Introduction
Many Americans remember a horrible and sorrowful day of December, 14, 2012, when 26 people, including 20 students, were shot to death at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut (7). After that, the USA has seen an awful string of new gun massacres, and question of control of gun ownership and usage had become acute as never before this. It’s well-known, that in some states a teenager requires parental permission to play in a sports team, but not to own a shortgun. In many states, the number of firearms owned by one person is not limited (1).
The rate of gun ownership in the United States is higher than in any country of the World. Each year 4.5 million out of 8 million firearms manufactured globally are acquired by people living in the U.S. According to Pew Research Center data, 37% of households own gun, the highest rate of ownership is in rural areas - 59% of households own firearms (5). Men are 3 times more likely to have a gun than women, 37% of men are gun owners versus 12% in women (5). Some researchers state that gun ownership rate has decreased since 70th (for example, in 1973, according to Pew Research Center, 49% of respondents had a gun or revolver at home or in a garage), but others show different figures (5). According to Gallup, gun ownership rate in households remained stable at a level of 43% since 1972. Typical profile of a gun owner is represented by white men - 61% of adult gun owners (5).
There’s a long history of gun ownership regulation question in America, with roots in far 1775 (13). But in recent years gun control issue had escalated. About a year ago, the President Barack Obama raised several initiatives aimed at toughening the U.S. gun legislation in response to the recent incidents involving firearms. These initiatives lacked support, and a big discussion (so called “gun debate”) concerning gun ownership and gun control started at all levels. This paper addresses the key causes of gun control measures, the main of which is protecting people from violence, reducing homicide and suicide rates, etc., and also possible positive and negative effects of those regulations. The key positive effects of strengthening gun regulations are the following: gun possession regulations toughening can reduce the number of crimes, stricter gun control will reduce number of deaths caused by gun massacres, number of accidental deaths can be reduced, and illegal turnover of guns can be limited. Numerous lobbyists of gun turnover give opposite arguments, stating that strict gun control legislation can limit firearms usage for self-defense; unarmed people can be more prone to criminals’ attack; tightening of gun control is not the right measure to prevent crimes.
History of gun control
History of gun control in America dates back to 1775, when the Revolutionary War was initiated by an order issued to disarm the group of British colonists. First gun control law was issued in 1792, disabling former slaves to own arms. National Firearms Act was issued in 1934, toughening gun production, sales and ownership. In 1938, by Federal Firearms Act, all firearms sellers became subject to federal licensing (13). Further regulations (Gun Control Act, 1968, Law Enforcement Officers Protection Act, 1986 and Crime Control Act, 1990) limited production, import, possessing and usage of guns, especially in young people. In 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act prohibited the production and possession of assault weapons (13).
The President Obama proposed a raw of measures restricting firearm possession, especially by mentally ill people. Recent public discussions and debates regarding gun control, concern expediency and efficiency of gun control measures and are considered from three major points of view: ethical aspect concerns a balance between a right for possessing arms and a necessity to protect people from violence; legal aspect addresses Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and concern various interpretation of a right to bear arms (people dispute whether this norm enables every person to own arms or only “militia”); and efficacy aspect addresses the efficiency of current and proposed regulations (7).
Causes of gun control
The key reason of gun control implementation is a necessity to protect people from violent crimes caused by firearm’s usage. This control is implemented in various ways, but it mainly addresses the following key concepts: making firearms market more transparent and controlled to limit shadowy illegal turnover used by criminals; protect people by restricting gun possession and usage by criminal elements, mentally ill people, etc.
The regulatory measures vary between states but comprise the following: licensing and registration, background checks, legal minimum age for gun possession, waiting periods, safety training, safe storage requirements, gun restrictions in colleges, public places, etc. (1).
Higher gun ownership – higher homicide rate. The modern apologists of gun control legislation toughening often link gun possession rates with firearm violence incidents statistics and also with mounting up mass shootings number. According to research of Michael Siegel, Craig S. Ross, and Charles King III, firearm homicide rates strongly correlate with gun ownership. According to that model, each percentage point of increase in firearm possession leads to increase in the firearm homicide rate by 0.9% (2).
Sarah Boseley refers to the study published in the American Journal of Medicine. This study, comparing various country data, shows that gun ownership increase results in a higher rate of deaths from firearms (6).
Current legislation is argued as ineffective as many mass shootings are made using legal firearms. The research made by Mark Follman, Gavin Aronsen, and Deanna Pan for Mother Jones showed, that there were more than 60 mass shootings in the U.S. between 1982 to 2012 (9). Approximately 75% of 143 guns used by the mass killers were obtained in a legal way (9).
Suicide rate is also considered in conjunction with the gun ownership rate. According to Leon Neyfakh, comparing with the states with lower gun possession rates, states with the high firearms ownership rates suffer from twice as higher suicide rate (10).
Arming of citizens is not proven measure to prevent crimes and to defend people. But this statement is often argued. According to Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz, guns are used over 80x more often for self-defense than for committing a crime or suicide (3).
Effects of gun control
Positive
Example of other countries proves necessity of gun possession norms toughening. In Australia gun ownership was banned after big shooting massacre that had taken lives of 35 people. Within the next 10 years, the homicide rate had decreased by almost 60% (11).
