and that was in 2007, today it could be much higher maybe even as high as half of the annual value of the legal trade. To provide for the growing black market, there has to be a stoke of weapons that can be sold or traded, and one of the most popular weapons on the black market is AK-47s, they are used almost everywhere in the globe. In 2003 there were roughly 80 million AK-47s in circulation with most of them being in the wrong hands (unknown article). To supply this growing empire people are getting bolder in how the acquire the weapons they want or need to continue to grow their 'business'. "Illicit weapons, by contrast, are often stolen from government stocks, traded illegally or captured in battle", later in the article there is a list of some "common examples of how small arms are transferred from legal to illegal stocks: government officers who take bribes, looting government arsenals and stockpiles, armed service personnel selling their weapons, leakages from legal civilian holdings (stealing), and unlicensed craft production of guns for the black market" (DPE). There are many ways for weapons to get into the black market and governments are now having problems trying to stop and shrink the size of the black market, this is a very real problem for many countries and no one has come up with a great idea to stop or at least slow down the black market. If something isn't done then eventually illicit weapons holders will be able to overpower governments due to newer and newer weapons being available on the black market, the holders already out number governments but the shouldn't be allowed to over power them.

**Part 2. Develop a research question** that customizes the essential questionto your topic. The question should raise a controversy or conflict.

How can we constrict if not stop the flow of weapons into the black market?

**Part 3. Develop a thesis statement** that answers the research question by recommending how society should address this issue or problem.

If the United States placed a ban on all types of assault weapons except when they are used by government agencies and also hired more employees who are devoted to breaking apart the black market it would kill the market in the U.S.


 * MEMO 2**
 * Date: Tuesday, May 8**
 * To: Mrs. Sidor**
 * From: Jack Bebinger**
 * Subject:** **Memo 2: Concisely state the issue, controversy or problem**

Every year thousands of guns flow from government and private stocks into the black market where they then become an international currency. The proliferation of illegal guns has been a growing problem in the past few years as more and more weapons flow into the black market and the traffickers become more gutsy about what weapons they try to steal or smuggle. For example in 1994 the Taliban organization captured 18,000 AK-47's from an arms dump in Pasha (DPE). All ages are affected globally by the illegal trafficking and selling of weapons. The age range has greatly widened in the past few years with the introduction of child warriors in Africa and the larger presence of organized crime in more countries. The economy has taken a big impact from the illegal market, as gangs or terrorist organizations become more prevalent in a country the economy becomes more affected due to the influx of drugs or weapons (which are often intertwined with each other) that raises crime and death rates in many countries. As these criminal organizations become more prevalent in a country more people are affected. In the US in 2007 29,645 deaths occurrerd that were related to gun violence, 11, 920 being homicides and in the US we have a large illegal community. The next most violent country was France and it only had 2,964 deaths with only 170 being homicides (Newsweek). This new crisis is a global phenomenon that is affecting people all over. The black market mainly affects a few specific regions in the world, them being Africa, Central America, and the U.S.

As these criminal organizations grow in size they have now reached the point where they outnumber some government agencies, and they are continuing to grow. These organizations are driven by one key factor; profit. William Rempel states that "The arms dealers are here, the brokers are here, and the money is here (Klare 16)." Government agencies have realized that organized crime is a problem and have started to make special task forces to deal with specific problems, some of them being local and some being global. One example of these task forces is the ICE task force or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements and they "combat smuggling organizations...smuggling of narcotics, illicit money, and other dangerous goods (weapons), people, and materials that threaten the well-being of the United States (Homeland Security)." The ICE task force is one of many that have been formed to combat illegal cross-border activities. The ICE force operates from two principal bilateral initiatives: Operation Firewall and Operation Armas Cruzadas. Operation Firewall deals with the smuggling of cash in bulk while operation Armas Cruzadas "to detect, disrupt and dismantle weapons smuggling networks (Homeland Security)." Armas Cruzadas is a plan to fight border violence between the US and Mexico, this violence is a result of criminal organizations attempting to exert their control over not only the democratically elected officials of the Mexican government but also rival criminal organizations. Many of the task forces that our government has have begun to work but they have only made a slight dent in the shell of the organized crime world. These criminal organizations have been getting smarter and now that the government has started to jeopardize their organization they are taking more precautions because they have the funds to do so. The government needs to make a bigger impact on the illegal market for it to do any good.


