Is the United States prepared to put an end to gun violence?
On Wednesday November 7, 2018, a gunman opened fire on a group of unsuspecting people at the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oakes, California. This attack killed 12 people and injured at least 16 others. The gunman, former United States Marine Ian David Long, was found dead inside the bar due to what the police believe was a self-inflicted gunshot. These incidents are becoming less novel as gun violence spreads rampantly throughout the United States.
The United States is a country with contradictory attitudes towards the policies and processes surrounding gun laws. According to the Washington Post, there have been nearly 158 mass shootings in the United States since 1966. Mass shootings are defined as a single shooter killing four or more people. Mass shootings have claimed around 1,135 lives since 1966, 186 of them being children and teenagers. In 2018 alone, mass shootings have killed about 68 people.
How accessible are these guns? According to the BBC, one can buy a handgun for as little as $200 in the United States, which is comparable to the price of a Chromebook laptop. According to Small Arms Survey 2011, the United States ranks first in the world for civilian gun ownership, followed closely by Yemen. A 2015 study by Adam Lankford, a professor at the University of Alabama, states that from 1966 to 2012, Americans accounted for about 31 percent of the gunmen in mass shootings worldwide.
The impact of gun violence in America has not been limited to American citizens. The victims of mass shootings include people of other nationalities too, which makes this issue increasingly global. For example, a 26-year old Indian student was shot at a restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri during a suspected robbery attempt in July 2018.
The concern regarding gun violence is not limited to mass shootings. Gun violence has also been involved in firearm accidents and suicide. According to a study published by the American Public Health Association, there is a strong relationship between state-level firearm ownership and firearm suicide rates among both the male and female population.
The inevitable question becomes: what is the United States government doing with regards to regulating gun ownership? The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has been outspoken in his support for the Second Amendment, which protects the rights of U.S. citizens to bear arms. However, on this topic, the people of the United States are divided. According to a poll by Gallup, the support for handgun ownership has decreased over time among the United States population. Interestingly, support for gun control in America is highest among people from ages 18 to 29, according to a study by Pew Research Centre.
There are multiple factors deterring the United States from banning the ownership of weapons or introducing major amendments to the existing laws. One reason being the long-standing dependence on guns as weapons for self-defence, hunting, sport or as collector’s items. As per research conducted by RAND many regions in the U. S. rely on hunting as an important driver of the tourism economy. Further, ‘the wider gun industry employs hundreds of thousands of Americans, including instructors and shooting range operators; hunting equipment suppliers; and manufacturers, distributors, and retailers of firearms and ammunition.’ Additionally, strong political lobbying efforts render the laws untouchable. There is a stark divide among the Republicans and the Democrats over this issue, making the initiation of any amendment a difficult task. Well-funded and powerful groups like the National Rifle Association (NRA) in the United States are major lobbyists supporting existing gun laws and are currently gearing up to endorse 3-D printed guns.
On a policy level, gun policy is an understudied area in the United States. According to RAND, the United States government has spent only 1.6 percent as much on gun policy research as it has on research into phenomena that contribute to a similar number of deaths in the U. S. due to reasons like traffic accidents or sepsis. While many Americans continue to initiate debates around managing gun laws, there is still a large scope and a desperate need for movement at the policy level to challenge the status-quo of outdated laws in today’s world.