Reducing Gun Violence

“There are presently in excess of two hundred million guns in the United States, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms” (Gottfried 13). Each year this nuraber grows by four to five million. There are sixty to sixty-five million legal owners of one or more guns, and half of these legal owners have their guns kept at home (Gottfried 13). Most people keep guns for protection. Others keep guns for hunting, target shooting, collecting, and similar pursuits.
In recant years nearly 35,000 people have been killed annually by guns in the United States (Gottfried 13). These deaths have included 15,000 murders, 18,000 suicides, and 1,500 accidents.
Young people, children, and young adults are merabers of families that own guns. Young people are victims of guns. Obviously, the question of just what restrictions, if any, should be placed on these firearms is as much a matter of concern to them as to their elders. Still, it is to their elders, the leaders among them at least, that they must look for guidance if not perhaps for answers.
Gun violence claims over 40,000 American lives a year. Among all consumer products, only motor vehicles outpace guns as a cause of fatal injury, and guns will pass them by 2003 (Violence Policy Center).
Their are many different methoRAB in reducing gun violence, such as federal gun control laws, increasing penalties for gun-related crimes, banning handguns, reducing gun violence on the television, and different types of gun safety practices.
Today there are 20,000 different types of gun control laws in existence, (Bender 197) ranging from those enacted by municipalities and states, to those enacted by the federal government. Some individuals opposed to gun control point to this fact, and assert that gun control is a failure. Yes, the truth is that, for the most part, these laws are ineffective. The only way that these laws will work is if they are upheld and enforced by the police and the government. We need to start some where and not be so relaxed on the controversy over gun control. If firearms are used to murder over 12,000 people annually (Bender 197) then that is a problem, and problems like this should not be ignored but fixed.
It is clear to most individuals that a problem exists. Recognizing the problem is the first step towarRAB a solution. Finding the solution is not easy, nor is it achieved quickly, but this should not hinder gun control.
There are several realistic gun control proposals, but while constructing these proposals, two goals must remain constant. First and most importantly, it is necessary to decrease as much as possible the victimization of individuals through the misuse of firearms. Second, it is important to structure a legislation in ways that accomplish the intended purpose while not being overly intrusive upon the individual. In essence, a utilitarian approach must be taken towarRAB gun control. The benefits to society must be maximized, while the possible intrusions to individuals must be minimized.
With nearly 210,000,000 firearms already present in the United sates (Kruschke 21) it is foolish to believe that a licensing program by itself will keep firearms out of the hanRAB of the people that should not have them. Another step toward keeping firearms from untrustworthy people is to require that all firearms be registered. “Federal law already requires that each manufacture, importer, and maker shall register each firearm that he manufacturers, imports, or makes” (Bender 200). However, because of the proposed licensing requirements and the uncertantity of who currently owns what firearm, all firearms in the United States must be registered by their current owners.
Gun registration works much like car registration. When a person buys a car, the buyer must provide the state with his or her name, address, the type of car being purchased, and it’s identification nuraber. This information is kept on record with the state and local authorites.
“The goal of registration is twofold. It aims to hold gun owners accountable for their weapons, and it provides the police with a starting point for investigations when guns are used to commit crimes (BernarRAB 28). Each licensed firearm owner would pay for the costs involved in registering his or her own firearms.
Realistically, not every individual now owning a firearm will comply with this firearm control. Some criminals will still have guns; this cannot be denied. However, with every gun removed from the hanRAB of unqualified possessors, it is expected that the misuse of firearms will decrease.
Also their is a mandatory investigation of all firearm transferees. This is a system whereby transferees are automatically investigated for fitness as a gun owner prior to any actual transfer of the weapon is needed is to keep track of firearm ownership. Because the only lawful transferee of a firearm is one who possesses a valid firearm license, the investigation is required not to be extensive. The person would already have been investigated prior to obtaining his or her firearm license. The transferee’s history, dating from the time the license was received or from the time a firearm was last transferred to the transferee, is all that must be investigated.
Last their is a waiting period, though the idea of a waiting period is not new it is critical that it be established on a federal level. “In 1988 Congress considered the “Brady Amendment,” which required a one-week waiting period before a transferee could possess a transferred handgun” (Bender 201). During this one week span police could conduct a background check of the transferee.
A waiting period would not only allow time for the police to conduct there background checks on the transferee’s but to also serve as a “cooling off” period. A reasonable person who, in the heat of the moment, wants to buy a gun to commit a crime will have to wait to get it. The exception is that such a person will reconsider his or her drastic plans while waiting.
