Localism and Gun Control in the United States: How Political Partisanship Exploits the Intrastate Regulatory Dynamic

Davis, Matthew (2025) Localism and Gun Control in the United States: How Political Partisanship Exploits the Intrastate Regulatory Dynamic. Doctoral thesis, Birmingham City University.

[thumbnail of Matthew_Davis_PhD _Thesis_Final Version_Final Award May 2025.pdf]

Preview

Text
Matthew_Davis_PhD _Thesis_Final Version_Final Award May 2025.pdf - Accepted Version
Download (2MB)

Abstract

“Most Americans live in urban areas, and a disproportionate number of gun-homicide victims die in them.”¹ However, cities are largely left unable to address gun violence. Professor Blocher suggests that this is not because of the Second Amendment, but rather a result of intrastate preemption. The current U.S. constitutional order does not explicitly afford local governments specific authority, so the states are left to decide whether cities are afforded power and, if so, the extent of this power. Typically, states have construed this authority narrowly. The aim of this research was to investigate how the silence on the role of local government in the U.S. Constitution affects the authority of cities to regulate in response to local concerns and how political partisanship and the urban-rural divide factor in the current state of play in intergovernmental relations. This narrative was established first by conducting an investigation resulting in a database of preemption bills introduced between 2016 and 2020, and secondly, the identification of local gun control ordinances enacted by the cities of Seattle and Pittsburgh and the state preemption-based legal challenges to these ordinances. It emerged that most proposed and enacted bills in the dataset were Republican-sponsored and focused on expanding preemption and imposing new hyper preemption measures. Measures proposing a greater degree of local authority, sponsored by Democrats, were in the minority. Some judges in the Pennsylvania state judiciary showed a willingness to accord a greater degree of local authority to regulate firearms than currently possible. However, this has not translated into a recalibration of the municipal regulatory authority in relation to firearms due to the inhibiting effect of preemption. This project contends that the U.S. constitutional order is not correctly calibrated for 21st Century America with the role of local governments as a primary service provider in mind. This project has located city firearms regulation within what Professor Briffault as termed a new era of preemption and what Professor Schragger identifies as an attack on American cities and contributes to the debate on the place of local government in the U.S. constitutional order.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Dates:	Date Event 6 May 2025 Accepted
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Intrastate preemption, federalism, firearms regulation
Subjects:	CAH15 - social sciences > CAH15-01 - sociology, social policy and anthropology > CAH15-01-03 - social policy CAH15 - social sciences > CAH15-03 - politics > CAH15-03-01 - politics CAH16 - law > CAH16-01 - law > CAH16-01-01 - law
Divisions:	Doctoral Research College > Doctoral Theses Collection Faculty of Business, Law and Social Sciences > College of Law, Social and Criminal Justice
Depositing User:	Louise Muldowney
Date Deposited:	09 Jun 2025 11:08
Last Modified:	09 Jun 2025 11:08
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/16409