The rise in the number of homicide and suicide cases among civilians has led to the need for the government to establish and implement strong firearm control rules and policies. In addition, the lack of these rules and policies has increased the rate of gun violence in the country. The enforcement of these rules and policies reduces the number of public shootings by controlling and limiting the ownership and availability of firearms among civilians. However, there have been a lot of questions regarding the enforcement of these laws across the country since Congress has not been able to pass such meaningful legislation in the wake of adverse tragedies among the members of the public (Smith & DeVylder, 2020). Although there has been an argument on whether gun rules and policies are beneficial, the current mass shootings indicate that the rules and policies will benefit the citizens as they will uphold the security, health, and safety of the public. In other words, controlling and managing the availability and ownership of firearms by civilians will reduce the deaths associated with poor use and management of firearms. Poor implementation of firearm laws has increased the rate and number of civilian gun-owned firearms, which has posed more security risks to the citizens (Butkus & Doherty, 2018). It is essential that the Congress pass gun control laws to reduce the number and availability of firearms among civilians in order to improve general security, safety, well-being and socioeconomic status of citizens, as well as reduce gun violence in the country.
The enactment of gun control laws and policies improves the country’s social-economic development while reducing the rate of gun violence. Despite the issue of gun control rules and policies raising political and social debates, implementing these rules benefits all citizens. We should all consider prioritizing the security, health, and safety of all citizens. How can someone feel safe and secure in an environment where anyone can decide at any time to shoot anyone for no reason? Although other factors like mental illnesses, racism, and other factors, the main leading cause of these public shootings are the rise in firearms availability and ownership among civilians (Gay, 2020, p.60). The same is attributed to the government’s lack of rules and policies to control the ownership, availability, and use of firearms by civilians. Speaking of mental health, it has been discovered that people who engage in homicide and suicide using firearms suffer from mental conditions such as stress, anxiety, and depression (Smith et al., 2020). Thus, rules should be set to ensure that individuals’ psychological and mental state is properly assessed to determine their eligibility to own a firearm. It involves conducting an intensive background check for all individuals who obtain a concealed firearm license or those who want to acquire a firearm. However, such a practice cannot be implemented without rules and policies that will help guide the process. Despite the government pushing for intensive background checks for gun buyers, a large percentage of the transactions are conducted in private without any legal background checks. Background checks for gun buyers are also necessary since they will ensure that the government can easily monitor the number of guns owned by civilians (Gay, 2020, p.61). Allowing everyone to own a firearm will lead to poor handling or misuse of the firearms, negatively impacting the user and the people around them.
Enacting gun control rules and policies will reduce the number of civilian-owned guns by minimizing their availability. Although the second amendment of the US stresses the use and ownership of guns among civilians, the rules states have not effectively controlled the country’s civilian gun ownership rate (Gay, 2020, p.58). We can agree that some people purchase guns to be used for purposes like self-protection and hunting, but the lack of rules and policies to guide the use of these guns has led to poor use of these firearms. People should not misinterpret the Second Amendment; it only aims at allowing militias to own firearms, but it does not allow individuals to own guns (Gilger, 2021). Unfortunately, the rise in crime rates has been attributed to increased civilian firearm ownership. Some people are against the implementation of gun rules and policies, claiming that it is people who kill people and not guns. On the contrary, it is evident that the availability of firearms among civilians makes it easy for people to kill each other easily. This is attributed to the fact that the increase in the rate of civilian firearms over the past years has consequently led to an increase in the number of killings among citizens. Mostly, people do engage in conflicts, but the presence of a firearm makes the conflict more violent. A study conducted by the FBI in 2013 indicates that people engage in arguments like romantic triangles, arguments over finance or brawls caused by drugs and alcohol, and these arguments have resulted in more deaths where firearms were involved (Reeping et al., 2022). It indicates that reducing the number and availability of firearms through gun control rules and policies will reduce the rate of deaths caused by other people.
Gun control rules and policies will reduce the number of deaths and injuries associated with poor handling and mismanagement of firearms. Civilian gun ownership has been a threat to all groups of people in the USA. For instance, some gun owners store their firearms in places that kids can easily reach, yet kids do not have adequate knowledge on how to use or handle a gun. In case of an injury or death in such a scenario, it can be considered unintentional (Reeping et al., 2022). However, such an incident can easily be prevented by establishing and implementing policies that control the use and ownership of firearms. The ownership of guns among students should be prohibited since many gun owners have shot other students in school for no reason, hence calling for more safety measures in schools (Reeping et al., 2022). Such incidences have undermined the ability of the educational sector to provide high-quality educational services to its students. Generally, gun control policies like mandatory safety features for gun owners will reduce the number of accidental injuries and deaths caused by firearms (Butkus et al., 2020). Also, some people have supported the use of training and educational programs on how to use and handle a firearm to reduce the adverse incidents that arise by accident. Additionally, parents or elderly people who are allowed to own guns and keep them close to children should also be educated on how to safely keep the guns safe and out of reach from young children.
Gun-control laws and policies reduce the number of criminal activities such as theft and robbery. Gun control rules and policies are essential for the citizens to keep guns at the hands of dangerous individuals like criminals and others who should be prohibited from purchasing or owning a gun. The firearm rules and policies also help monitor illegal guns bought from other countries and illegally transported into the country (Copeland, Wallin & Holt, 2020). In a nutshell, the rules and policies deem this activity an unlawful activity that should be punishable by law. Hence, the country will be safeguarded by firearms that ban the ownership of extreme damage weapons like machine guns, assault rifles, and other handguns that government officers should also own. The precautions can facilitate easy control of the concerns over firearms while giving the citizens a choice to bear firearms.
