Siddhartha Rana
Professor Debra Williams
Writing in Sciences 21003
11/27/2019
How are the criminals in the United States supply themselves with firearms and what Specific strategies/ measures can the federal government take to prevent this issue?
Descriptively, there have been many issues regarding gun homicides in the United States.
Latest in the news, shootings in California High School, Los Angles resulted in the death of “2 killing two classmates and wounding three others before shooting himself in the head” Along with the other mass shootings i.e. in El Paso, and Virginia shootings that provoked more than 30 victims. It has triggered the fear for most Americans about how the situation with guns has caused a major setback for the United States and how threatening/unsafe it has become to live in the United States. Every year, the total number of gun homicides resulted in 15549 in 2017, and 38658 innocent lives” for 2016 to 2019 (Clark).
Due to this high activity of gun-related violence, the federal government has implemented gun control policies in order to prevent such homicides in the nation. But those specific policies are not able to obliterate the issue towards guns. There is a distinction between people with different political views and agendas. So, it is very difficult to come towards the conclusion of what policies work and do not work.
The issue of firearms is the result of the prevalence of guns in relation to the gun owners and gun manufacturers. According to United Nations data for 2017 compiled by the Guardian. “The US has nearly six times the gun homicide rate of Canada, more than seven times that of Sweden, and nearly 16 times that of Germany” (Lopez 22). With the global comparison, it can be displayed that gun violence is the most prominent topic, in terms of America.
Regardless of the consequences the fact that manufacturers of these firearms are careless and do not utilize the methods of safety procedures or responsible marketing of such devices because, for most people, it is only about profit. Also, there are no federal organizations to ratify the offenses for such equipment to sell because it is by law that has given the authority to trade firearms for public usage.
Moreover for the case related to firearms, according to the study done by the ATF (Alcohol Tobacco Firearms) “40 percent of all gun sales are private. In a more recent survey of prison inmates who used a gun in their most recent crime, only one in nine (11%) said they bought the gun from a store or a pawnshop, which are generally the venues of licensed gun dealers” (Carl 13). With a false license and the right shop, it is very effortless to own a gun in and it is not a piece of good news for America.
The root problem for the gun violence to erupt is “related upon the 2008 supreme court decision that permits citizens to bear arms for self-defense.” (Clark 3) It is now nearly impossible for the federal branch to conclude effective laws for gun-control. Many citizens are not willing to give up their firearms, which precipitates” over 100,000 Americans killed and injured in the gun-related shootings each year” (Lopez 16).
The topic of the 2nd amendment is the main argument that has caused the contrast of different agendas and views. The Amendment informs “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” (Carl). But the United States cannot be related back to the 1800s because we already have a well-developed military and the definition of the 2nd amendment has changed and ratified in recent years. The idea of the preservation of freedom or right has been wrongfully acknowledged by most Americans and that has caused a major issue with the topic of firearms.
Exemplifying the Shootings in California High School and other gun-related incidents occurred in less than a year in the United States, it has left us a question of what specific strategies should our federal government implement to tackle this issue. Based up studies, statistics, and facts, there are many strategies developed by many social activists and the public approves the policies but none of them are translated into specific laws that the American people can or should follow.
It is because of the minority of Americans not supporting the policies situated up the gun violence problem. The people tend to favor the abstract idea of the right to own guns because most of them do not want to trade their freedom to hold and use firearms for general usage. “This is part of how gun control opponents are able to kill even legislation that would introduce the most popular measures, such as background checks that include private sales to the black markets” (Lopez 24).
People tend not to like the gun control measures because they do not want to verify “these claims, especially when they involve a massive bill with lots of moving parts, enough end up believing in the catchphrases and scary arguments to stop the legislation from moving forward” (Clark 15).
In relation to the 2nd amendment, I am in opposition to the ‘right’ or ‘freedom’ of bearing firearms for self-defense. And I give credence to empowering and enforcing specific gun control policies to help reduce the issue with firearms in the united states. With the assistance of certain statistical studies, claims and from the different research studies, my objective is to analyze and consider what specific measures should the federal branch implement to the issue of gun manufacturers in the United States and how can we prevent it for the future generations.
“THE ESCALATING GUN VIOLENCE PROBLEM”
In recent years, the number of gun-related deaths has been increased as a whole. But for most Americans, it is a subject that they ignore and accept as a new normal. “For some Americans, the choice is a conscious one. They are willing to pay the price of Living in a society with more gun-related homicides, injuries, robberies, assaults, and suicides to have what they perceive to be freedom”. Concerning the “Sacred Second Amendment right” (Carl 1), most Americans perceive the freedom should be embraced largely but not consider hearing other options that can balance the odds.