54% of people agree that stricter gun control will reduce a number of deaths caused by gun massacres (5). Toughening gun control is often supported because these measures are expected to decrease rate of murders and to prevent gun usage by mentally ill people.
Strengthening gun control will prevent illegal firearms turnover from further growth. Difference in regulations between states can cause a situation when a gun purchased legally in one place, can be moved to another area with tougher rules and thus become illegal.
Negative
Gun lobby and influence of gun manufacturers and sellers in the U.S. is significant, so, many initiatives on tightening gun control don’t meet enough support. There are some arguments addressed by those who protect gun ownership by citizens and weak regulation of firearm’s turnover. Mark Kelly, the husband of Gabby Giffords, the US congresswoman who had been shot, said that of 109 new gun control laws passed, two-thirds were aimed at loosening regulations (8).
Strict gun control legislation can limit firearms usage for self-defense and can make it more difficult to citizens to protect their families and property. According to Pew Research Centre data, in 2013 48% gun owners claimed that they possess a gun to protect themselves and their families, and 32% - for hunting (5).
Unarmed people will be more prone to criminals’ attack. 60% of interviewed felons said that they preferred not to mess with an armed man, according to U.S., Department of Justice (12).
Tightening of gun control will not prevent crimes and can potentially cause growth in homicide rates. Apologists of firearms address to the following figures. “With just one exception, every public mass shooting in the USA since 1950 has taken place where citizens are banned from carrying guns. Despite strict gun regulations, Europe had 3 of the worst 6 school shootings”(12).
According to Pew Research Center, 57% of interviewed Americans think that a gun control can “give too much power to the government over average citizens” (5).
And finally, gun turnover restrictions will impact firearm manufacturing and distributing industry, with over $12 billion in sales, according to analysts at IBIS World.
Conclusion
Issue of gun control is very contradictory. There are strong arguments from the both sides – from lobbyists of firearm possession and also from apologists of gun usage restrictions. There are three possible strategies of gun regulations: loosening regulations, complete banning of firearms usage by citizens and also moderate strengthening of firearm regulations.
The third approach seems to be more reasonable. It supposes introducing stricter limitations on gun usage by specific groups of people (for example, teenagers, mentally ill people etc.), probably, some unification of legislation between states. In order to be efficient, legislative restrictions have to be accompanied by various public policies fighting violence and crime, especially in young people.
Works cited
- Open society institute. Gun control in the United States. 2000. ISBN 1-891385-12-7. Web. 28 May 2014. <http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/GunReport.pdf>
- Siegel, Michael, Ross Craig S., and Charles King III. “The Relationship Between Gun Ownership and Firearm Homicide Rates in the United States, 1981–2010”. American Journal of Public Health. American Journal of Public Health, November 2013, Vol. 103, No. 11, pp. 2098-2105. Web. 28 May 2014.
- Kleck, Gary and Gertz, Marc "Armed Resistance to Crime: The Prevalence and Nature of Self-Defense With a Gun," 86 The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Northwestern University School of Law, 1 Fall 1995. Web. 28 May, 2014. <http://www.saf.org/lawreviews/kleckandgertz1.htm>
- Nat’l Ctr. for Injury Prevention & Control, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Web-Based Injury Statistics Query & Reporting System (WISQARS) Injury Mortality Reports, 1999 - 2010, for National, Regional, and States. Dec. 2012. Web. 28 May, 2014. <http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/dataRestriction_inj.html>
- Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. Why Own a Gun? Protection Is Now Top Reason. 2013. Web. 28 May, 2014. <http://www.people-press.org/2013/03/12/why-own-a-gun-protection-is-now-top-reason/>
- Boseley, Sarah. High gun ownership makes countries less safe, US study finds. The Guardian. Wednesday 18 September 2013. Web. 28 May, 2014. <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/18/gun-ownership-gun-deaths-study>
- Kiger, Patrick J. "10 Big Questions in the U.S. Gun Control Debate" 04 February 2013. HowStuffWorks.com. Web. 28 May 2014 <http://people.howstuffworks.com/10-questions-in-gun-control-debate.htm>
- Sherwell, Philip. “Gun control is killing people, claim US lobbyists”. The Telegraph. December, 2013. Web. 28 May 2014 <http://people.howstuffworks.com/10-questions-in-gun-control-debate.htm>
- Follman, Mark, Aronsen, Gavin and Pan, Deanna. “A Guide to Mass Shootings in America”. Mother Jones. 2014. Web. 28 May, 2014. <http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map>
- Neyfakh, Leon. The gun toll we’re ignoring: suicide. The Boston Globe. January 20, 2013. Web. 28 May, 2014. <http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2013/01/20/the-gun-toll-ignoring-suicide/xeWBHDHEvvagfkRlU3CfZJ/story.html>
- Morris, M. 10 Arguments for Gun Control. 2013. Web. 28 May, 2014. < http://listverse.com/2013/04/21/10-arguments-for-gun-control/>
- ViciMedia. A Factual Look at Guns in America. Web. 28 May, 2014. < http://americangunfacts.com/>
- Cooper, Th. History of gun-control legislation. The Washington post. December, 2012. Web. 28 May, 2014. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/history-of-gun-control-legislation/2012/12/22/80c8d624-4ad3-11e2-9a42-d1ce6d0ed278_story.html>
