Reducing Homicides: The Role and Impact of Gun Control in America

This essay examines the impact of gun control measures on reducing homicide rates in America. It discusses the prevalence of gun violence, mass shootings, and the availability of firearms, arguing that stricter gun control laws can lead to a decrease in homicides, suicides, and accidental shootings. The essay references the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre as a catalyst for gun control proposals and explores factors contributing to gun violence, such as poverty, mental illness, and societal influences. It also addresses the role of assault weapons, responsible gun ownership, and the need for comprehensive background checks. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of socioeconomic factors, law enforcement, and behavioral studies in mitigating gun violence and promoting public safety.

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Strict Gun Control refers to a plethora of officially authorized restrictions that is meant to
impose firearm security on the general populace. It is governed by the fact that good citizens as
well as notorious criminals inflict a high percentage of death and injury due to widespread
prevalence of guns in society. In order to prevent criminal gun violence, one should introduce
measures for gun control. According to scholars, one should ensure handgun scarcity among the
general population. In addition, carefully- crafted firearms control policy can lead to a decrease
in criminal violence. This paper will try to show how measures of gun control can reduce the
homicidal rate of America.
The United States of America is plagued by violence in the form of massacres and mass
murders that is caused by citizens who possess firearms, most notably guns (Cornell, 2017). The
gun control issue affects many Americans whether they support the right to possess guns, or gun
violence has a detrimental effect on their community. Apart from reducing violence in the
streets, by making guns scarcer in society, America’s suicide rate will also decrease, as the
general population will have less access to guns. Greater availability of guns leads to more crime
that is violent in nature (Cornell, 2017). Gun control will lead to a decrease in accidental
shootings, murder, non-lethal gun violence and mass murders as well as suicides. Gun control
laws lead to reduction of violent crime and the government should pass stricter laws against gun
control. Stricter laws against gun control would reduce the instances of mass murders. One
should criminalize the production, sale and possession of guns by the general population. The
easy availability of guns, whose only purpose is to kill human beings, only leads to massacres.
Guns should be banned from the streets because they have no purpose other than to kill. Keeping
in mind the safety of the public, the responsibility lies with the government to ban weapons that
are commonly used for purposes that are criminal in nature (Cornell, 2017).

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In the wake of the December 12 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, Newtown
Connecticut, wherein a person killed twenty first-grade students and six adults, surveys have
shown that a majority of American population favour banning “assault weapons” in order to
prevent school shootings and also minimizing casualties (Jacobs, 2015). The Sandy Hook
massacre led to state level proposals to ban assault weapons. Maryland passed a ban against
assault weapons for the first time. Colorado, Delaware, New York and Connecticut tightened
their existing Assault Weapons Bans (Jacobs, 2015). Assault weapons are weapons of war and
are not meant to be used on city streets. Assault weapons are manufactured with one purpose in
mind and that is to kill human beings. Assault weapons have no place in civilized society and
ought to be banned. Banning assault weapons is a stepping-stone to broader gun control (Jacobs,
2015).
It has been noted that in nations where the majority of the people owned firearms were
more susceptible to gun violence and mass shootings, for example the United States of America
(Lewis 2018). There is a strong relationship between gun control and deaths caused by firearms.
For example, the United States of America, most unfortunately surpasses all other nations when
it comes to incidents of mass shootings. However, due to the training provided by the police on
ways to respond to a mass shooting, the casualty rate per incident is comparatively low than
other countries (Lewis, 2018). Thus, gun control is the need of the hour since gun control is
associated with a decrease of instances pertaining to mass murder.
A plethora of factors lead to gun violence, which includes institutional and ideological
forces which creates a context wherein so many people are willing to take the life of others,

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poverty, law enforcement, population density and mental illness such as people who suffer from
schizophrenia and personality disorders (Lewis, 2018). Population is one of the major factors for
gun violence. A higher population offers a greater number of opportunities to commit crimes and
a big pool of people from where the perpetrators of gun violence can draw from. Emotions are
another factor as emotions motivate behaviour, which can facilitate anger. Aggressive acts of
violence are preceded by increasing feelings of anger, contempt and disgust. Outrage or anger,
contempt that is based on a feeling of superiority, and disgust motivated elimination also leads to
incidents of violence and carnage. Thus, appraisals and emotions lead to violent behaviour.
Strain, victimization, social learning also are also factors that lead to carnages in society. Apathy,
devaluation of the life of humans and social isolation also facilitate gun violence. Gun violence is
also related to gun ownership that is irresponsible in nature, i.e. people not abiding by rules on
gun safety, parents failing to ensure that their guns are out of reach from their children among
other factors. Gun violence is also perceived to be caused by an individual who is suffering from
some deep aberration (Rostron, 2013). A highly materialistic society where people embrace a
highly materialistic life leads anything that lies outside the material realm, including human life,
to be devalued. This is one of the most significant factors that facilitates gun violence. Stiff and
increased levels of competition prevalent in society also contributes to dissatisfaction with
oneself, one’s work and leads to anger and disgust thereby promoting gun violence. It is in this
social context, that homicides that are related to gun violence takes place. The feeling of
powerlessness that people feel in a neoliberal society also contributes to gun violence. Since
social ties tends to get weakened and individuals are reduced to “consumers” in a materialistic
society, a lot of people perceive themselves to be incapable of making a difference to society and
feel irrelevant (Lewis, 2018). Thus, the multitude incidents of gun violence, carnages, mass

