Research Position Paper on Enactment of Gun Control.

Name
Institutional affiliation
Instructor’s name
Date
Research Position Paper on Enactment of Gun Control.
Introduction
In the recent past, studies indicate that 200 million firearms are in the hands of Americans (crf-usa.org, 1). Approximately 640,000 cases of violent crimes that include 16,000 murders are committed in the US with the help of guns. The bottom-line in this is the endless debate on lawful gun possession as compared to the increased gun-related crimes in the US (crf-usa.org, 1). There have been reports of a series of mass shootings across the United States of America recently. Most of the homicides are not as salient as the mass shooting and yet little is being done about it by the concerned policymakers. The biggest question is whether new legislation on mass shootings should be effected or not. It is therefore worth noting that, the leading cause of deaths in the American society is not mass shooting instead there is need to identify these other gun-related murders that have taken center stage, in a bid to reduce gun violence (crf-usa.org, 1). In this paper, we explore the impact of gun-related violence about the gun policy in the US by combining the available data on the gun-related deaths and further investigate the extent of government involvement in checking the vice as reflected in the governing policies for the last twenty-five years, based on the Second Amendment. The paper intends to indicate the reasons as to why the laws on gun control should be effected forthwith.
According to the database on gun-related violence in the US, there occurs 30,000 fatalities in gun-related cases. Of these cases, 56% and 40% are related to suicide and homicides respectively (Luca, Malhotra & Poliquin, 3). Moreover, there are indications that 4% of these cases are as a result of accidents or undetermined intent whereas 0.13% were as a result of mass shootings of the deaths reported between 1989 and 2014 (Luca, Malhotra & Poliquin, 3). Based on the above-mentioned statistics, there is a need to enact gun control legislation in the US even though this line of thinking has received lots of criticism from different quarters in the country. Those opposed to the enactment of the laws cite self-protection and their right to own a gun for security concerns.
Currently, America is the leading country in the entire world in the number of people with guns. The gun possession stands at 22% with a rate of 35% and 12% of men and women respectively having a gun. The gun culture in the US stems from the past pervasive history of America. This means their revolutionary roots, the expansion of the frontier and the second amendment which stipulates that a militia which is well regulated for the security, then its people shall at all-time be ready to protect themselves by bearing arms, and as such, this right should not be infringed at all costs (westada.org). The opponents of the gun control law indicate that guns are supposed to offer self-protection while the proponents argue that the second amendment was supposed to outdo the activities of the militia. They further argue that there has been the existence of gun restrictions and that the same law has always been supported. They further state that the laws would pr...