Research Gun Violence in the United States

Gun Violence in the United States
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Gun Violence in the United States
Gun violence has become widespread in the United States (U.S.) over the last few years, ranging from individual to mass gun violence in public schools. The fact that the right to gun ownership is protected under the U.S. Constitution complicates the issues of gun control and gun violence even more com. In fact, Brent, Miller, Loeber, Mulvey, and Birmaher (2013) reveal that out of the most recent twenty-five mass shootings recorded around the world, fifteen of them took place in the U.S. The case is the same for non-mass shootings where the U.S. has the highest numbers, at least among the developed countries. In addition, the U.S. also ranks at number one when it comes to gun ownership and Banks et al. (2017) indicate that about 40% of U.S.’s households own at least one gun. As a result, gun violence has become a public health problem because of the high number of gun-related homicides, suicides, and accidental deaths. Given this disturbing information, it is necessary to address the issue of gun violence. The aim of this paper is to identify at least one major cause of gun violence in the U.S., explore some major effects of gun violence and finally, provide at least one possible solution that can help minimize gun violence.
Causes of Gun Violence
There are many causes of gun violence in the U.S., but this paper’s main focus is on weak gun control regulations and a lack of preventative measures. When talking about weak gun control regulations, it is worth noting that the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives Americans the right to carry and keep guns. As a result, it has been difficult to put in place some effective gun control laws because policymakers are cautious not to violate a constitutional right. In fact, McLeigh (2015) notes that lawmakers in the U.S. have been unable to take effective action when it comes to gun control. This could be attributed to the problems associated with the constitutionality of gun control. While gun ownership is protected under the Constitution, it has been revealed that a high numbers of gun ownership is associated with increased gun violence. According to Banks et al. (2017), there exists a positive relationship between gun ownership and gun use in cases of assault, robbery, and homicide. The problem, however, is not in gun ownership, but in gun control. The number of people who own guns could reduce if there were more strict gun control laws, and a reduction of gun violence would be recorded. For instance, Ludwig (2017) indicates that despite federal government’s ban of gun ownership by felony convicts, minors and mentally ill individuals, less is done by federally licensed firearm dealers in determining whether the purchasers are suitable for gun ownership. Further, the federal government does not require licensed firearm dealers to do background checks on private buyers either online or at gun shows (Aronow& Miller, 2016). The poor or complete lack of background checks implies that firearms could be legally owned by individuals who are otherwise prohibited by the government. Yet, the government has not put in place preventative measures to ensure that firearms in s...