The situation with the gun manufacturers and the advocates of gun control has been rugged for the past years. It is one other’s instinct to note a specific weakness regarding what they support. Thus, the only principle “difference is that the gun control supporters stress keeping guns out of the hands of irresponsible where gun control opponents stress allowing the respondent to own and carry guns” (Carl 2).
The subject of gun control and the homicides is a vast political issue. It is a back and forth situation for the distinction of people because of the difference in respective agendas. The studies were done in 2012 for the presidential election with “respect to gun control law strictness.” The experiment was carried out by “comparing mass murder trends in “red states,” whose majority of voters supported the Republican candidate for president, with “blue states,” whose majority of voters supported the Democratic candidate for president.” It resulted in in190 cases of mass murder committed in the U.S. from 2009 to 2018, 149 (78.4 percent) were committed with a gun as a primary weapon (GPW)” (Lewis 7).
For instance, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign believes in implementing sound policies(fewer guns, less violence) and keeping off guns from domestic abusers and the mentally ill to reduce gun-related fatalities. Statement from the president of the United States, Donald Trump emphasized the idea of “concealed carry permit” and informed “It’s just common sense. To make America great again, we’re going to go after criminals and put the law back on the side of the law-abiding.”
All the people/parties with their respective agendas can be justified that from both political views, each side implicitly agrees on the terms of the same fundamental principle that “The good guys should be able to possess handguns and bad guys should not” (Carl 4).
The topic of firearms is also a global issue. However, it can be perceived that gun violence is not prominent in other countries than it is in the United States. In relation to the other countries the united states, by comparison, is recognized as the most “violent developed country in the world when it comes to guns” (Lopez 24). The root problem of the prevalence of guns in the United States. It relates to the topic of the 2nd Amendment that discusses the “prohibition of all state and federal regulations of citizens’ ownership of firearms has no validity whatsoever” (Eugine 3).
From the above table, in comparison to other countries like France, Canada, Germany, etc. It can be perceived that the correlation of gun-related homicides is the highest 10.3 simply because of the Large ownership of Guns. In the topic of large availability of firearms in the united states, author Frederic Lemieux states, “while the United States surpassed all other industrial nations in incidences of mass shootings, rates of victimization tend to be lower (7.01 victims in the United States versus a cumulative average of 10.6 casualties for comparison nations.)”
With the substantial ownership of firearms, it has resulted in mass hysteria over the past decades for the United States. The studies were done in 2016; the U.S remains the highest number of privately owned guns in the world. “The number of civilian-owned firearms in the US was 88.8 guns per 100 people, meaning there was almost one privately owned gun per American and more than one per American adult” (Lopez 35).
Additional data for the topic of gun ownership in the States, from the above table, presents the estimated number of gun deaths through the year from 1982- 2019. With the thirty-seven years of statistical difference, it displays that there was an increase of no.of homicides with more access to handguns and weapons.
From the studies done by the Law Center to prevent gun violence (LCPGV) stated every day in the United States,
” An estimated 37,200 Americans were killed with guns in the 13 months following the California school shooting on November 21, 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
“The massacres at Virginia Tech (32 killed, 17 injured), Columbine High School (13 killed, 17 wounded), the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado (12 killed, 70 wounded), and Newtown, Connecticut (26 killed), are just the most publicized mass shootings.
Due to this Carnage, it has made America a very unsafe and challenging place to start a life in. But for America, it has not yet able to see these problems to admit that it is a huge issue that should be observed and emphasized.
“The argument with firearms and the 2nd Amendment”
As there are two sides to a coin, there is always a different story to tell for a specific situation. It allows the audience to literate among themselves about the distinction of specific details regarding the issue. For the case of Gun violence in America, the segregation of the advocates and opponents of gun violence is in large, and the opposite sides have their arguments to inform. Author John. R Lott Jr in the thesis of the book “more guns, less crime.”
Lott states that
“Allowing citizens to carry concealed handguns reduces violent crimes, and the reductions coincide very closely with the number of concealed-handgun permits issued. Mass shootings in public places are reduced when the law-abiding citizens are allowed to carry concealed handguns”.
