Gun control refers to the policies prohibiting or limiting the production, possession, or use of firearms. Gun control laws vary across countries; some impose strict laws against the possession of firearms while others have flexible laws regarding them. Critiques of gun control argue that these policies do not affect the rate of crime; they state that background checks associated with gun control do not solve the problem of crime because the legal systems are corrupt. Studies seeking to establish the link between the ownership of firearms and the rate of crime have been conducted. Some of these studies reveal a relationship between the two variables while others indicate that there is none. It is necessary to ascertain whether a correlation exists between gun ownership and crime rate amidst gun control policies.
According to a survey conducted on twenty-eight countries by Small Arms Corporation in Geneva, two countries, the United States of America and Yemen considered the ownership of firearms by civilians a right. The study found out that majorities of civilians possess guns in the United States of America; there were 270 million guns in this nation. This translated to an estimated number of 89 guns per a hundred people. Small Arms Corporation reported that about 40% to 45 % of the households in the United States if America own a firearm. India was ranked second based on gun possession; civilians possess an estimated 46 million firearms in India, which translate to four guns per a hundred people.
The estimated relationship between firearm ownership and the rate of crime can be established by gathering facts about gun ownership in various countries. The estimated number of firearms in the hands of civilians in Algeria, for example, is 1.9 million. The number of homicide related crimes committed in this country by the use of a firearm is twenty. Another example of a country with a significant number of homicides committed using a gun is Jamaica. The estimated number of guns possessed by Jamaican civilians is 215,000. The number of homicides, however, is high; 1080 homicides have been committed using firearms in Jamaica. These facts reveal a varying relationship between firearm ownership and violent crimes.
These facts can be classified into four columns; the first giving the name of a country, the second revealing the number of guns held by civilians, the third showing the mean number of guns owned per a hundred civilians, and the fourth the number of homicides committed using guns. The data will use a sample of five countries to draw an inference concerning the rate of violent crimes and ownership of guns. These countries are Algeria, Jamaica, the United States of America, Mexico, and India.
The data is presented using a table with six rows and four countries. The rows indicate the statistics for each country, while the columns show the individual statics concerning the crime levels and gun ownership. Data is analyzed using the mean, to calculate the average number of guns possessed per a hundred people. The table below shows a presentation of the data.
These results show that the United States of America has the highest gun possession rate among the five countries. India is second while Jamaica is last. Jamaica, however, has a high number of violent crimes when compared to the total number of guns held. These results reveal that gun ownership does not lead a higher rate of crime.
A significant deduction from this data is that the relationship between gun ownership and the rate of crime is insignificant. Countries, whose rate of firearm ownership is low, do not necessarily reflect a low crime rate. Those with high rates of ownership, in contrast, do not necessarily record a high rate of crime. This might be caused by the gun control measures employed by various countries.
Example Of Research Paper On Current Gun Control in America
Type of paper: Research Paper
Topic: United States, Social Issues, Ownership, Crime, Gun Control, Countries, Control, Evaluation
Pages: 3
Words: 650
Published: 02/17/2020
Cite this page
- APA
- MLA
- Harvard
- Vancouver
- Chicago
- ASA
- IEEE
- AMA