Essay on Gun Control Legislations in the United States

The homicide rates in the United States dwarf the rates from other similar developed countries. In particular, studies conclude that the annual homicide rates in the US are 25 times higher than rates in any other single country, developed or otherwise. Gun murders are particularly to blame as they account for two-thirds of all the homicides in the US. When compared to other gun crime rates in 22 developed nations, the gun murder rates of the U.S account for over 80% of all gun deaths in these countries (Grinshteyn & Hemenway, 2016). These alarming statistics can be accounted for by the gun control legislation in place. In the United States where legislation concerning gun control is evidently relaxed, the rates are higher as compared to other developed nations that have more stringent gun control laws. Another contributing factor to this disparity in homicide rates is the high level of organized crime in the U.S particularly concerning gangs and drug cartels as compared to other developed countries. Such gangs lead to violent crimes, which in turn escalates the homicide rates.

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Gun control legislations aim to reduce the number of firearms in circulation and curtail the number of people who can own or access firearms. This does not guarantee that the number of homicides will reduce owing to illegal practices that make firearms available to even underage and ineligible citizens. However, it will have a significant impact in the end. Such laws will make it relatively harder for people to access firearms hence drastically reducing the rates of gun murders involving ordinary citizens with access to guns. Probability dictates that the likelihood of an event happening is exponentially increased when factors promoting the event are made available. As such, by reducing the number of guns in circulation, the probability of gun-related homicides also goes down. There is clear evidence based on statistics from developed nations where guns are highly regulated. For example, in Japan where it is practically illegal to own guns, the likelihood of gun-related homicide is similar to that of being struck by lightning in America (one in ten million chances) (Krug, 1998).

Mass murder is a term used to refer to the killing of many people in a single event or day perpetrated by one or more individuals. However, the victims have to be more than three for the crime to be ruled as a mass murder. Other aspects of mass murders include the fact that the perpetrator(s) in mass murders usually know their victims or at least some of their victims. A good example is the Orlando shooting incident where 53 victims died at the hands of a lone gunman ("The Mind of a Serial Killer | Criminal Minds Series," 2016). On the other hand, a serial murder is defined by the number of victims together with the time between each victim(s) death. Consequently, serial murders involve multiple victims who are killed by the same person with varying intermittent time breaks between each assassination.

Theodore Robert Bundy is arguably the most known serial killer in America to date. He kidnapped his victims often feigning injury to lure them into his car, after which he proceeded to rape, torture, and brutally murder his victims. He would also engage in sexual relations with the corpses. These traits are characteristic of a power/control serial killers who gain satisfaction when they completely dominate their victims ("The Mind of a Serial Killer | Criminal Minds Series," 2016). The fact that Bundy beat up his victims and even had sex with their bodies alludes to power/control issues.

References

Grinshteyn, E. & Hemenway, D. (2016). Violent Death Rates: The US Compared with Other High-income OECD Countries, 2010. The American Journal Of Medicine, 129(3), 266-273. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2015.10.025Krug, E. (1998). Firearm-related deaths in the United States and 35 other high- and upper-middle-income countries. International Journal Of Epidemiology, 27(2), 214-221. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ije/27.2.214

The Mind of a Serial Killer | Criminal Minds Series. (2016).Criminaljusticeschoolinfo.com. Retrieved 26 September 2016, from http://www.criminaljusticeschoolinfo.com/serial-killer.html