Policy Brief on USA Gun Violence Research Assignment

Policy Brief on US Gun Violence
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Introduction: Overview
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shows that 12,253 homicides were committed using weapons in 2013. Among these homicide cases, 8,454 were perpetrated using firearms. Handgun murders topped the list with 5,782, followed by rifle murders 285, 308 murders using shotguns, and 123 murders were accounted for other guns (Crime in the U.S., n.d.). The law enforcement agencies and the US government have taken several measures to deal with the heightened level of violent crimes perpetrated using firearms. The major policy measure adopted by the government is the gun control policy. The gun control policy is defined by law and legislatures that controlling designing, purchase, and use of guns among other aspects. However, the gun control policies’ focus has considerably changed over the past years.
According to Carter et al. (2015), earlier, gun control policies have failed to differentiate between lawbreakers and law-abiding citizens. The policies were based on the assumption that individuals who possess firearms are likely to break the law using them. Thus, the earlier policies were focusing on reducing the number of firearms possessed by citizens (Carter et al. (2015). However, in modern America, gun control policies are seen to commit to some objectives. Moreover, the decline in firearm-related crimes has been attributed to the presence of gun control policies. However, according to Webster et al. (2012) despite the decline in firearm-related crimes, there is a pressing issue posted by the fact that the US homicide rates in cumulative are higher than the total homicides in other 22 countries which are in the high-income bracket. The higher rate of homicide crimes is caused by increasing gun ownership in the country and less restrictive gun control laws compared to other countries’ policies.
Problem Definition
With the enactment and amendments of the control policies, notable improvements have been witnessed through declines in homicides, unintentional fatalities, and suicides linked to firearms. Additionally, deaths related to gun/firearms violence are a major challenge to public health. By 2011, the rate at which homicides were being reported in the US was approximately 6.9 times higher than in other high-income categorized countries. Moreover, Carter et al. (2015) add that the homicides cause by or driven by guns/firearms were 19.5 higher in the US than in other high-income bracket countries by the year 2011.
Furthermore, homicides rates in the United States for people aged between 15-24 years was 42.7 times high than in other countries (Carter et al., 2015). Additionally, the homicide rates for females and males in the US was 11.4 and 22 times higher than in the 22 other countries respectively (Wintemute et al., 1998). However, suicides had declined by 30%, but suicides involving firearms were 5.8 times higher than in other 22 countries (Wintemute et al., 1998). The unintentional deaths related to or caused by firearms 5.2 times higher in the US compared to 22 other countries.
The aggregate mortality rates from all the 23 other countries in 2011 from the 23 countries were, it was determined that 80% of them tha...