 * MEMO 3**
 * Date: Sunday, May 14**
 * To: Mrs. Sidor**
 * From: Jack Bebinger**
 * Subject:** **Memo 3: Historical Background**

The roots of the black market can be traced back to WWII and how directly after the war ended in 1945. The firearms question receded from the public while the war continued to rage on but "by 1945, there was a considerable pent-up demand [for guns] in a civilian market that had been neglected for nearly half a decade (Gun Control)." The demand was further spurred by returning soldiers whom showed a continuing interest in weaponry. When someone steals any amount of guns from a stockpile in the US (for example) those guns could end up anywhere in the world, they could be bought by a member of the Taliban in the middle east or by Colombian drug cartel members. The extent of the market is very hard to tell because you can't look at a gun and tell whether its legal or not. But the black market has had a great significance on society. Many wars or conflicts are often fought with illegal weapons because "illicit weapons... captured in battle (DPE)", so if a soldier picks up a weapon while in battle then its illegal.

Earlier generations didn't have the power to stop the black market, they tried to but they couldn't. A Custom's service agent said "not a week goes by that we don't get definitive information on shipments of this type just in the Los Angeles are alone. Similar comments have been made by investigators in New York, Washington, Miami, London, Paris, and other centers of the clandestine trade (Klare 16)." The Customs service office announces each year that they have intercepted dozens of illegal arms transactions but top officials readily admit that they block only a fraction of the black-market traffic. They only had the power to intercept a few of the black market deals because many deals are shady and under the table.

When the government addressed this problem in the past it didn't work because they couldn't keep up with how fast the market was moving and they didn't have the man power to stop it even if they did catch up to the market. In 1976/77 two U.S. gun companies used a very innovative way to get new weapons, they got valid OMC (office of Munitions Control) licenses to send the weapons which were usually in small batches to dummy firms in Botswana, Greece, and West Germany and then the equipment would be rerouted to South Africa (which at the time had an embargo placed on it) (Klare 23). This method had proven very effective in recent years because OMC's work load had increased from 40,572 to 49,165 applications in just three years, and with no significant employment increase it works out to he that if one man worked a 40-hour week and took two weeks of vacation that meant that he had to process an application every 17 minutes which wasn't nearly enough time to check the background on most of the applicants. This problem is still significant today because the government still doesn't have the man power to catch up with organized crime world, in general, and the new innovative ways that criminals are coming up with to evade governments in their illegal activities.


 * MEMO 4**
 * Date: Monday, May 14**
 * To: Mrs. Sidor**
 * From: Jack Bebinger**
 * Subject:** **Memo 4: State your position**

To address the expansion of the black market i believe we should ban assault weapons in the United States unless they are being used by law enforcement agencies and hire more people to government agencies that focus on stopping the black market. This would be beneficial to the U.S. because it would cut down on violence and it would kill part of the black market and even some of its suppliers. "Every year, 50,000-100,000 people are killed directly by small arms and light weapons [these are mainly assault rifles] in 'low-level' conflicts... at least twice as many die indirectly as 'collateral (Markowski et al.), if we banned the weapons then we could cut down on this number. It might not be a significant cut down, but in the United States there would be.

If there was a ban placed on assault weapons it would help constrict the market because SAWL, small arms and light weapons, are the main fuel for the illegal market. The ban would increase the want for weapons, like what happened during prohibition and how the Mafia came to fame by selling bootleg liquor. This is a great threat if a ban would be placed on assault weapons because people would still want their weapons and they would go to greater lengths to get these weapons. It seems like the ban would increase the market but not if government agencies hired more employes that are devoted to catching people involved with the black market.

For my idea to be out into effect two things have to happen. First, the U.S. senate would have to pass a law that legally bans all kinds of assault rifles (an automatic rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine) in all 50 states, second government agencies would have to hire more employes devoted to breaking down the black market. Since there isn't just one agency that deals with illegal weapons trafficking it might be a good idea to start an agency that deals with this problem. If a ban goes into effect and there are more agents attacking the market it will eventually shrink to where it's not a major concern. This will of course take a while because people will still try to get illegal weapons in but these new government agencies would easily repel them. If my recommendation was put into place it would not only get rid of the black market but it would also decrease the overall violence in the United States because we would be getting those weapons off the streets. So if we put a ban on all kinds of assault weapons and started a hired more government agents then we could put a large dent in the black market overall, and hopefully kill the market in the U.S.


