Gun Violence Analysis: Causes, Psychiatric Factors, and Solutions

This report analyzes the issue of gun violence, emphasizing the need to reduce its prevalence by addressing both the ease of firearm availability and the often-overlooked role of mental health. It highlights that the current focus on background checks for firearm purchases should be expanded to include thorough psychiatric evaluations, as mental health issues are frequently linked to gun violence. The report discusses various contributing factors to gun violence, including psychological risks, comorbid addiction, and prior victimization, while also referencing epidemiological studies that identify potential risks from psychiatric disorders. The report references several scholarly articles and research that discuss the need to reduce gun violence by addressing the root causes and the necessity of integrating clinical practices with social policy. It stresses the importance of considering the victim's mental health as well as the perpetrator's mental state. The paper concludes by suggesting that reducing the accessibility to firearms and implementing more comprehensive background checks, including psychiatric evaluations, are essential steps in minimizing gun violence.

Running head: ISSUE ANALYSIS
ISSUE ANALYSIS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ISSUE ANALYSIS
Background
Gun violence can be defined as harming someone with the usage of guns with or
without criminal motive. The purpose of the paper is to develop a discussion regarding gun
violence by including the analysis of the identified issue and sub-issues. The issue identified
in this project is the urgent need to reduce the rate of gun violence by understanding the
motive or reasons and also focussing on psychiatric history related to the specific individual.
The project extensively discusses the rationale of choosing the topic and the gap in assessing
the main issue. The main issue discussed is the reason behind the increasing gun violence.
One of the reasons or causal agents identified in the discussion is the ease of availability of
the firearms in today’s society. There are specific laws that are directed towards the
monitoring of assigning guns to individuals (Tseng et al., 2018). However, the sub-issue
identified in the assignment is the lack of focus on the hidden reasons for the main issue,
which is the assessment of psychiatric health issues. In the United States, the total rate of
homicide is around 25 times more than any other affluent country involving the age of 15-24
years olds (HSPH.harvard.edu, 2016). According to various studies, around 500 people
experience death due to the violence caused by firearms (Tseng et al., 2018). The assignment
also covered the discussion and analysis from several research scholarly articles, which were
focussed on the design of an effective healthcare model, which will reduce the psychiatry of
gun violence. The researches demonstrate the ignorance of society towards mental illness in
the process of reducing suicide and gun violence. The focus of the people should not be on
healing and assessing the outcome of these violent incidences but it should be on the practice
of reducing the root causes and risks derived from unrecognized reasons. The
epidemiological studies have determined the potential risks from a psychiatric disorder and
severe condition of mental illness.
The researches associated with decreasing the rate of gun violence should aim at
constructing a correlation between clinical practices and social policy. There are several

2ISSUE ANALYSIS
contributing factors for the main issue, which are extensively presented with supporting
evidence. According to Rozel and Mulvey (2017), the potential risk factors in the outcome of
gun violence is generated from various instances of mental illness such as psychological
risks, comorbid addiction and prior victimization incidences. During the year 2017, the
United States has been regarded with the rank of 28th in terms of gun violence caused deaths
as there were around 4.43 deaths per 100,000 individuals in 2017 (Swanson, 2018).
The prime causal agent determined from the research is that ease in the accessibility
to firearms causes the result of illegal or legal drivers of the gun violence. The relation of
mental health with the incidences of gun violence could not be ignored as the enactor, and
both the attacker and the victim can be linked to the outcome of psychiatric disorder (Rozel &
Mulvey, (2017). The injuries caused due to gunshot can be life-changing as it constructs a
long-term effect on the physical and mental health of the individual. There are cases where
the victim needed lifelong mental care support. In the world and especially in the United
States, Gunshot injuries are mostly regarded and treated from the perspective of injuries that
can be seen and assessed through equipment but the hidden causes are not accompanied by
required healthcare attention and rehabilitation (Swanson, 2018). There are a number of
positions for understanding the remedial process of addressing gun violence, one of which
can be the link or correlation between mental crime and mental illness. Another position can
be the recommendations of reducing the accessibility to firearms.
Moreover, the purchase practice should be backed by a detailed assessment and
background checks along with state and federal policy to determine the decision of allocating
a tool, which may or may not cause criminal activities (Crifasi, 2018). The background check
in the process of selling guns can vary depending on the policies of different regions and
various protocols but the prime motive needs to be the reduction of gun violence by tapping
into the causes of the negative outcome (Crifasi, 2018). The discussion of the theme or issue
in the paper determines the perspective and practices contributing to the minimization of the

3ISSUE ANALYSIS
violence created through the allocation of guns. The goal should be directed towards the
motive of addressing every side of the perspective to gain a comprehensive view and
understanding of the violence.

4ISSUE ANALYSIS
References
Rozel, J. S., & Mulvey, E. P. (2017). The link between mental illness and firearm violence:
implications for social policy and clinical practice. Annual review of clinical
psychology, 13.
Crifasi, C. (2018). Gun policy in the United States: evidence-based strategies to reduce gun
violence. Applied health economics and health policy, 16(5), 579-581.
Tseng, J., Nuño, M., Lewis, A. V., Srour, M., Margulies, D. R., & Alban, R. F. (2018).
Firearm legislation, gun violence, and mortality in children and young adults: a
retrospective cohort study of 27,566 children in the USA. International Journal of
Surgery, 57, 30-34.
Crifasi, C. (2018). Gun policy in the United States: evidence-based strategies to reduce gun
violence. Applied health economics and health policy, 16(5), 579-581.
Swanson, J. W. (2018). Redirecting the mental health and gun violence conversation from
mass shootings to suicide. Psychiatric services, 69(12), 1198-1199.
HSPH.harvard.edu (2016).Harvard Public Health Magazine. Off the Cuff: What don’t we
know about the causes of gun violence? Almost everything.. [online] Available at:
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/magazine/magazine_article/off-the-cuff-what-dont-we-
know-about-the-causes-of-gun-violence-almost-everything/