Increasing Gun Control Regulation in the USA, Research Paper Example

Abstract

The subject of the research paper will be the question of to what extent should there be gun legislation in America. There are over one hundred thousand injuries and mortalities that occur as a result of gun violence annually. This research paper will explore the reasons for more stringent gun control regulation. The leading Supreme Court Justice has stated that the Second Amendment of the constitution requires modification in order or decrease the numbers of injuries and mortalities that are documented annually as a result of gun violence. The perspectives of Barrett (2014), Hamblin, 2015, Lepore (2014), Milligan (2014), Mayors Against Illegal Guns (2015) and 24/ 7 Wall St. (2014) were accessed.

Introduction

In the United States, gun related violence has become a substantial social problem. There are a number of mortalities that occur on a daily basis as a result of senseless gun related violence. The accessibility of firearms is not the only factor that is the causal attribute of gun violence. There should be increased regulations with regards to the administration of guns in our society. There should be increased ratification of gun control legislation in order to deter the needless gun violence from being the causal attribute of additional fatalities (Mayors Against Illegal Guns, 2015; 24/ 7 Wall St., 2014).

Gun Regulation and Gun Violence

Research has demonstrated that there is a significant correlation between the intensity of the gun regulations in a state and the indexes of gun violence. Studies have been conducted with regards to the states that have higher rates of gun violence in comparison to the states that have lower indexes of gun violence. The states with the higher indexes of gun regulations have been documented to have the lowest amount of gun related fatalities. The states that have the lowest rates of gun violence are Rhode Island, Hawaii, Connecticut and New Jersey. These states have the most substantial amount of gun control regulations on their books (24/ 7 Wall St., 2014).

The primary challenge with the lack of gun regulations with regards to purchasing firearms is the inability of discerning who may have a mental health history of a criminal background. Individuals can procure firearms without having to pass a mental health screening examination. The criminals are cognizant of this fact and apply this knowledge to their benefit. It would be a responsible act to ensure that all applicants for firearms licenses receive a criminal history investigation and a mental health history review prior to the receipt of the firearms (Barrett, 2014; Lepore, 2012).

One of the most established members of the Supreme Court advocates modifying the gun control laws and the constitution. John Paul Stevens served on the Supreme Court for more than three generations.  There have been 8.57 million firearms manufactured in the United States in 2012. This statistic represents a 31% increase in the manufacture of firearms from the previous year (Barrett, 2014). Stevens believes that five words should be aggregated to the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. These words infer that the authority of bearing arms of individuals who are serving in the armed forces should not be restricted (Barrett, 2014).

The present argument with regards to the authority of bearing arms initiated with Lee Harvey Oswald. Over fifty years ago, Lee Harvey Oswald procured a bolt action firearm, which had been a surplus Item from the Italian military for less than twenty dollars by requesting the firearm from a mail order concern that he encountered in American rifleman. Five days subsequent to the murder of President Kennedy, Senator Thomas Dodd, presented legislation restricting the marketing of firearms by mail order concerns (Lepore, 2012).

One out of three Americans is acquainted with a victim of gun violence. A number of the gun regulation administration proponents believe that the solution to reducing the gun violence is the availability of a smaller amount of firearms. The action of maintaining a hidden weapon is not a demonstration of civility, it becomes a demonstration of the lack of civility in society. On an annual basis in the United States, there are one hundred thousand injuries and mortalities that are the result of the availability of firearms (Lepore, 2012).

An adolescent in New Mexico retrieved a shotgun from the bag in which a musical instrument was being carried and assaulted two of his classmates. He was not a criminal. His family members were proponents of maintaining possession of firearms as a result of their affinity for hunting. If the boy would not have had such ready access to a firearm, he would not have been able to needlessly assault two of his classmates (Milligan, 2014).

A retired Florida police officer fatally wounded a consumer at a movie theatre after the consumer negated to stop using his personal communication device for texting. The argument is that the retired police officer had availability to a firearm and would not have had the capacity of fatally wounding the consumer if he had not possessed a firearm. If the retired police officer were not permitted to bring a concealed deadly weapon in to the cinema, the needless death of the consumer would have been avoided (Milligan, 2014). Prior to the issuance of concealed deadly weapon permits, the recipients of the permits should be educated with regards to the use of the firearm in the appropriate situation (Hamblin, 2015).  There are more than 75, 000 gun administration regulations and only three of those gun administration regulations are enforced (Hamblin, 2015).

