Gun Control in the US - Research Paper Example

Between the years 1997 and 2001, there were more than 30 such incidents that took place in schools, offices, and various other places, all over US, which resulted in the deaths of 139 people and another 188 being wounded. However, it was after the Columbine High School incident, public outrage reached its peak and there was a mass outcry to bring in stringent laws for gun control. After the initial outpour of rage and massive protests against the National Rifle Association (the champion of liberal gun usage in US), things have drifted back to their original conditions.

In June 2010 we find a disturbing piece of news that tells us “The US Supreme Court found Monday a Chicago handgun ban to be unconstitutional in a far-reaching ruling that makes it much harder for states and city governments to limit gun ownership” (Ogle, US Supreme Court limits gun control by states). So again its status quo and we are back to where we had started, with the court giving a free hand to all potential killers. This article will take an in-depth look at this issue of gun control and the related controversies in US.

It will explore as to why US have more gun violence than other countries, and will suggest measures to reduce this peril. From various studies and reports it has been seen that almost 40% of US homes have some sort of guns or fire ammunitions in their possession. Krug, Powell and Dahlberg in their research papers have come to the conclusion that the homicide rates in the American countries is almost 2-10 times higher than any other country in the developed world (Krug, Powell and Dahlberg, 214-221).

There is no doubt that violence in some form or the other is present in almost all countries worldwide, but what increases the death rate in US is the rampant presence of guns. This relation between easy availability of guns in US and the high mortality rate has been proven in their research work by the famous