It is an unjust discussion of assuming the good or bad person to clarify the use of guns blindly. It is a vast world; it is difficult to know one’s intentions or background information. It is just “another assumption lurking here…only apply for concealed carry permits. That is not how bad guys behave” (Carl 4). Furthermore, Lott argues for giving more insights into the “Lott-mustard model” that “concealed carry effectively deters violent crime because criminals are hesitant to rob or attack people who may be armed” (Carl 5). To Lott’s argument, the criminals will detect the threat of the armed citizens so they will not trigger any danger because of the empowerment in numbers. But, with that model of “right-to-carry-laws,” there was an increase in gun-related homicides by “over 9% over states with stringent concealed carry systems, while not affect whatever on homicides committed with other weapons”(Carl 6). Also by research, the “Lott mustard model” caused the increase in property crimes and other nonviolent crimes, which concludes the ineffectiveness of the reasoning.
The National Rifle Association (NRA), also have its arguments regarding their agenda of the fundamental right to own guns, On condition to rebel against an overreaching government. The Executive President of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre stated: “We’re the millions of Americans from all walks of life who take responsibility for our own safety and protection as a God-given, fundamental right.” With the mindset to argue that ” the guys with guns make the rules” (Lapierre), The NRA or “the gun cult,” utilizes the events of gun-related deaths to empower the idea to many citizens to buy guns for self-defense. “The more random the shootings, the closer to home, the higher the assault on citizens’ sense of security” (Clarke 14).
The idea of self-defense is extraneous towards the situation for America where gun violence is a prominent topic. Lapierre’s claim of, “‘the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.'” The study of 2015, found that there were “14,000 incidents of property theft when the victims were present, 127 of those victims were armed for self-defense. They only used their guns for self-defense in 0.9% of those 127 incidents” (Clarke 15). It must be emphasized, “however, that as comforting as those feelings may be, they provide gun owners with a false sense of security” (Carl 13). So, the prejudice assumption of every citizen with a gun can prevent violence is just a bold statement.
Supporting LaPierre ’s claim, the NRA also concludes that “guns don’t kill people, people do”(Clarke 15). The only possible way for a gun to come alive is by one’s ill intentions that trigger the barbarism. The only reason the guns are made is to shoot something for defense or offense. Moreover, this statement also appertains towards the topic for the Mentally ill. In the case of the high rate of gun-related mass murders in the United States, most experts diagnose the criminals as having some sort of mental disability or depression. According to Michael Stone, a forensic psychiatrist at Columbia University, only “twenty percent of mass shooters are suffering from serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, delusions, or psychoses.43 The rest of them may have personality or sociopathic disorders, and while they may be exhibit rage, an extreme lack of empathy, humiliation, or paranoia, they know what they are doing”. Also, studies done by the Health Affairs, states “stories connecting mental illness with mass shootings specifically increased from 9 percent between 1994 and 2004 to 22 percent between 2005 and 2018” ( 26). In that manner, it is blamed for the sickness to cause all the unnecessary carnage. Murder is Murder and it is not acceptable to make the excuse of not being well to cover up a homicide case. Other countries also have the statistical number of the mentally ill, but the rate of gun-related homicides is not as near than the United States. “O]nly 3%-5% of violent acts are attributable to serious mental illness, and most do not involve guns” (Applebaum).
The argument related to the 2nd amendment is also a principle that caused the vast manufacturing of firearms across America. With the “11 billion dollar gun industry” having the “number of 465 domestic firearms manufacturers”. Studies show “over 8.7 million new guns 52 were added to the estimated 300 million guns already in private hands. Of these it is estimated that 114 million are handguns, 110 million are rifles, and 86 million are shotguns.53 Together these firearms constitute the highest per capita gun ownership rate in the world” (Carl 10-11). With this rate of gun manufacturers and gun owner in the States, the violence is inevitable because “two facts — on gun deaths and firearm ownership — are related” also by research done by the Harvard School of Public Health’s Injury Control Research Center, the “increase in gun ownership correlated with a roughly 0.9 percent rise in the firearm homicide rate” (Lopez 34). The NRA is also responsible for the default of “proposed interstate commerce laws” such as “background checks, gun registration, licensing…commerce of guns” and also “track down sellers of illegal guns, investigate gun trafficking patterns, and make connections between individual gun-related crimes”(Clark 12). Which makes it easier for criminals to supply themselves and blocks the law enforcement officer to enforce any protocol that can help reduce the gun marketing system in the United States.
“Effectual Strategies that should be implemented”.