 * MEMO 5**
 * Date: Friday, May 11**
 * To: Mrs. Sidor**
 * From: Jack Bebinger**
 * Subject:** **Memo 5: Arguments**

Banning the use and ownership of any assault weapon is very controversial because in history when something is banned and people want it bad enough, they will find a way to get it. If you look at prohibition you can see that when alcohol was banned moonshine became very popular and that could happen today if we banned assault weapons. This is part of the way the Mafia gained its vast riches because "during the 1920s, prohibition allowed criminals to make a fortune by selling bootleg alcohol throughout the country (History Study Centre)." Since this happened in the past when alcohol was banned it is likely that it would happen again if assault weapons are banned. People would say that the ban is "un-inforceable" because if you look back to the prohibition, illegal moonshiners were everywhere and they got away with it.

The main reason that the illegal moonshiners got away with making and selling their product is that the police force wasn't very big and didn't know how to track them moonshiners and apprehend them. If we expand the number of people in the Customs service, government agency that mainly focuses on catching illegal gun traffickers, we would be easily able to stop the flow of weapons into the USA. If you look at the TSA and since they increased their employment, the security has also risen and now airports everywhere are very secure. Anyone who has been to an airport understands how much security there is and how hard it is to hide anything, i have had peanut butter taken from my parents bag because the security officers were suspicious that we had hidden something inside the thick liquid. If we do the same thing with the Customs service it would be almost impossible for anyone to smuggle weapons into the US.


 * Date: Monday, May 14**
 * To: Mrs. Sidor**
 * From: Jack Bebinger**
 * Subject:** **Memo 6: Arguments**

Another reason people would disagree with my recommendation is because it violates our 2nd amendment rights. The second amendment clearly states that "...the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed", this clearly says that no one can limit the guns that people have and buy. In 2008 the Supreme Court struck down a handgun ban from Washington D.C. saying that "the second amendment protects an individual's right to keep and bear arms, whether or not associated with a state militia", this disrupted the court case United States v. Miller from 1939 where the decision was made that the second amendment protects a collective right rather than an individual right. As we move forward more people believe in the right to bear arms and more people are upholding that right strictly so placing a ban on guns would start a very large rebellion as people fight for their rights.

Yes, the constitution does state that everyone has the right to bear arms whether he is associated with a state militia or not but when our safety is involved it becomes a delicate situation. In 1994 a ban was placed on the production of "military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines", in the years that followed "violent crime has dropped dramatically (Hienigan 965)." If the first ban on assault weapons decreased violent crimes then it should do the same today, even if it does violate the 2nd amendment its protecting us from ourselves. Between 1993-2001, violent crime dropped 54%, violent crime with a gun dropped 63%. Gun homicides, which had increased 43% in 1987 and peaked at over 17,000 in 1993, plunged 37% between 1994 and 2001 (Hienigan 965). These are major drops in violence and the ban was only enacted for 7 years, if my ban was in place for longer those percentages would be bigger. Yes putting a ban on assault weapons violates your 2nd amendment rights, but the costs are worth it in the end. You have to give a little to get a little, Ella Fitzgerald.


 * MEMO 7**
 * Date: Tuesday, May 15**
 * To: Mrs. Sidor**
 * From: Jack Bebinger**
 * Subject:** **Memo 7: Arguments**

Other people may argue that the ban would eliminate jobs in companies that specifically focus on the production of assault rifles. Companies like colt and barrett that are large producers of assault rifles but also produce other kinds of weapons as well, barrett is a large producer of sniper rifles and colt also produces pistols. If the ban was put into place it would hurt gun companies everywhere and they would be forced to lay off workers, directly following the weapons ban in 1994 there were 164,000 workers who got laid off in the next year alone, in 1993 in california 20,000 people got laid off (Cooper 7). This would likely happen if we placed a ban today, hundreds of thousands of people would lose their jobs and add to our already high unemployment rate. If in the first year alone 164,000 people lost there jobs then in the second year it might double that, it will continue falling unit the ban would be lifted.

The ban would put people out of jobs at first but after a while it would be beneficial to the society. For these people being unemployed is good for the economy because these people can stimulate the economy. If the ban is placed then crime rates would fall and for normal citizens it takes a lot of stress off of them about the car being stolen or their house being robbed. This would encourage these people to start investing into their economy, instead of fortifying their homes from robbers they can go out and start businesses. If they start businesses then the unemployment would go down and there would be more businesses which is a great economical stimulus. This would then encourage more and more people to start businesses and there would be huge economic growth in the U.S. which is a great thing and the unemployment would fall rapidly because all these businesses would need people to run the stores. The ban, after a certain amount of "buffer" time, would prove to be very productive for the U.S. because we as a country our economy would become strong and there wouldn't be that much unemployment.


