Increasing Gun-Related Violence Essay Example

Introduction

The debate on gun control in the United States has been growing exponentially with different arguments put forward by supporters and opponents. The Second Amendment of the US constitution protects individual's rights to possess a gun for self-defense (Bhunjun). Pro-gun activists, groups, and politicians have used the amendment to block any efforts to introduce gun restrictions. However, the increase in gun violence in the United States provides a major reason for the justification of the need to review the Second Amendment and introduce gun control regulations that will facilitate safety for all Americans. For instance, in 2016, more than 11,000 murders or manslaughters involved a firearm. Additionally, the number of homicides involving a gun as a percentage of all homicides stood at 64% as compared to England's 4.5% and Australia's 13% (BBC). In this case, the US has the highest number of gun-related homicides in the developed world. The number of gun-related deaths in the country in 2016 was 33594, whereby 22,938 were suicides, 14,415 homicides of which 71 were from mass shootings, and others accounted for 1,305 deaths (BBC). The high number of deaths can be linked to the high number of guns that the U.S. public owns whereby there are 88 guns for every 100 people, the highest in the developed world (Lopez). While anti-gun control crusaders view ownership of guns as contributing to personal safety, the high number of deaths reveals a sinister side of lack gun restrictions. It is time for the U.S. to find ways of reducing the number of gun-related deaths, and this can only be done by reducing the number of guns in the hands of civilians.

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Gun Control Laws Can Work in the U.S.

A major argument by opponents of gun control is that gun control will deny people the right to defend themselves, and potentially, expose them to more crime than when they had guns. In this case, the argument is based on the notion that guns act as deterrence for would-be criminals, and potentially protect millions of people from gun violence (Richard). However, the data on the high number of people affected, either killed or injured, in gun-related violence demands for the U.S. to reviews its laws, especially the Second Amendment, and introduce restrictions on gun access and ownership (Beckett). Case studies from other nations that have implemented provided important success stories that prove that gun control laws can actually reduce gun-related violence. In the State of Missouri, the repealing of the "Permit-to-Purchase" law that required people to have a permit by visiting a law enforcement agency led to an increase of 55%-63% in homicides as compared to when the law was effective (Gebelhoff). The change can be directly attributed to the elimination of gun control in the state. In Massachusetts, the state that has the strictest gun storage laws, the number of suicides among the youth is 38% lower than the national average (Gebelhoff). From around the world, Australia offers a good example of a country that was able to eliminate mass shootings that were common due to its previous lack of gun control. The country introduced gun control laws following a series of mass shootings, most significantly, the 1996 mass shooting of 35 people in Tasmania (Leaf). The country banned semi-automatic and other military-style weapons in the nation. Since the ban, Australia has not experienced a mass shooting (Leaf). Consequently, there is a need for gun control legislation to stop the gun-related violence.

Works Cited

BBC. "America's Gun Culture in 10 Charts." BBC News, 27 Oct 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41488081. Accessed 13 November 2018.

Beckett, Lois. "Better Gun Laws Could Save Thousands of Lives, Major Non-Partisan Study Finds." The Guardian, Mar 2, 2018, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/01/gun-control-study-rand-corporation-assault-weapons-ban. Accessed 13 November 2018.

Bhunjun, Avinash. " What is the Second Amendment and How Does It Influence Gun Control Laws." Metro, Feb 20, 2018, metro.co.uk/2018/02/20/what-is-the-second-amendment-and-how-does-it-influence-gun-control-laws-7326880. Accessed 13 February 2018.

Gebelhoff, Robert. "This is How We Save Lives from Gun Violence." The Washington Post, Mar 23, 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/opinions/gun-control-that-works/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1aec6e990eab. Accessed 13 November 2018.

Leaf, Clifton. "How Australia All but Ended Gun Violence." Fortune, 20 Feb 2018, fortune.com/2018/02/20/australia-gun-control-success/. Accessed 13 November 2018.

Lopez, German. "American's Unique Gun Violence Problem Explained in 17 Maps and Charts." VOX News, Nov 8, 2018, www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/2/16399418/us-gun-violence-statistics-maps-charts. Accessed 13 November 2018.

Richard, Sarah. "Why Background Checks for Gun Purchases have Gun-owner Support." John Hopkins Magazine, Fall 2015, hub.jhu.edu/magazine/2015/fall/background-checks-guns/. Accessed 13 November 2018.