Based on policies, the united states has implemented specific gun control laws that could help reduce gun-related homicides and suicides in recent years. Policies include: “impose a tax on the sale and transfer of machine guns and short-barrel firearms, including sawed-off shotguns,” “states to automate lists of people prohibited from buying firearms, including felons and the mentally ill, and put them in the federal database,” “some gun sale restrictions and bars the government from creating a database of gun dealer records” etc. As a consequence of these strategies, “just ten states supplied nearly half – 49% – of the crime guns that crossed state lines before recovered in crimes. Together, these states accounted for nearly 21,000 interstate crime guns recovered in 2009 … and 12,000 murders” (Clark 21-23). The gun culture has been decreasing over the years compared to America in the 1980s. There has been a decrease in gun owners drastically by enforcing stronger gun control policies but “these people (gun owners) own more guns; more guns are being trafficked illegally, and the gun-related homicides remain high” (Clarke 24).
Relating to the topic of the 2nd amendment, the argument of the right to bear arms has created the division of the people or political parties, where both sides are not willing to hear or come to compromise a necessary strategy. With an open-mindset, it will be much easier for many Americans to conclude this barbarity, but there is an “extent that there may be some division between the trustworthy and the untrustworthy, it is not possible to devise a regulatory scheme that can effectively distinguish between the two” (Carl1). But, it does not conclude that gun control is not effective. As Carl displays the two models; “(1) everyone may possess a handgun except those who cannot, and (2) no one may possess a handgun except those who can.” Clark claims and suggests the audience that the second model should be exemplified for the other gun policies by the federal branch because the “second model presumptively grants a right to own a handgun to no one, except those who demonstrably fit into special categories.” There will be fewer handguns for the public and “only one kind that works – and it is this: anything that significantly reduces the number of handguns in general circulation” (Carl 3).
The issue with guns is affiliated with only the number of Gun-related homicides and suicides by the federal government and those victims thoroughly become only statistics to review by most Americans. As the elephant of the room can be associated with gun manufacturers, It should be notified that there should be an influence of stronger gun control laws towards gun manufacturers. The gun makers should also take necessary actions to “reduce the harm their products are producing.” The strategies include “monitoring the actions of others or not selling to certain dealers, “modify others actions they engage in that encourage people to act in potentially dangerous ways,” design of guns that could be modified to less likely to kill a high number of people” (Brenkert), etc. In relation to the well-developed nations, the federal government can also borrow or convey the specific strategies from its neighbors. For example, in 1996, there was a similar situation of the prevalence of guns in Australia. It resulted in “a massacre of 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia. In 1997 Australia’s legislature voted for and initiated a mandatory nationwide buy-back of civilian-owned weapons that were considered the most to frequently used in suicides and homicides. As a result, gun-related suicides dropped 65% and homicide rates dropped 59%” (Clark 16) . It is possible with a certain reform or by implementing well-balanced strategies, gun control is feasible and a must for the situation with America.
In conclusion, the argument with firearms has been a very prominent topic for the United States because of the unceasing high rate of gun homicides and suicides for the past several years. Even if there is a distinction between political or personal views points in relation to the 2nd Amendment. It should be noted with caution for most Americans that in order to stop the high rate of gun-related violence, gun control is necessary and laws should be enacted by the federal government. So, the future for most Americans will still live on.
Work Cited
Clark Moeller, et al, “Why the second amendment should be repealed,” Activist, Author, January 5, 2016, “www.repeal2ndamendment.org”
George G. Brenkert, et al “The Case of Firearm Manufacturers,” Globalization and the ethics of business, Oct 10, 2018, “https://www.jstor.org/stable/385769”.
Carl.T.Bogus, et al “The Hard, simple truth about gun control,” Professor of law, November 12, 2017, “https://ssrn.com/abstract=3067366”
J.Scott lewis, “The Relationship between Gun Control Strictness and Mass Murder in the United States: A National Study 2009-2015,” professor of sociology, August 2018, “https://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/issr”
Lopez, German. “America Is One of 6 Countries That Make up More than Half of Gun Deaths Worldwide.” Vox.com, Vox Media, 29 Aug. 2018, https://www.vox.com/2018/8/29/17792776/us-gun-deaths-global.
Lopez, German. “I’ve Covered Gun Violence for Years. The Solutions Aren’t a Big Mystery.” Vox.com, Vox Media, 8 Nov. 2018, www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/21/17028930/gun-violence-us-statistics-charts.
Schwartz, Emma. “Gun Control Laws.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, 6AD, www.usnews.com/news/articles/2008/03/06/gun-control-laws.
NRA-ILA. “Gun Laws.” NRA-ILA, www.nraila.org/gun-laws/.
Volokh, Eugene. “A Rare Second Amendment Exemption from Federal Ban on Felons Possessing Guns.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 27 Sept. 2014, www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/09/27/a-rare-second-amendment-exemption-from-federal-ban-on-felons-possessing-guns/?utm_term=.734aae30183e.