 * MEMO 8**
 * Date: Tuesday, May 15**
 * To: Mrs. Sidor**
 * From: Jack Bebinger**
 * Subject:** **Memo 8: Call to Action**

The Black market is a growing problem in countries all over the world and if we don't do something about it soon it will become impossible to stop. To stop this growing problem I proposed that we place a ban on all assault rifles in the Unites States and we hire more government agents who are devoted to breaking down the black market. If we do these two things then we would kill a large portion of the market and its a good way to start the long process of completely breaking up the market. This is a pressing matter because the market is already very large, it includes corrupt people in our government and military who are just greedy. If nothing is done soon then the market will become so large that there wouldn't be any chance of stopping it. Between 1993 and 2001 when another ban was placed on assault weapons violent crimes with guns decreased by 63% (Hienigan 965), and that was only seven years. If another ban was put in place for a longer amount of time then that number could be much bigger. There are people who think that my statement is incorrect but they have valid points against my position but i have stronger counter points. But to make any of this all happen I need your support, if you support my position our neighborhoods will be safer, our schools will be safer, and our persons will be safer. All we are thinking about is the safety of this nations people.

Adams, Bob. “Gun Control Debate.” //CQ Researcher Online//. N.p., 12 Nov. 2004. Web. 13 May 2012. .
 * ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY **

This secondary source is a web article from CQ researcher written in 2004 by Bob Adams, it is credible because it is an article from CQ researcher and CQ is a SAGE publication. The source discusses the assault-weapons ban and the Brady law and talks about how it has or has not reduced the crime rate. This will contribute to my paper because it gives me insight on how past weapons bans have worked and if they have worked at all. It will help me decide on how to impose my weapons ban.

Cooper, Mary H. “Arms Sales.” //CQ Researcher Online//. N.p., 9 Dec. 1994. Web. 13 May 2012. .

This is an encyclopedia secondary source written by Mary H. Cooper for CQ researcher, before working for CQ researcher she was reporter and washington correspondent for the Rome Daily newspaper. The article is about the U.S. and its weapons sales to other countries and if we should continue these sales to foreign nations, it cites specific sales that have happened in the past. I am using this source as background information and to provide specific examples of weapon sales that have happened in recent history.

“Department of Homeland Security Speech.” //eLibrary Curriculum Edition//. N.p., 17 Mar. 2009. Web. 27 Apr. 2012. .

This is a speech from Deputy Director Kumar C. Kibble which is secondary source. The speech talks about the plan for the Mexico/ United States border and how they are going to crack down on the traffic of people, drugs, and weapons from mexico to the U.S. in two different plans- Armas Cruzadas and Operation Firewall. I used the source because operation Armas Cruzadas focused on the traffic of weapons from Mexico to the U.S. and the border violence.

“Enforcing Prohibition .” //History Study Center//. elibrary, 2012. Web. 14 May 2012. .

This is a video clip that is a secondary source about how to enforce prohibition. This source is about how the police force at the time was enforcing the laws that banned alcohol and how they captured thousands of gallons of illegally made and sold liquor but it didn't stop or discourage bootleggers. This was part of my argument as well as the article about organized crime against my position in my paper.

“Guns: The global death toll.” //newsweek// 30 Apr. 2007: 1-6. //MAS Ultra - School Edition//. Web. 13 May 2012. . Hansen, Brian. “Future of the Airline Industry.” //CQ Researcher Online//. N.p., 21 June 2002. Web. 14 May 2012. .

This is a magazine article, mainly graphical representation, written for Newsweek magazine in 2007, so its a secondary source. The article represents the global death toll of deaths that involved guns in 2007 by using graphs, it also shows what type of weapons are the most popular and sold around the world. I used this source to represent how much guns have an influence and impact on society today.

Jost, Kenneth. “Gun Rights Debate.” //CQ Researcher Online//. N.p., 22 July 2010. Web. 14 May 2012. .

A secondary encyclopedia source written by Kenneth Jost who is the Associate Editor that graduated from both Harvard College and Georgetown University Law Center where he is an adjunct professor. This article is a pro/con about if having the availability of handguns to the public would be safer then if no one owned a gun. I used this article for my 6th memo for my position in the overall paper.

