Columbine School Shooting Review: Gun Control Policy, Then and Now - Research Paper Example
- Subject: Law
- Type: Research Paper
- Level: Masters
- Pages: 23 (5750 words)
- Downloads: 0
- Author: jasen85
Extract of sample "Columbine School Shooting Review: Gun Control Policy, Then and Now"
A consideration of the Second Amendment Rights of the American people shall be included in this discussion. The gun control debate has long been a controversial topic in the United States. The Open Society Institute (2000) claims that the knowledge of gun control laws is very much poor and the idea of tough or permissive gun control policies is often reported by the media, but the standard of gun control policies has not been sufficiently set. The Open Society Institute (2000) surveyed gun laws from all 50 states and compared these laws.
American society is considered one of the most heavily armed societies in the developed setting, with close to 40% of their households having guns, and homicide rates much about two to ten times higher than rates in developed states (Krug, Powell, & Dahlberg, 1998). More recent figures indicate that in 2010, there were more than 31,000 individuals who died after being shot in the US (Webster & Vernick, 2013). With some of the victims being very young, gun violence is considered one of the top causes of premature deaths in the US (Webster & Vernick, 2013). Also, there were about 340,000 nonfatal crimes involving crimes in 2010 with 73,000 treated in hospitals due to gunshot wounds.
Violence cannot be attributed to one cause only, however, its results are often heightened with the presence of weapons or the methods used for the violence. Regardless of the cause of the injury – through assault or self-inflicted injury – death is a higher likelihood when guns are involved. According to Zimring and Hawkins (1997), this is why US homicide rates exceed rates for other developed economies. As violent acts in the US often involve guns, more deaths are registering. An improved understanding of gun violence was seen in the 1980s when it was recognized that gun violence is a health hazard, and is a major, but very much preventable cause of death (Open Society Institute, 2000). Prevention is very much better than cure.