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murders and killing of innocent people, could be a way to reclaim a sense of power, what
sociologists call “a sense of mastery” (Rostron, 2013) over people, outcomes and events. Thus,
occurrences of gun violence could be a way of protest against a society that makes an individual
feel irrelevant, insignificant and powerless.
It has been observed that majority of gun related violence in the United States of America
do not involve shooters killing people who they don’t know but rather killing people they know,
i.e, friends, family, relatives, acquaintances, employers and co-workers (Rostron, 2013). Of all
the women that were killed as a result of gun violence, majority of them were killed by their
partners. The hyper-masculinity prevalent in a neo liberal society leads most men to perceive
themselves as one entitled to control and power which forms the basis of relationships, which are
abusive in nature (Stell, 2004).
In addition, the neo-liberal structuring of the economy of the United States of America in
the 1980s has led to a decline in jobs that are well paying in nature, wages that are stagnant, lack
of work benefits for individuals, and the curtailing of expenditure for social services, i.e. for
those people who live in poverty and are in need. These factors are responsible for increased
levels of stress, financial instability and financial insecurity in a person, and dissatisfaction of
workers all of which has a detrimental effect on close family ties, intimate family relationships
(Stell, 2004). This has been a major contributor towards domestic violence, interpersonal
violence and gun violence. In order to thoroughly understand and gain a proper insight to the
problem of gun violence that is prevalent in American society and have a greater understanding
of the problem, one should consider all these factors and consider them thereby helping one to
minimize this problem (Rostron, 2013).

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Research has found various types of mass murderers. They include pseudocommado, i.e.
people who are preoccupied with ammunition and firearms who plan on a rampage in order to
seek revenge in society. The second type includes the family annihilator, i.e. people who kill
their own family members out of jealousy, hatred and revenge. The third type includes the hit-
and-run killer or the set-and-run killer, i.e. those who use explosives or set fires in order to kill
people while planning probable escape routes (Lewis, 2018). Social scientists have asked for an
additional typology, i.e. the disgruntled employee who sets out or kills his colleagues at his
workplace because he feels he has been wronged and hence wants to seek revenge on his
colleagues (Lewis, 2018). In addition, research shows that that those who commit carnages has a
tendency to externalize the blame. They feel that their friends, family, teachers, employers and
coworkers are persecuting them. Perpetrators of gun violence also tend to be loners. Therefore, it
is essential to conduct research and educate people on how to recognize warning signs. This may
help to reduce gun violence in society (Lewis, 2018).
A decrease in gun violence can also be brought about by socioeconomic and law
enforcement factors. One should also use gun legislation to reduce the number of victims who
are killed in carnage. One can do so by reducing ammunition in order to reduce the number of
victims during incidents of mass killing. There should also be a ban on gun enhancers like bump
stocks and a ban on ammunition magazines in order to reduce victimization in incidents of mass
murder. Carnages in schools can also be prevented to an extent if school authorities conduct
rigorous and comprehensive background checks of the student and his or her family before
admitting a student to their institution. Guns can be used to kill people but they can also be used
to save lives. Therefore, one should ensure that guns in schools are in the right hands, i.e. in the
hands of teachers and armed officers and not in the hands of students. Officers who are armed

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and well trained should guard all schools and protect the students and staff members of the
school. Thus, armed resistance along with counseling sessions for students can prevent gun
violence in schools. Lawmakers should also invest in financial resources and energy in
conducting behavioral studies in order to identify the personality traits that leads a person to
commit such barbaric behaviour. There is a strong relationship between stringent gun control
laws and number of mass murders in the United States of America. States that have stricter gun
control have lower incidents of carnages (Jacobs, 2015). Private ownership of guns ought to be
banned. There is an excessive prevalence of guns among the American population, which leads
to a high rate of gun violence. Thus, there should be stronger enforcement of existing laws in
order to curb gun violence. The practice of procuring firearms at gun shows should also be
curtailed as people who buy guns from gun shows do not undergo background checks especially
in Michigan. Terrorists thus often take the advantage of the “gun show loophole” to procure
weapons of mass murder (Jacobs, 2015).
Gun violence is a normative feature in the life of an American. Gun violence is linked to
a lack of stringent gun control laws and the excessive prevalence of guns in American society. In
addition, accessibility to guns is another factor that facilitates gun violence in American society.
One should stop telling young boys and men that masculinity is synonymous with violence. This
should start in homes and schools and children should be taught not to read books that glorify
war and warriors. Manhood should not emphasize violence and dominance. One should take
steps to expand masculinity that is anti-violent in nature. Structural and social forces fuels
violence in society and thus, substantial societal changes ought to be implemented to reduce the
prevalence of gun violence. One should heavily promote interconnectedness and community in
society through families, places of worship, schools and through media so that people feel that

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only individuals matter. Popular movements are also required to ensure that these reforms are
fruitful.

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