Klare, Michael T. “the thriving black market for weapons.” //EBSCO eBook Collection//. N.p., Apr. 1988. Web. 13 May 2012. .

This journal article is a primary source written in 1988 by Michael T. Klare, who is a Five College Associate Professor of Peace and World Security Studies. The source is part of a book written about Low-Intensity Warfare, specifically the part about the growing black market. This article gave me good examples of people who were caught funneling weapons into the black market and gives estimates on how large the market is and what kind of profit its making.

Markowski, Stefan. “Multi-Channel Supply Chain for Illicit Small Arms.” //EBSCO eBook Collection//. N.p., 15 Jan. 2008. Web. 14 May 2012. <http://web.ebscohost.com/‌ehost/‌pdfviewer/‌pdfviewer?sid=19bceb38-4fd7-4ed4-8d38-a929f7560866%40sessionmgr110&vid=10&hid=105>.

This is a secondary source from EBSCO host online database, there are multiple authors from multiple colleges- Stefan Markowski, Stephanie Koorey, and Peter Hall are from the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Academy and Jurgen Brauer are from James M. Hull College of Buisness. The article describes the multiple channels that funnel weapons to the illegal market. It helped me find a good way to stop the flow of weapons because i knew how the weapons were being transferred.

“Organised crime in the United States.” //History Study Center//. elibrary, 2012. Web. 14 May 2012. <http://www.historystudycenter.com/‌search/‌displayMultiResultStudyunitItem.do?Multi=yes&ResultsID=136BE65C4D7&fromPage=search&ItemNumber=1&QueryName=studyunit>.

This is a secondary source written using primary sources as an encyclopedia article from Elibrary. This very short article talks about organized crime in the Unites States with a little background history on some of the major mob bosses, like Al-Capone, Luciano, Siegel, Lansky, and Moran. I used this article in memo 5 as the argument against my position for the overall paper.

Roth, Jeffery A., and Christopher S. Koper. “Impacts of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban: 1994-96.” //U.S. department of justice//. N.p., Mar. 1999. Web. 11 May 2012. <https://www.ncjrs.gov/‌pdffiles1/‌173405.pdf>.

This article is a web article that is a secondary source written by both Jeffery Roth and Christopher Koper who are both Ph. D graduates that are research assoaistes at the State Policy Center of the Urban Institute.This source discusses the impacts of the weapons ban from 1994-1996 and how much of an impact it made in society. This article is used for insight on how society would react if there was another assault-weapons ban out into place. This gives more information that can be used when I'm deciding on a opinion and what we could do to address the problem.

“Second Amendment.” //American Civil Liberties Society//. N.p., 7 July 2008. Web. 16 May 2012. <http://www.aclu.org/‌racial-justice_prisoners-rights_drug-law-reform_immagrants-rights/‌second-amendment >.

This secondary source web article from ACLU and it earned a four star rating from Charity Navigator and meets the highest standards of the Better Business Bureaus Wise Giving Alliance. The article talks about their opinion of the second amendment and whether it defends a collective or individual right. For my paper I used this article as one of my three arguments that opposed my plan to fix the black market.

Strakes, Jason E. “Illicit Arms Transfers: Linking Weapins Characteristics and Strategic Applications.” //EBSCO eBook Collection//. infohio, Mar. 2008. Web. 12 May 2012. <http://web.ebscohost.com/‌ehost/‌pdfviewer/‌pdfviewer?sid=19bceb38-4fd7-4ed4-8d38-a929f7560866%40sessionmgr110&vid=5&hid=105>.

This is a secondary source web article from Ebsco Host was written by Jason Strakes who graduated from Claremont Graduate University which is a school of politics and economics. This source talks about the Illicit Arms Transfer database project, a ongoing project that is trying to catalog the trade of weapons on the black market. This source will help obtain more background information on my topic, just getting more information and learning more about it.

Worsnop, Richard L. “Gun Control.” //CQ Researcher Online//. N.p., 10 June 1994. Web. 23 Apr. 2012. <http://library.cqpress.com/‌cqresearcher/‌document.php?id=cqresrre1994061000&type=hitlist&num=1>.

This is a secondary source written by Richard L. Worshop, who is an author for CQ researcher which makes this an encyclopedia source. This article looks at whether gun control would reduce the violent crime in the U.S. I used this source to help come up with my positing for the paper and i used it for the history of my topic.