Abstract
Purpose of the Research: The main aim of this study is to find a relation between the currently existing gun violence dialogues in the USA and the proposed lawful regulations that have brought some level of control. This study will widely assess the challenges the regulatory, administrative, and enforcement agencies face when enforcing gun control policies.
Methodology: This study will be done through analysis of reports of gun violence and historical information on firearms licensing and acquisition—collection of data from government case files and documents on gun control policies. Statistical modeling and analysis of trends in gun control legislation will help link the statistics from the data sets acquired throughout the research. Data collection will include government documents and archival data about gun control legislation and policies. Statistical modeling and trend analysis will help link information from the statistical trends acquired throughout the research.
Findings: The current gun control legislation policies need to be reviewed. Performance of background checks on gun holders, either on violence history or PTSD, as well as any other mental illnesses, need to be performed, as most gun violence suspects suffer from mental disorders. Performing these background checks reduces the risks of gun violence (Lee et al., 2022).
Conclusion: Legislators need to consider making the gun acquisition process much stricter due to the increase in high-profile mass shootings in the USA. As much as there is a right to own firearms, there should be legislative policies that should bring a balance between public safety and individual rights.
Introduction
Gun violence in the USA has been on a steep incline in the past decade. It is due to gun violence rates increasing that the legislative policies in place affect the enforcement agencies’ abilities to secure better individual rights and freedoms and the safety of the US citizens. Individuals looking to acquire firearms should have thorough background checks performed on them, mental checks, their socioeconomic status in society should be known, purpose and necessity according to their geophysical location, cultural factors, and an individual’s ability to put personal and public safety paramount when handling firearms (McLean et al., 2023). All these factors should form the core basis of the legislative procedures when acquiring firearms. The right and freedom to bear and keep firearms is the second amendment in the US Constitution and can never be infringed. Because of this second amendment, legislators need to reconsider gun acquisition methods and policies in place, as lives are at stake when mass shootings happen in streets, schools, and malls, some done by USA citizens of under age who practiced the second amendment fully (Swanson et al., 2019). High-profile mass shootings in certain areas in the USA need to be looked into deeply in the form of areas where they subsequently happen and the reasons that they happen.
The socioeconomic status of individuals also brings a considerable risk regarding the right to bear arms, as individuals can practice that right for criminal purposes. Highly effective gun-controlling legislation should be implemented to balance public safety and the right to bear arms (Lee et al., 2022). This research examines the different regulatory measures, the regulatory compliance in gun acquisition, and restrictions on specific firearms: which firearms should the public be allowed to bear, which are strictly for military personnel, and which firearms are for law enforcement officers.
Research question: What is the impact of various firearm regulations, and how do some of the legislative policies in place cause deterrence?
This study aims to look into the legislative policies in place on gun control and gun violence. The current gun control policies need to be reviewed, as the performance of background checks in a broader scope has not been taken into keen consideration. This study will also assess the strengths and weaknesses of the current gun control and gun violence policies and educate as well as inform the policymakers, administrators, and the public about gun violence. This will also help to reduce gun violence rates significantly. Studies have shown that the performance of in-depth background checks, mental checks, socioeconomic status, demographics, and criminal records reduce rates of gun violence (McCrea et al., 2019). The distribution of income, which falls under socioeconomic distribution, should be one of the major factors taken into consideration by legislators when making gun control policies. The factors mentioned earlier extensively determine the effectiveness of gun control policies in the US and the subsequent gun violence rates (Abdallah et al., 2021). Finding the perfect balance between these variables and individual freedoms will significantly ensure a general involvement by the stakeholders: the legislators, the policymakers, and the public.
Conclusion
In conclusion, gun violence in the USA has been on a tremendous increase in the past two decades. This is attributed to several factors. The high-profile mass shootings in schools and malls have also shaken the policymakers and enforcers (Siegel et al., 2020). This calls for an effective legislative intervention and discussion to investigate the challenges of gun control policies properly and the correlation between the different legislative procedures for fighting gun violence. Implementation of gun-controlling policies faces several challenges, which can be significantly reduced should policymakers find the perfect balance between an individual’s Second Amendment right and gun-controlling policies through understanding and educating the public on gun violence and putting up stringent measures to counter illegal firearms acquisition methods.
References
Abdalla, Salma M., Katherine M. Keyes, and Sandro Galea. “A Public Health Approach to
Tackling the Role of Culture in Shaping the Gun Violence Epidemic in the United States.” Public Health Reports 136, no. 1 (2021), 6-9. doi: 10.1177/0033354920965263
Lee, Lois K., Eric W. Fleegler, Monika K. Goyal, Kiesha F. Doh, Danielle Laraque-Arena,
Benjamin D. Hoffman, Alison Culyba, et al. “Firearm-Related Injuries and Deaths in Children and Youth: Injury Prevention and Harm Reduction.” Pediatrics 150, no. 6 (2022). doi:10.1542/peds.2022-060070.
McLean, Dylan S., and Anthony K. Fleming. Guns and Values: Individualism in the American
Gun Debate. Basingstoke: Springer Nature, 2023.
McCrea, Katherine T., Maryse Richards, Dakari Quimby, Darrick Scott, Lauren Davis, Sotonye
Hart, Adres Thomas, and Symora Hopson. “It is vital to reveal what underlies this interconnection to enlighten legislators, policymakers, and the public on the strengths and weaknesses of different regulatory approaches.” Children and Youth Services Review 99 (2019), 296–307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.12.018.
Siegel, Michael, Max Goder-Reiser, Grant Duwe, Michael Rocque, James A. Fox, and Emma E.
Fridel. “The relation between state gun laws and the incidence and severity of mass public shootings in the United States, 1976–2018.” Law and Human Behavior 44, no. 5 (2020), 347–360. doi:10.1037/lhb0000378.
Swanson, Jeffrey W., Colleen L. Barry, and Marvin S. Swartz. “Gun Violence Prevention and
Mental Health Policy.” The Palgrave Handbook of American Mental Health Policy, 2019, 509-541. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-11908-9_18.
write