Gun control laws in the United States
What was so interesting for me this semester was chapter 10 in Bartol & Bartol (2016) that focused on Multiple Murder, School and Workplace Violence. Learning and speaking about public mass shootings and, in particular, school shootings is what stuck out to me the most this semester. According to the Washington Post, by February 15 of this year, there had already been seven school shootings in the United States. That makes for one school shooting per week, which is more than some countries have ever had.
Despite these high numbers, mass shootings actually make up a small percentage of overall deaths by firearm. “Over three recent decades (1983 to 2012), there have been approximately 78 public mass shootings in the United States, resulting in 547 deaths (not including the shooters)” (Bjelopera, Bagalman, Caldwell, Finlea, & McCallion 2013). Even if we add the more recent deaths not counted in those figures (e.g., Newtown and Aurora), the numbers do not approach 1,000 over three decades. While shocking, frightening, and tragic, public mass shootings account for a very small portion of the murders in any given year. In the year 2013 alone, for example, firearms were used to murder 8,454 persons (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2014a, p. 306)
It is obvious that something needs to be done regarding gun violence and mass shootings, especially shootings that occur on school grounds, have brought it to the attention of the public. We need change in the United States in regard to stricter gun laws and more extensive background checks. With this being said, there should be certain rules regarding firearm ownership for individuals with mental illness as well as those who live in the household with them. A perfect example of this would be the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting. Although the mother of the shooter, Nancy Lanza, owned her firearms legally, in my opinion, she should have not of held the firearms kept at home. Unfortunately, this mistake cost her life along with 20 innocent children and six adult staff members.
One major issue regarding to mass shootings in school is due to the easy availability of firearms. Erickson (2018) wrote: “Americans have a disproportionate number of guns at least 300 million, about one per person, especially handguns and semiautomatic weapons. A bullet from an AR-15 rifle, which the alleged shooter used in the Florida attack Wednesday, can penetrate a steel helmet from five hundred yards. As the New Yorker put it: when fired from a close range at civilians who aren’t wearing body armor, the bullets from an AR-15 don’t merely penetrate the human body – they tear it apart. It ‘looks like a grenade went off in there,’ Peter Rheem a trauma surgeon at the University of Arizona, told Wired.” With this being said, in my opinion, high powered AR-15 rifles should only be accessed by law enforcement or the military. Being able to willingly purchase an AR-15 is something that I find preposterous. It is clear that not only is school violence an issue that is unique to the United States, but the United States is also the only country that has an overall dilemma with firearm-related deaths. We as Americans are failing as a country, and our future unfortunately suffers.
With mass shootings happening at an alarming rate, we as a country must do something about it, rather than becoming so numb to it. One country that we can learn from is from Australia. On April 28, 1996, a 28-year-old Australian identified as Martin Bryant shot up a local tourist location using a semiautomatic rifle. The results of the shooting left 35 people deceased and 23 wounded resulting in the worst mass shooting in Australian history. After the shooting took place, the ruling center-right Liberal Party came together with groups across the political board to work together on legislation with the objective of ending easy access to guns. Calamur (2017) wrote: “Australian government banned automatic and semiautomatic firearms, adopted new licensing requirements, established a national firearms registry, and instituted a 28-day waiting period for gun purchases. It also destroyed more than 600,000 civilian-owned firearms, in a scheme that cost half a billion dollars and was funded by raising taxes.” The entire process took months to complete. The findings after the Australian government took action indicate that stricter guns laws do in fact work. Calamur (2017) shares the definition of a mass shooting in Australia is any incidents in which a gunman killed five or more people other than himself. This is a notably a higher casualty count than is generally applied for tallying mass shootings in the U.S. Mass shootings dropped from 13 in the 18-year period before 1996 to zero after the Port Author massacre (Calamur 2017). Between 1995 and 2006, gun related homicides and suicides in the country dropped by 59 percent and 65 percent, respectively, though these declines appear to have since leveled off.” It seems reasonable to aim to implement similar regulations in the United States, however the United States has more people, more guns per capita, and, the second amendment, which complicates the process.
Bartol, C. and Bartol, A. (2017). Criminal behavior: A psychological approach (Eleventh Edition). Upper Boston: Pearson.
Calamur, K. (2017, October 2). Australia’s lessons on gun control. The Atlantic. Retrieved from: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/australia-gun- control/541710/
Erickson, A. (2018, February 15). The one number that shows America’s problem with school shootings is unique. The Washington Post. Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/02/15/the-one- number-that-shows-americas-problem-with-school-shootings-is- unique/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.065d444660f4.