Research Paper on U.S. Gun Export & Gun Violence: A Growing Threat

Introduction

The United States is one of the core manufacturer and a key legal exporter of firearms. It is estimated that nearly 300,000 guns are legally exported annually. Major markets for the U.S. manufactured guns are the countries in Central America, the Caribbean, and North America. Existence of weaknesses and gaps in United States gun laws and policies have propagated illegal gun trafficking both within and outside the nation's borders. Gun violence in nearby countries is equally increasingly thriving coupled with rise in the flow of crime guns within and beyond the borders. For that reason, the United State law enforcement has made it a moral obligation to combat illegal gun trafficking. The paper is premised on the efforts of U.S. law enforcement aimed at combating gun trafficking.

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The law enforcement agencies have enacted stringent policies to curb illicit gun trafficking. To begin with, the licensing and oversight of firearm dealers continue to be improved. The agency, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) has been legally empowered to issue federal firearms license to individuals involved in sales of firearms in the U.S (Agrawal, 2019). The agency also has the responsibility of maintenance of inventory records of the gun dealers. As a result, corrupt firearm dealers have been nabbed since such individuals are the ones who funnel firearms to criminals.

Secondly, law enforcement is undertaking to screen of all gun purchasers through implementation of firearm control policies. The eligibility status of firearms' purchasers is examined to avoid flow of guns into the hands of criminals. Certain category of people has also been lawfully barred from purchasing or possessing guns. These group of individuals are the click of misdemeanants and convicted criminals. However, handle of "straw purchase" remains to be a challenge. The purchase is whereby a prohibited gun purchase involves a third party who is lawfully permitted to own a gun to purchase firearms on his/her behalf (Fabio, Duell, Creppage, O'Donnell, & Laporte, 2016).

Mandatory reporting of firearms thefts is increasingly being enforced by U.S. law enforcement agencies. Restrictions such as one gun per month limits have been introduced in some regions within the US by law enforcement. The main purpose of the restriction is to make it exceptionally harder for gun purchasers who purchase many guns at once with a motive of reselling the guns to prohibited buyers. It is only authorised to purchase a maximum of one gun per period of 30 days which eventually aid in combating gun trafficking (Fabio et al. 2016).

Moreover, law enforcement in the U.S. has also banned high-risk guns. The high-risk guns are guns like Saturday Night Special which are of less quality and costs but highly preferred by price-sensitive traffickers and criminals. Therefore, restrictions of such guns reduce inexpensive guns trafficking. The law enforcement in the recent past has pursued and traced the sources of some of the crime guns. BATFE has been able to establish the dealers as well as the initial retail buyers of the crime guns. Every manufactured gun in the U.S. has a unique serial number for identification and registration purpose. The trace data obtained allows for higher scrutiny of unscrupulous dealers with a view of curbing gun trafficking (Muggah, 2016). Severe penalties have also been introduced through enactment of federal firearms laws by law enforcement. For instance, ten years' imprisonment conviction for already convicted drug users or other violent offenders found in possession of guns would be considered. Sentences such as a minimum of fifteen years for convicted criminals especially drug traffickers in crimes which involved usage of firearms are also in existence.

The current administration of the U.S. headed by President Donald Trump is characterized by protectionist, isolationist, and nativist immigration policy. The policy is based on the notion that violent crimes such as gun trafficking are perpetrated by immigrants thus the need for the United States to restrict immigration and U.S-Mexico border closure. Majority of Mexicans engages in drug trafficking, an issue which goes hand in hand with gun trafficking. Therefore, there exists a perception that the Mexican immigrants to U.S. perpetrates and fuels domestic gun trafficking in the US alongside drug-trafficking (Schiff, 2019). The isolationist immigration policy fronted by the United States' current regime has had a positive ramification on the war against illicit gun trafficking.

Lastly, U.S. law enforcement agencies continue to carry out investigations on various firearm homicides as well as studies on gun violent crimes as a measure to combat illegal drug trafficking. The gang responsible for these crimes involving firearms are identified, and they can reveal some crucial leads with regards to information of illicit dealings (Fabio et al. 2016). As a result, the law enforcers acquire tip-off which significantly aids in their policies formulations and curbing illegal drug trafficking.

Conclusion

In summary, the United States' law enforcement department are sincerely committed in the fight against drug trafficking domestically as well as internationally. The U.S. law enforcers have advanced gun policies which have countered some of the loopholes in the existing federal firearms laws. However, greater strides in the war on gun trafficking have not been achieved prompting the need to focus more energies in combating the menace.

References

Agrawal, D. (2019). Combating US Gun Trafficking to Mexico. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY. Retrieved from https://stopusarmstomexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/U.S.-Guns-to-Mexico-Final.pdf

Fabio, A., Duell, J., Creppage, K., O'Donnell, K., & Laporte, R. (2016). Gaps continue in firearm Surveillance: Evidence from a large US city Bureau of Police. Social Medicine, 10(1), 13-21. Retrieved from https://medicinasocial.info/index.php/socialmedicine/article/viewFile/852/1649

Muggah, R. (2016). Latin Americas Fatal Gun Addiction. Foreign Affairs, 27. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Robert_Muggah/publication/307967504_Latin_American's_Fatal_Gun_Addiction/links/57d43ce208ae601b39a8a6a6/Latin-Americans-Fatal-Gun-Addiction

Schiff, M. (2019). Greater US Gun Ownership, Lethality, and Murder Rates: Analysis and Policy Proposals. Retrieved from https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/206281/1/GLO-DP-0421.pdf