It is evident that the executive orders provided by the US government have helped to reduce the rate of gun violence, indicating that there is a need to enact gun control rules and policies. For instance, over the years, lobbying political groups and organizations have invested a lot of finances in political campaigns that aim to elect leaders who enforce gun control rules and policies (Butkus & Doherty, 2018). Such a move is a great step towards reducing gun violence and improving the sect and safety of the citizens. It explains why the current US government has set forth a series of executive orders that focus on regulating the type of firearms as well as the number of firearms owned by civilians. Moreover, the executive orders issued by the government have helped to reduce illegal firearm trafficking by funding research activities that have helped to identify the sources of these illegal firearms as well as the dealers. The red flag law is an example of a beneficial law that the government introduced to allow for the temporary removal of guns from individuals identified by law enforcement as threats to other people (Gay, 2020). In most cases, law enforcers have used family members and healthcare providers to identify the people who seem to threaten public safety. The benefits associated with these executive orders imply that using firearm rules and policies will help reduce the rate of gun violence and the deaths or injuries associated with gun ownership.
The gun control laws and policies not only reduce the gun violence rate but also foster socioeconomic growth and development. The lack of gun control policies has also posed an economic threat to the country since the government is forced to spend a lot of financial resources to cater to the economic and societal costs associated with gun violence incidents (Gilger, 2021). The government is always responsible for hospitalizing and treating gun violence victims, leading to the misuse of funds that could otherwise be channelled to other relevant sectors to foster economic development (Gilger, 2021). As a result, implementing gun control rules and policies will help to save the cost of such unexpected incidents.
Other countries with legal gun control rules and policies have experienced internal peace and security due to minimum gun violence rates. For example, Ilic et al. (2022) state that the USA should learn from countries like Finland and Switzerland, which have low rates of gun ownership as compared to the USA due to the enactment of gun control rules and policies. Suicide and homicide cases are not registered in such countries since the law restricts civilians from owning firearms. Owning a firearm license in these countries is only allowed after extensive background checks like criminal records, health records, and other requirements or restrictions provided by the law (Smith & DeVylder 2020). It is important to note that allowing civilians to own guns on the grounds of self-protection undermines the citizens’ trust in the government to provide safety and security. The government is always responsible for protecting its citizens and not civilians. It can be argued that guns keep people safe, but there are bad things that happen to gun owners who do not use their firearms correctly.
On the other hand, enacting gun control rules and policies may not be important because they do not address the root of the problem. The policies are a distraction from the real issues that need to be addressed and are not designed to bring about change or tackle the root causes of gun violence. For instance, in the early 1960s, the NRA used the same tactics of fear, persuasion, and misinformation to influence public opinion regarding the issue of gun control (Kahan & Braman, 2003, p. 1291). The root of the problem is that the people do not trust the government to protect them, and thus, their behaviour changes. Perhaps, other factors like discrimination cause violence.
In conclusion, enacting gun control rules and policies is important for the relevant stakeholders. The enforcement of gun control rules and policies reduces the rates of suicides, homicides and injuries to improve general safety and security. Additionally, the policies reduce gun violence and prevent illegal gun smuggling. Emphasizing the health, safety and security of everyone in the country is necessary and can only be achieved by acknowledging the benefits of enacting firearm control rules and policies. However, other factors should be considered in addressing the issue of violence.
References
Butkus, R., Doherty, R., Bornstein, S. S., & Health and Public Policy Committee of the American College of Physicians*. (2018). Reducing firearm injuries and deaths in the United States: a position paper from the American College of Physicians. Annals of internal medicine, 169(10), 704-707.
Copeland, C., Wallin, M., & Holt, T. J. (2020). Assessing the practices and products of Darkweb Firearm vendors. Deviant Behavior, 41(8), 949-968.
Gay, C. (2020). ‘Red Flag’laws: how law enforcement’s controversial new tool to reduce mass shootings fits within current Second Amendment jurisprudence. BCL Rev., 61, 1491.
Gilger, P. (2021). The Modern Second Amendment: A Progressive Approach to Limiting Individual Rights under the Second Amendment. S. Cal. Interdisc. LJ, 31, 403.
Ilic, I., Zivanovic Macuzic, I., Kocic, S., & Ilic, M. (2022). Worldwide suicide mortality trends by firearm (1990–2019): A joinpoint regression analysis. PLoS One, 17(5), e0267817.
Kahan, D. M., & Braman, D. (2003). More statistics, less persuasion: A cultural theory of gun-risk perceptions. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 151(4), 1291-1327.
Reeping, P. M., Klarevas, L., Rajan, S., Rowhani-Rahbar, A., Heinze, J., Zeoli, A. M., … & Branas, C. C. (2022). State firearm laws, gun ownership, and k-12 school shootings: implications for school safety. Journal of school violence, 21(2), 132-146.
Smith, M. E., Sharpe, T. L., Richardson, J., Pahwa, R., Smith, D., & DeVylder, J. (2020). The impact of exposure to gun violence fatality on mental health outcomes in four urban US settings. Social Science & Medicine, 246, 112587.
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