The leading cause of gun related mortalities is suicide. There had been 32, 351 firearm mortalities in 2011. More than 20,000 of these mortalities that occurred with firearms were suicides. Research has demonstrated that more than 6.6 million firearms were marketed to individuals who had not undergone a mental health evaluation or a criminal history review. This is a substantial risk for our society to incur. Research has demonstrated that more than four fifths of the individuals who committed assaults with a firearms procured the firearm in a private transaction (24/ 7 Wall St., 2014).

It would substantially facilitate the deterrence of gun related violence if effective background reviews were conducted on all applicants for a firearms. It would facilitate the enforcement of the background checks if all of the important achieves could be accessed by the National Instantaneous Criminal Background Check matrix.  There are number of states that do not report their information to the National Instantaneous Criminal background check matrix’s due to the deficiencies that they are experiencing with regards to manpower. There should be increase regulations that makes the documentation of findings with the National Instantaneous Criminal Background Check matrix a requisite (24/ 7 Wall St., 2014).

Other challenges that have been plaguing our society is the prevalence of the number of people who commit mass shootings. The consensus of the mass shootings are conducted with the implementation of assault weapons. The two main examples of these types of mass shootings would be the assaults that took place in Newtown, Connecticut at the Sandy Hook Elementary School and the mass shootings that took place at the movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado. Many of the assault weapons that are implemented in mass shooting are military grade firearms. There is no need to have military grade weapons that manifest intensive firepower and projective discharge to be made available to the public (Mayors Against Illegal Guns, 2015; 24/ 7 Wall St., 2014).

The military grade firearms are a menace to society due to the ease with which they were designed to kill. There is really no need for the availability of military assault weapons to members of the general public.  There are number of assessments and evaluations that can be reviewed when attempting to determine the causal attributes of gun related violence In the United States. Notwithstanding, there are a variety of firearms control implementations that can be applied with regards to diminishing the perils to which our citizens are exposed. The actions that would be most effective in decreasing the incidences of gun related violence would be the requisite of having everyone who procures a firearm legally to submit to a thorough background review. This would require legislation that requires that all of the state agencies submit their pertinent archive to the National Instantaneous Criminal Background Check matrix. In addition, all assault weapons should be prohibited from non- military use. These are some of the enactments that should be performed with regards to safeguarding the people of the United States (Mayors Against Illegal Guns, 2015; 24/ 7 Wall St., 2014).

Research has demonstrated that culture and politics influence the indexes of citizens who own firearms. The states that have the highest indexes of mortalities from firearms are the states that are the most conservative with regards to politics. The states that have the highest indexes of firearms assaults have the lowest per capita incomes. In the ten states that manifested the highest indexes of firearms violence, the poverty index was above the nation’s index of 15.9%. In addition, the states that have the lowest indexes of educational accomplishment have higher indexes of gun related violence (24/ 7 Wall St., 2014).

 Conclusion

Violence that is attributed to firearms has become a serious issue in the United States. The leading Supreme Court Justice of the twentieth century believes that the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution should be modified to include that only members of the armed forces should have the authority of bearing arms.  Lee Harvey Oswald was able to murder President Kennedy with a firearm that he procured from a mail order concern for less than twenty dollars. There are more than 8.5 million firearms that are produced in the United States on an annual basis. There is a dire need for more stringent gun administration regulation.

References

Barrett, P. (20 February 2014). Gun control and the Constitution: should we amend the Second Amendment? Bloomberg Business.

Hamblin, J. (1 March 2015). Why we can’t talk about gun control. The Atlantic.

Lepore, J. (23 April 2012). Battleground America: One nation, one gun. The New Yorker.

Milligan, S. (16 January 2014). We need gun control to stop more than criminals. US News.

24/ 7 Wall St. (30 June 2014). The states with the most gun violence: 24/ 7 Wall Street. Huffington Post Business.