Gun Control - Research Paper Example

? Gun Control The Sandy Hook shooting happened in mid-December One Adam Lanza shot at six adults and twenty children in Newtown at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. Lanza had initially murdered his mother at home before he went into the school for the shooting spree. He also ended his life in the shoot-out. This shooting was one of the deadliest shooting to ever happen in the history of America. As a result of this shooting, debate on gun control in America took shape, as a result, with a division on the gun laws in the United States. Some people supported the owning of fire arms by Americans while others advocated for new laws that would ban the sale of some semi-automatic firearms. These gun control calls were a measure to reduce the occurrence of a tragedy like the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting. After the incident at Sandy Hook, over 100,000 Americans signed a petition supporting renewed debate on gun control in America. Gun violence in the United States is the leading cause of calls to control guns. Gun violence is common in urban areas and more often involve young males (GIIDS, 2011). Such high profile shooting like the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre has heightened debate on gun policies in America. Statistics show that 70 percent of all homicides in the United States get perpetrated using some firearm. This includes suicides and accidental shooting incidences. Different policies at the state, federal and local levels, have made an attempt to address gun violence through a number of methods including restrictions of firearm purchases by at risk population, establishment of gun buyback programs, law enforcement and policy strategies. Other measures to curb the increasing instances of gun violence include setting periods of waiting before purchasing of firearms, enactment of harsh laws of violators of gun laws, community outreach programs, and education programs for children and parents. The federal legislation aims at prohibiting the sale of firearms to criminals and insurgents. Gun policies get determined by the interpretation of the second amendment of the constitution of the United States. These amendments have been subject to several disagreements throughout the years. This second amendment protects a person’s right to own a firearm for the traditional lawful purpose of defense against trespassers in the home and within the federal enclaves. This protection extends to the states as well. There have been numerous endeavors in the United States by authorities to control the use of guns throughout the states. This has led to numerous recommendations in relation to gun laws and policies. Recommendations on the gun laws are as follows. There should be a ban to the military assault weapons that include high capacity magazines (Carter, 2006). Background checks should be expanded, and gun traffic laws should be toughened. A ban should be imposed on the sale and production of magazines with more than 10 rounds. The expanded background checks should include criminal checks to prevent an instance of criminals getting access to guns. The loophole should be closed that exempts gun buyers from any form of screening. Legislations should be passed to ban transfer or possession of armor bullets and cracking down on individuals. These people after passing the screening test hand over the guns to criminals and people forbidden from buying the guns. Top of these recommendations is the background checks issue. It is important for an individual background to be thoroughly scrutinized before getting allowed to own or even purchase a gun. There should be a ban on assault weapons. Another recommendation would be making legislation that defined gun trafficking as a federal crime. This legislation would limit the gun flow in, out and within states. There should be an addition of more legal language in the laws regarding the distribution of guns such that there are less legal hurdles in prosecution. This is because the current legal language as regards to gun laws has proved difficult in the prosecution of an individual who sell guns to felons. The laws should be such that there is no transfer of firearms to a felon. Such a law would offer some incentive to the gun seller to conduct a background check before selling guns to any person (Carter, 2012). This policy would discourage the idea of people buying guns and handing over to criminals. There has been some debate regarding gun ownership and mental illnesses. Most states in America have legislation that has removed ownership rights of gun to people with any psychiatric condition. Health professionals should be required to inform the local authorities of a patient who may hurt themselves or other with the possession of a firearm. The current laws dictate that the entitlement of the police to disposes this people of the guns they own. The laws regarding those with mental illness, therefore, make a requirement that after the declaration of mental illness then their records get stored to prevent them from future purchase of firearms. The general rule is that people with any form of mental illness should not own guns. This is because mentally ill persons could hurt themselves or even others around them. The sandy Hook elementary shooting incident is an example of why guns should not be possessed by mentally ill. The shooter Adam Lanza was reportedly a mentally ill person. The current laws dictate that family members of mentally ill persons should not own a firearm and leave them recklessly (Cook & Ludwig, 2003). This can be ascertained by the fact that in the Sandy Hook tragedy, the shooter did not use his gun, but that of his mother. Such like happenings can be avoided if there were legislation that provided for the gun collection by relatives of a mentally ill person. It is a delicate balance to strike between the mental issue and public safety. The scope of mental illness should not cover those with personality disorders, eating disorders and schizophrenia as people with these types of mental illness have no chance of committing crimes. Instead, people with these types of mental illness are likely crime victims. Laws have become adopted in several states that limit the sale of guns to mentally ill persons. There are laws that have been put in place