What factors explain support for gun control in the United States?
Introduction
The positive correlation between gun ownership and interpersonal violence in the United States is indisputable. The U.S. reported few cases of homicides caused by gun misuse before the 1850s since few Americans had guns or understood how to use, repair, and maintain them (Roth, 2002). Subsequently, the contribution of arms toward homicide rates was minimal. However, cultural changes and the widespread ownership of firearms have encouraged the use of handguns as a symbol of commanding respect, as well as resolving individual and political disputes. Modern-day America, as a result, frequently witnesses unprecedented incidences of gun-related homicides. Homicide rates in America are, therefore, the highest ever recorded in an industrial democracy. Thus, gun control is vital in reducing homicide rates in the country. This paper examines several factors that influence gun control in the United States.
Hypothesis
Though the United States has witnessed widespread shootings and killings attributed to the possession of handguns by civilians, there has been little federal legislation aimed at controlling gun ownership. The National Firearms Act of 1934 and the Gun Control Act of 1968 are the only laws that have been passed by Congress to regulate firearms in the country (Hummer, 2016). Although these legislations require Americans to register their guns, the country has continued to witness increased ownership and possession of unlicensed firearms that are used to carry out a majority of homicide cases. The adverse effects of gun ownership and the ineffectiveness of the current legislation to address the gun control issue is the foundation of this study. Therefore, the hypothesis of the study states that:. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
H1: Lax laws, little information about the gun control issue, and the rise in homicide cases affiliated to guns are the factors that explain support for gun control in the United States.
Literature Review
The ongoing debate on gun control, as well as the meaning and ramifications of the 2nd Amendment, is provoking and controversial. Even though about 22,000 laws and regulations have been introduced to control the use of guns in the United States, the country has not recorded a decline in shootings and homicide cases attributed to irresponsible use of firearms (Haynes, 2016). The rampant cases of violent crimes executed using unlicensed firearms have fueled the public pressure on the need for regulating the possession of firearms by civilians. The stand-your-ground policy, for instance, increased homicide cases in Florida instead of fostering self-defense (Humphreys, Gasparrini & Wiebe, 2017). Past policies have also proved to be ineffective in controlling the ownership, possession, or use of firearms. Rather than using guns for self-defense as required by the Constitution, people have resorted to using guns to settle any disputes (individual or political). Therefore, there is a significant need for introducing new legislation that will address this issue.
Several reasons have compelled the need for gun control in the United States. According to the Constitutional Rights Foundation (2012), opponents of gun control believe that the 2nd Amendment is an unlimited right. On the contrary, this is a limited right since the existing gun control laws are apparent restrictions. The Foundation also noted that guns had harmed family members to a greater extent than the anticipated benefit of protecting them against criminals. Out of the homicide cases that arise from personal or political disputes, guns have been observed to worsen situations rather than making them better. The ready availability of handguns in the United States has also elicited the need for gun control since it has been primarily responsible for the rise in the number of gun-related murders. Except for Washington, lax gun laws in other states have contributed to the possession of guns by Americans living in the states and their eventual influx in Washington. Besides, the United States could borrow a leaf from Canada’s successful implementation of gun laws. In essence, the lethality of guns cannot be compared to other weapons, as they are more likely to result in death than other weapons such as knives.
Methodology
The study will employ a systematic review of the empirical literature on gun control laws and regulations in the United States from the General Social Surveys, 1972-2016, and other related sources. The study will analyze the GSS data on four key areas: gun control information, whether a new law was necessary, the importance of gun control, and their opinions about the gun control issue (Smith et al., 2016). The necessity for a new law examined whether the respondent would favor or oppose a law that requires a person to obtain a police permit before buying a gun. The importance of gun control assessed whether the respondents consider the gun control issue as necessary. Next, the gun information survey determined whether the respondents had enough information about the gun control issue. Finally, the opinion on gun control checked whether the respondents were willing to change their view on gun control.
Results and Discussion
Four questions were examined in the survey. The first question required the respondents to state whether they would favor or oppose a law that required a person to obtain a police permit before she or he could buy a gun. The data was collected from 1972 to 2016, as shown below.
RESPONSE X1972.82 X1982B X1983.87 X1987B X1988.91 X1993.98 X2000 X2002Favor 8696 269 3164 279 3040 5500 1479 737Oppose 3129 71 1211 67 796 1231 332 179Don’t know 236 11 86 6 70 129 44 7No answer 33 3 12 1 14 16 4 1Not applicable 1532 0 3069 0 1987 3458 956 1841 X2004 X2006 X2008 X2010 X2012 X2014 X2016 ALL1 709 1568 1050 947 944 1224 1330 309362 182 395 283 324 339 469 528 95363 6 35 18 9 21 17 25 7224 1 5 1 1 4 4 7 1075 1914 2507 671 763 666 824 977 21165
Table 1. The need for a police permit before acquiring guns
In 1972.82, about 64% of the respondents revealed that they would favor a law that required a person to obtain a police permit before purchasing a gun. This is contrary to the 22% of respondents that opposed the introduction of such a law. The results show that gun control has been a contentious issue for decades in the United States. Approximately five decades later, the United States has not addressed this issue. The findings reveal that out of the 41,301 respondents surveyed about the gun issue in 2016, approximately three-quarters of the respondents still regarded gun control as a contentious issue and advocated a law that would require people to obtain a police permit before acquiring guns. These findings concur with the recommendations made by Vizzard (2015) that identified the need for adopting decentralized efforts aimed at minimizing gun carrying and violent behaviors among populations that exhibit the highest risk of misusing guns. These new laws should consider the fact that homicides are spontaneous incidences enabled by the availability of firearms. They should also take into account the geographic and cultural concentration of homicides to identify specific regions that need new policies the most.
