Restrictive Gun Control
Gun control is also referred to as fire arms regulation which is a set of policies and laws that regulates the manufacture, possession, sale, modification, transfer of the use of firearms by civilians. Majority of countries in the world have a from gun guiding policy whereby a few legislations are categorized as permissive. The jurisdiction that regulates access to guns normally restricts access to firearms of certain categories then proceeds to restrict types of people who can receive a license to have access to firearms (Spitzer, 2017). This thesis will analyze the effect that gun control had on suicide, child safety and homicide with an aim to illustrate that gun control does lead to reduced rates of these three issues. Likewise, this study would argue that gun is necessary to improve personal safety and reduced threats of violence in the United States though requiring more restrictive gun control policies to promote such interest.
Gun control debates often revolve around the argument as to whether restricting the availability of guns will in any way deter criminal incentives or the law-abiding citizens right to bear arms. The advocates of gun control argue that in the absence of laws, criminals can easily acquire firearms and that a high number of guns in circulation lead to a greater number of incidences of violent crime. In the United States, gun legislation can be undertaken at the state/local level or at the federal level (Spitzer, 2017). The opponents of gun control on the other hand insist that gun control laws will undermine a citizen’s ability to defend themselves against criminals and thus resulting in increasing crime and other gun related violence.
A cross-sectional study by the National Rifles Association found that states with stricter gun laws had lower suicide rates compared to states with less restrictive gun laws. The American Journal of Preventive Medicine published a journal in 2003 that examined the restrictiveness of gun laws and the corresponding suicide rates among men and women in all 50 US states (Irvin, Rhodes, & Wiebe, 2014). The study’s findings indicate that the states that had more restrictive gun laws recorded lower suicide rates among men and women compared to other states. Recent studies have also indicated that the likelihood of suicide increases in the presence of guns as compared to when access is limited. This could be attributed to the death toll caused by guns thereby making it a significant influence on suicide trend. The presence of guns also provides people with a choice of what is considered to be a quick death. Lowered access to gun through government policies can imply that suicidal individuals would need to employ more complicated alternatives thus, deterring their suicidal tendecies due to the time involved (Swanson, 2015).
Fire-arms related deaths are still one of the top three causes of death among children and adolescents. Kposowa et al. (2016) found that US states with lenient gun control laws recorded higher gun-related child injury hospital admissions than those with stricter gun laws. In 2009, 80% of all homicide of youth 15-19 years of age were related to firearms. Majority of the homicides take place during conflict mainly between friends, relatives or acquaintances. The easy access to firearms is a considerable factor to child safety. In some cases, children might interact with guns as a toy and end up injured even fatally. While in other cases, alterations among children and adolescents might lead to shootings in fits of anger. All in all, the availability of guns, in many cases armed increases risks to child safety (Tashiro et al., 2016). Therefore, gun control laws provide better safety to gun possession.
A 2015 study comparing gun control laws in different US state observed that stricter firearm legislations were linked to lower discharge rates for non-fatal injuries (Hamilton & Kposowa, 2015). Irvin et al (2014), noted that states that required inspections and licensing of gun dealers recorded lower rates of homicides. Another study that analyzed panel data from 50 states noted that stricter gun laws led to reduced gun deaths. The study concluded that “These findings suggest that more restrictive gun sales laws and gun dealer regulations do make it more difficult for criminals to acquire new guns first purchased at retail outlets.”
In 2017, there were 346 mass shootings in which 437 people were killed while over 1802 were injured. Gun violence also has been noted to have a disproportionate impact on young adults, males and racial/ethnic minorities (Kleck, 2017). Homicide is the fourth leading cause of death for non-Hispanic whites of US residents aged between 15-24 years. Additionally, homicide is the second leading cause of death for Hispanics and the leading cause of death for non-Hispanic blacks. Studies have indicated that restrictive gun laws and gun dealer regulations. Laws banning gun possession by people who subject an intimate partner with violence and restraining order were found to be effective in reducing homicide rates in intimate partners (Spitzer, 2017).
Restrictive gun licensing laws have also been associated with reduced gun injury rates. Stricter gun laws especially in cases requiring strong background checks and subsequent permit-to-purchase laws were strongly linked to reduced homicide rates. Based on the overwhelming evidence by studies conducted on gun control laws, it is safe to conclude that more restrictive gun laws do deter homicide (Hofman et al., 2018). The lack of gun control provides criminals and individuals with poor mental health an access to lethal weapons that kill in a very short period of time. The mass murders are an influence to how fatal and lethal firearms are.
Restrictive gun control does not essentially confiscate guns from people violating their constitutional right. However, they do ensure that use, access and purchase of guns is supervised and restricted in cases where an individual has criminal or poor behavior record. Further, restrictive gun control laws also deter rates of suicide in individual that may possess the greater tendency for it. Studies have provided evidence of improved child safety and reduction of firearm related injuries in children and adolescent in cases of restrictive gun control laws. The right to life should be above any persons’ privilege to possess a gun thus, it is imperative to know that gun ownership does not necessarily mean that democracy is being upheld. Since studies have also indicated that the rates gun violence is greater than guns’ role in self-defense and safety, more gun control laws and measures should be implemented in the US. As Spitzer had reiterated, “Yes, people pull the trigger – but gun are instrument of death. Gun control is necessary, and delay means more death” (2017).
References
Hamilton, D., & Kposowa, A. J. (2015). Firearms and violent death in the United States: Gun ownership, gun control, and mortality rates in 16 states, 2005–2009. British Journal of Education, Society & Behavioural Science, 7, 84-98.
Hofmann, L. J., Keric, N., Cestero, R. F., Babbitt-Jonas, R., Khoury, L., Panzo, M., … & Cohn, S. M. (2018). Trauma Surgeons’ Perspective on Gun Violence and a Review of the Literature. Cureus, 10(11).
Irvin, N; Rhodes, K; Cheney, R; Wiebe, D (August 2014). “Evaluating the effect of state regulation of federally licensed firearm dealers on firearm homicide”. American Journal of Public Health. 104 (8): 1384–86. doi:10.2105/ajph.2014.301999. PMC 4103238. PMID 24922158.
Kleck, G. (2017). Targeting guns: Firearms and their control. Routledge.
Kposowa, A., Hamilton, D., & Wang, K. (2016). Impact of firearm availability and gun regulation on state suicide rates. Suicide and Life‐Threatening Behavior, 46(6), 678-696.
Spitzer, R. J. (2017). The politics of gun control. New York: Routledge.
Swanson, J. W., McGinty, E. E., Fazel, S., & Mays, V. M. (2015). Mental illness and reduction of gun violence and suicide: bringing epidemiologic research to policy. Annals of epidemiology, 25(5), 366-376.
Tashiro, J., Lane, R. S., Blass, L. W., Perez, E. A., & Sola, J. E. (2016). The effect of gun control laws on hospital admissions for children in the United States. Journal of trauma and acute care surgery, 81(4), S54-S60.