to rescind one’s rights to own guns as soon as they get declared mentally ill. As regard to the mentally ill people, such stringent gun laws are bound to discriminate them and alienate them further from society. It weakens the patient doctor confidentiality as the doctors give a negative report regarding a patient. These tough laws regarding the mentally ill, therefore, lead to withholding of information by the mentally ill therefore, lacking proper treatment. Lack of treatment in this matter will lead to violent outbursts hence increased possibility of violence (Carter, 2012). Because of fear of getting reported to the government an authority that makes it impossible for the mentally ill to give full disclosure of their medical condition. The relation between mental illness and gun laws is for the protection of other citizens and to avoid the recurrence of another shooting incident like the sandy Hook incidence. Some legislation has got enacted since the Sandy Hook shooting after the revelation that the shooter had a mental condition that pushed him to committing the crime. By the passage of these laws then, the protection of the general public safety gets guaranteed. Fingers should not be entirely pointed to the mentally ill persons. Measures should be taken to control the high capacity gun availability to individuals. The law requires that psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals to report any patient seen as dangerous even though the provider is of the opinion that the patient would respond accordingly to treatment given. This gets referred to as the mental health alert where the local authorities get informed of someone with a mental condition. The database in the states gets updated in case of any condition then an alert gets made in case a background check becomes conducted at the instance of any gun purchase. It is thus common knowledge that any mentally ill person should not have easy access to guns. As a result of these new laws regarding the mentally ill, those seek individuals who need treatment the most will stay away from the people who should help them out. This has resulted in stigma against the mentally ill as they become considered dangerous people by a majority of the population. There should be education to the society on the low chances the mentally ill commit violent actions against other people. The equation of guns with the mentally ill is an issue of great concern as it is demeaning to the mentally ill person. These new laws regarding guns get driven by fear and ignorance (Cook & Ludwig, 2003). The society should not push down the mentally ill because such tough laws relating to gun control alienate them further from society. There are different restrictions on different guns. These restrictions are dependent on the states. The restrictions revolve around the weapon types, who may possess and the number of guns they may possess. There are also different penalties to different gun laws in the different states. For federal arms, according to the Second Amendment of the constitution of the United States, the people are entitled to own guns for their own protection and the state's security. A person, thus, gets allowed to travel interstate with his or her firearm. The firearm in the process of transportation should be totally concealed and that it should not be loaded. It should also be contained in a locked locker. Any individual of any age may own a long gun. A long gun includes either a rifle or a shot gun. Any resident of any age may purchase a long gun from a non-licensed gun dealer in the same state. A long gun gift gets allowed to anybody of any age if the recipient is of the same state. Transfer of firearm between states does not get allowed but only on special conditions. It is, therefore, a felony to violate any of the above stated laws relating to long guns. Restrictions regarding hand guns are that any person below the age of 18 does not get allowed to possess a hand gun. Only older person more than 18 years of age become allowed to possess, purchase or receive hand gun gifts. The purchasing, possessing, and gifts get limited to one’s residency such that interstate transit of hand guns gets disallowed. Any violation of these laws becomes considered a felony and has severe criminal charges on them. The purchase of long guns from licensed dealers only gets allowed to adults of 18 years of age (Vernick & Webster,2012). The acquisition of guns outside one’s state is only operational to people adults only, and these purchases are to be conducted from only licensed dealers. The giving of false statement or false identification to own a gun is a felony under the American law. Firearms should not be collected by any single individual as this is a felony. The felony charges on this gun laws are so severe and may put one in prison for prolonged periods of time. Loaning of hand guns and long guns only gets allowed to adults of 18 years of age not juveniles. The acquisition of ammo is not allowed to anybody of any form. No sale whatsoever to any person under the age of 18. Conclusion The above research literature has delved into the issue of gun control. Recommendations on what the gun laws ought to become get forwarded in the discussion within the paper. These recommendations call for the repealing of the Second Amendment of the constitution of United States that allows for gun ownership. With the amendments and legislation of new laws regarding gun laws, then the public’s safety is guaranteed (Cook & Ludwig, 2003). This will prevent the occurrence of yet another shooting incident as the was the case in the Sandy Hook Elementary school shoot out. With better gun protection and laws, then the American public is secure from any threats. References Carter, G. L. ( 2006). Gun control in the United States: A Reference Handbook. New York: ABC-CLIO. Carter, G. L. (2012). Guns in American Society. New York: ABC-CLIO. Cook, P. J., & Ludwig, J. (2003). Evaluating gun policy: effects on crime and violence. New York: Brookings Institution Press. Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. (2011). Small Arms Survey 2011: States of Security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Vernick, J. S., & Webster, D. W. (2012). Reducing Gun Violence in America: Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis. Chicago: JHU Press. Read More