The second question required the respondents to state whether they regarded gun control as an important issue. The respondents were required to state whether the issue was more important, important, not very important, or not important at all. The table below shows the results.
## RESPONSE X1972.82 X1983.87 ALL
## 1 One of the most important 197 81 278
## 2 Important 801 252 1053
## 3 Not very important 387 121 508
## 4 Not important at all 95 20 115
## 5 Don’t know 17 6 23
## 6 No answer 2 4 6
## 7 Not applicable 12127 7058 60483
Table 2. The importance of gun control.
Figure 1. The importance of gun control.
From the chart above, a significant majority of the respondents (67%) regarded the gun control issue as either one of the essential problems in society. Though about one-quarter of the respondents considered the issue as not very important, it is incontestable that most Americans would like the government to address the issue. However, the number of individuals that regarded the issue as one of the most important and important reduced significantly in the 1982-87 period, implying that Americans had started losing interest in the gun control issue. The continuing arguments for and against gun control are evidence of how this issue is vital in the United States. According to the National Institute of justice, approximately 35% of households in America own guns. There are at least two guns in nearly three-quarters of these households (Krouse, 2010). Therefore, the high number of homicide incidents associated with the easy availability of firearms elicit the need for new and stricter gun control policies.
The third question required respondents to reveal the amount of information that they had concerning the gun issue. The respondents were required to indicate whether they had all the information that they needed, most of the information, some information, or very little information. The responses of the respondents are shown in the table and chart below.
## RESPONSE X1983.87 ALL## 1 All of the information 67 67## 2 Most of the information 105 105## 3 Some of the information 194 194## 4 Very little information 110 110## 5 Don’t know 4 4## 6 No answer 4 4## 7 Not applicable 13626 13626
Table 3. Gun control information
Figure 2. Gun control information
From the chart above, a significant percentage of Americans (40%) acknowledged that they had all of the information that they needed to know about gun control. The mass shootings that are witnessed in the country repeatedly have made gun control a public issue, thereby creating widespread awareness about this issue (Newman & Hartman, 2017). This is responsible for the acknowledgment noted among the respondents that gun control is an important issue.
The last question asked how firm the respondents were about their opinion on gun control. They were required to indicate whether they were likely to change their opinion, somewhat likely to change, somewhat unlikely to change, or very unlikely to change. The table and chart below show the results of the survey.
## RESPONSE X1983.87 ALL## 1 Very likely to change 12 12## 2 Somewhat likely 85 85## 3 Somewhat unlikely 124 124## 4 Very unlikely 249 249## 5 Don’t know 11 11## 6 No answer 3 3## 7 Not applicable 7058 7058
Table 4. Opinion on gun control
Figure 3. Opinion on gun control.
From the chart, a majority of the respondents (77%) indicated that they were somewhat likely or very unlikely to change their opinion on gun control. Though most Americans are pressurizing the government to introduce new and stricter gun control laws, they understand that gun control laws and gun possession are issues that have attracted a lot of attention for decades (Spitzer, 2017). Americans are yet to see whether the new rules and policies on gun control will eventually achieve the long-desired result of reducing gun-related homicides.
Conclusion
The findings of the study affirm the hypothesis that lax laws, little information about gun control, and the rise in homicide cases affiliated to gun ownership are the factors that explain support for gun control in the United States. Though the United States has had gun laws and witnessed homicides linked to gun ownership for decades, none of the measures aimed at addressing this issue has been successful. A significant majority of Americans acknowledged that they would favor a law that requires a person to obtain a police permit before acquiring a gun. They also regarded the gun control issue to be essential and testified that they had enough information about gun control. However, many Americans confessed that they were unlikely to change their opinion about gun control, especially on the seriousness and effectiveness of government efforts aimed at reducing homicides associated with gun ownership.
References
Haynes, V. (2016). Gun Control in the United States. J Pol Sci Pub Aff, 4(206), 2332-0761.
Roth, R. (2002). Guns, gun culture, and homicide: The relationship between firearms, the uses of firearms, and interpersonal violence. The William and Mary Quarterly, 59(1), 223-240.
Hummer, C. (2016). Gun Control in the United States: An Analysis of Federal and International Policies and Applications.
Humphreys, D. K., Gasparrini, A., & Wiebe, D. J. (2017). Association Between Enactment of a “Stand Your Ground” Self-defense Law and Unlawful Homicides in Florida. JAMA internal medicine, 177(10), 1523-1524.
Constitutional Rights Foundation (CRF) (2012). Policies on Guns. Retrieved from https://www.crf-usa.org/images/pdf/gun_policies.pdf
Spitzer, R. J. (2017). Gun law history in the United States and Second Amendment rights. Law & Contemp. Probs., 80, 55.
Krouse, W. J. (2010, August). Gun control legislation. Library of Congress Washington DC Congressional Research Service.
Newman, B.J., & Hartman, T.K. (2017). Mass Shootings and Public Support for Gun Control. British Journal of Political Science. 1-27.
Vizzard, W. J. (2014). The current and future state of gun policy in the United States. J. Crim. L. & Criminology, 104, 879.
Smith, T., Marsden, P., Hout, M., & Kim, J. (2016). General Social Surveys, 1972-2016 Cumulative Codebook and Data File. Chicago, IL: National Opinion Research Center.