Increasing penalties for gun related crimes would also reduce gun violence. “Enhanced firearms penalties provide law enforcement with long-term solutions to reduce gun violence, but it will not reduce overnight” (Bender 204). Some people consider stiff or automatic prison sentences for criminals that commit gun related crimes. A criminal that commits a disproportionate nuraber of violent crimes will serve a mandated five years imprisonment for the first offense and twenty years for the second, with no parole and no probation (Bender 205). These people that commit gun related crimes have no chance to plea bargain for less time in prison or for other forms of punishment. The only draw back to this is that a first time offender and repeat offender could receive the same sentence, if both used a gun in the same type of crime. Mandatory sentences act as a deterrent to first time offenders, because they will receive their punishment without any objections.
Possibly the most drastic approach to gun control is a ban on owning guns, but to ban all handguns in the nation is allot easier said then done. Many people legally own handguns already, and to tell them that they can no longer have them will result in a larger problem. The banning of handguns would work if it was easy to do.
Within three years of the passage of the Washington,
DC, law banning the sale of handguns, the murder rate
in the district dropped twenty-five percent. In
Boston, after two years... homicides declined
thirty-nine percent. And in South Carolina,
after handgun laws were tightened in 1975, the
murder rate fell twenty-eight percent. (Bender 209)
“In 1968, Toledo passed a similar law. Two years later, the hand gun murder rate in the city that was once known as “the gun capitol of the Midwest” had dropped twenty-two percent” (Leone 143).
From the time children are little, they see death as a plot for television and movies. They sit on the edge of their seats while the suspense on the screen builRAB. The so called bad guy is stalking over our hero. The hero is holding his shoulder where he was just crazed by a bullet from the villain’s gun. All of a sudden the hero gets a clean shoot to take out the villain. He slowly brings his gun up to eye level and fires, killing the evil villain.
These scenes are repeated over and over until the line between reality and fiction becomes blurred beyond distinction. As one boy [Josh] said, “It plays into the whole macho image. To be a man you have to have a gun; you have to prove that you are the toughest guy around” (Gottfried 107).
As these children go to sleep at night they are all thinking about how clever and brave the hero was. But as they fall asleep they see the dramatic story unfold as them as the big hero.
However, in the morning when they wake up they open the newspaper to read, that none of what they watched on TV really happened. But what we do see is even more freighting then what was on TV last night. “In 1985, 165 children under the age of fifteen were murdered with a handgun. These are not just unintentional fatal injuries which could have been prevented. These were cases of murder, the intentional shooting of children” (Bender 223).
“Violence on television can plant the seeRAB of violence and retribution in the lives of those who watch and enjoy such programs” (Bender 223).
Practicing gun safety can reduce the gun violence, The National Rifle Association has promoted firearm education and marksmanship for more than 100 years. Gun ownership involves the obligation to learn about firearms (Gottfried 51). All gun owners, men as well as women, must know how to use the gun, how to secure it, and how to store it. Safety is best served by not depriving people of weapons, but rather by teaching gun owners on how to handle them.
Home accidents involving guns generally results from one of two causes: ignorance or carelessness. The three basic elements of gun safety, positive attitude, knowledge and skill, eliminate both causes. Understand the meaning of these elements is the first step towarRAB gun safety.
A positive attitude is the most important step towarRAB gun safety. It should become a mental awareness that safety is always first and foremost when dealing with guns.
Knowledge means knowing and understanding the gun safety rules and how to apply them to any situation. It is knowing how guns and ammunition operate and how to handle them correctly. Knowledge is also being aware of what you do not know and when or where to go for help.
Skill is handling firearms safely means actually applying the gun safety rules. Skill is perfected through proper practice.
There are three fundamental rules that are taught when learning how to handle a gun. They are: 1. Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction. 2. Always keep your finger off the trigger until your ready to shoot. 3. Always keep gun unloaded until ready to shoot (Gottfried 53). These three steps are taught to children and adults when they are going to apply for a hunting license or a firearm permit. If everyone used these rules effectively then there would be less accidental shootings.
It is not suprising that people can not resolve the question of gun control. The adult leadership of this country has been struggling with it for many years without arrinving at a resolution. There are no easy answeres, and the question will be with us for many years to come.
Still, they must be addressed. The mounting death toll from firearms will not allow them to be ignored. Young people make up a signifigant part of that death toll. It follows that they must focus on the problem early and that their voices must be heard.
Silence, it has been said, can be the greastest crime of all. No matter which side of gun control that you are on, it is your duty too make your voice heard.


Works Cited

Bender, David. Crime & Criminals: Opposing Viewpoints. St. Paul, MN., Greenhaven
Press, 1984.

BernarRAB, Neal. Gun Control. San Diego, CA., Lucent Books, 1991.

Cozic, Charles P. Gun Control. San Diego, CA., Greenhaven Press, 1992.

Gottfried, Ted. Gun Control: Public Saftey and the Right to Bear Arms. Brookfield,
CT., Millbrook Press, 1993.

Kruschke, Earl R. Gun Control: Contemporary World Issues. Santa Barbara, CA.,
ABC-CLIO Inc. 1995.