Understanding America's Persistent Gun-Violence Problem

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Historically, Americans have had the “right to bear arms” as part of the second amendment in its constitution. People have had a great use of weapons and violence in the past, but as American civilization has grown in the last few decades its problems with persistent gun-violence have done the same. Comparing the neighboring of Canada and Mexico, it comes to show with the incredible number of statistics and factual evidence of reported gun-violence that the US faces a sociocultural problem with the permissive and unregulated ownership of firearms. The amount of privately owned handguns gives rise to the number of crimes and lives claimed by gun violence. Southside Chicago is an exemplary territory that conveys the alarming significance of this …show more content…

The National Institute of Justice is one of various agencies that closely monitors crime-related incidents in the US. According to its statistics, gun violence in the country has made a steady decrease over the years. During 1993, the NIJ found a dire 17,075 homicides involved the use of firearms. The number of gun-related homicides since then has claimed nearly 10,000 lives annually. (“Gun Violence”) The FBI conducted a survey during 2011, showing that firearms are used in roughly 7 in 10 killings or 68% of all murders. An article from CNN explicitly summarizes the gruesome numbers, percentages and events related to gun violence in America. (Simon) Regardless of the numbers, it is clear that a staggering amount of violence in the US is due to firearms. America’s gun control policies can be best summarized as being permissive with varying degrees of liberty independent of each state. With so many incidents, it is worth looking at neighboring countries of Mexico and Canada for comparison and to question the origins of the massive amount of firearms in the …show more content…

A change in people’s views would be most effective at diminishing gun-violence in the long run. However, such a change in reality would occur over a long period of time. It is worth mentioning how Hollywood films attract large Americans crowds with their unrealistic amounts of gun violence for entertainment. In actuality, violence tends to breed more violence. Various groups such as John Rosenthal’s or Sarah Kollmorgen’s non-profit organizations make sure people’s voices are heard in legislative procedures that could help reduce gun violence in their communities. Certain people actively pursue boycotting firearms, while others more conservative views wish to leave gun policies independent of each state, evidently turning a blind eye on the situation. However, the real challenge is for the federal government to establish a uniform gun control policy throughout every state in the nation. Such laws, most agree, would require proper identification, thorough background checks, and a system for firearm regulation in addition to licensing on behalf of firearm dealers and buyers. Taking such action would not cause a conflict for those who wish to argue it is one’s own right and liberty to own a gun as stated in the second amendment of the constitution because it is only establishing cautionary procedure to regulate gun ownership on a national

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