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GunControl in the 21stCentury
Gunpolitics in the United States have become a controversial area withreference to the American politics. This is defined by primaryactions from two sides/groups the issue of gun rights and guncontrol. With regard to the two approaches, there has been adifferent interpretation of the cases and laws related to guns orfirearms as well as the concern of gun control and the effect oncrime and public control. The issue of gun control and itscontroversy has resurfaced in the 21st century in the aftermath ofincidents of highly publicized as well as indiscriminate deadly casesof mass shootings (GunControl Overview, 6).With regard to the American history, such cases were extremely rarebefore the mid-1980s and before, before increasingly becoming analarming issue since then.
Guncontrol has become a tough sell in the 21st century in America. Withthe adoption of every American becomes a soldier while every soldierbecoming a citizen through gun possession, the enactment of thesecond amendment of the American constitution has seen a host ofdebates in the 20th and 21st centuries. The American Supreme Courthas overtime held that the second amendment is only imposed torestrict the state and federal government from imposing gun controlsin their respective areas, which in turn makes the case morecomplicated (Collier,84).The move by federal and state government would be action to deprivethe Americans their right to defend their homes as well as theirright to protect their liberties (Vizzard,880).More so, the state government is also constrained from enacting guncontrol legislation that would be in conflict with the provisionsstated by the state constitutions.
Withthe evolution of the issue of gun control, it remains to be seen asto whether the renewed focus with reference to the fervor willproceed. Fewer Americans in the recent times are in support of thegun control movement as well as that handgun control in particular. Just like the case with many public policies, the issue of guncontrol has been a matter of state-federal as well as locallegislation. The issue of gun control has gained much concern overthe decades due to the fact that, the gun death rate in the US hascontinued to exceed the rate any other country. Between the twopolitical parties in the country, the gun control topic has for along time led to divide views with regard to how the issue ought tobe tackled (Abramsky,20).However, even though the republican tend to be in support of the guncontrol initiative, and republicans not, the relative view of theissue as less important to the Americans has led to success in thedevelopment and enactment of gun control legislations. In terms oflaw making, the senate in 1999 voted for the development of regulatedgun shows, and in turn supporting the development of trigger locks.However, there was no action undertaken when the issue came to theHouse floor. This paper analyses the issue of gun control in the 21stcentury, deploying the literature of the chosen articles.
Sincethe year 1990, the issue of firearms in terms of their availabilityand the social menace of gun violence in the US has beencharacterized by initiatives such as the right to bear firearms forexample as it is the case with the country’s second amendment ofthe constitution. In addition, this is defined by the governmentsneed and responsibility to serve the people’s needs and preventdeaths and crimes especially the one that is gun initiated. Accordingto James (710), the issue of gun control in America has been believedto have special power and passion driving people’s thoughts withregard to the issue. With reference to the history of the issue, theauthor is in agreement with the enactment of the 2nd amendment asthose behind it were well at the thought of people’s rights withreference to owning guns. However, on policy issues, the authorbelieves that some of the gun control measures have indeed savedlives, even though the net impact of gun control issue might not beas massive as earlier thought in either way.
Guncontrol debate has gained prominence among Americans as the issue haslooked to affect the American schools. From Columbine to Sandy Hook,gun shooting in schools has been disturbing. The school, which isought to be safer than school and the streets, and in turn the reasonbehind the growing need to make necessary changes about the guncontrol issue. According to Collier (82), the increased cases ofshootings in American cities have been disturbing incidents such asthe case of Florida shooting, mass shooting in Connecticut elementaryschool and in Colorado movie theatre. The author points out that,such cases would remain a menace in the American societies, as longas the uncontrolled high number of guns continues to be in people’spossession. More so, as Americans continue to accept the notion ofunlimited rights to gun ownership. On the other hand, the possessionof guns by people with questionable mental illness has been blamed onthe ease of gun access and with menaces such as gun violence,individualism, political debate, the gun control issue is far fromover (Abramsky,15).
Guncontrol has been and remains a contentious issue with regard to theAmerican politics. The National Rifle Association is one of the keyforces behind gun licensing, and key influential American leadershave supported the organization. Gun control has exposed therepublican generosity, and the issue emerged as a political issue ata time there was a serial killer in Washington (Dahl,18).In the case of the democrats, the issue is becoming a losing battle.In 2004, bill Clinton conceded that the democrats lost their powerover the congress due to their case of allowing or passing anassault-weapons ban in the year 1994. More so, many Democrats believethat in 2000 Al Gore lost the presidential race due to his strong gunlaws. This was during the Democrat primaries (Nordlinger,39).Such kind of lessons isn’t new in American politics as single keyissues determine outcomes of elections and gun issues aren’texceptional.
Domenech(25) looked at the relationship between a mass shooting and guncontrol legislation with reference to the Sandy Hook Elementaryschool shooting. One of the notable incidents, according to theauthor reveals that, despite fall in cases of violent crime in theUS, the gun ownership has on the other hand been on the rise. The waymass incidents such as the school cases are reported to show adilapidated use of guns. Gun murders grab headlines, but the shockingrevelation is that more Americans die a year in year out from gunsuicides than the case of homicides. On the other hand, the presenceof guns has been related to the elevated rates of suicide in America.
Casesof mass shootings in America have been known cases, for example thecolumbine shooting, Rosenberg Oregon, Mary Pilchuck high schoolshooting, Sand Hooks case among many others has been used as areference to the changed intended to the gun control issue. After theSandy Hooks case, the state of Connecticut signed into law gunregulations a year after the Sandy Hooks Incident. According to arecent speech by the current United States president (Barack Obama),the statistic related to gun violence can serve as an evidence toshow that, the violence can be preventable. In a nutshell andreference to the articles used, some key details can be drawn withregard to the issue of gun control and rights in the US (Shapiro,6).Some key notables include the fact that: more guns in America havemeant more homicides and suicides. The public is in support of guncontrol, but some aspects of the law. On the other hand, theincreasing number of illegal weapons has contributed to a number ofmassacres in the country. The second amendment has been a bone ofcontention with regard to the gun control, with it is termed asincomplete. Arming every American can`t be taken as a solution to theever-growing menace among the Americans.
Workscited
"GunControl Overview." CongressionalDigest 92.3(2013): 3-7. AcademicSearch Premier.Web. 4 May 2016.
Abramsky,Sasha. "Democrat Killer?." Nation 280.15(2005): 13-20. AcademicSearch Premier.Web. 4 May 2016.
Collier,Charles W. "Gun Control in America: An Autopsy Report." Dissent(00123846) 60.3(2013): 81-86. AcademicSearch Premier.Web. 3 May 2016.
Dahl,Dick. "The NRA Sees Room To Grow As Faithful Adjunct To TheGOP." Nation 275.15(2002): 16-19. AcademicSearch Premier.Web. 3 May 2016.
Domenech,Benjamin. "The Truth about Mass Shootings and GunControl." Commentary 135.2(2013): 25-29. AcademicSearch Premier.Web. 3 May 2016.
Nordlinger,Jay. "`Bang` : Guns, Rap, and Silence." NationalReview 53.7(2001): 37-40. AcademicSearch Premier.Web. 4 May 2016.
Shapiro,Bruce. "Sandy Hook`s Impact." Nation 296.17(2013): 4-6. AcademicSearch Premier.Web. 3 May 2016.
Vizzard,William J. "The Current and Future State of Gun Policy in theUnited States." Journalof Criminal Law & Criminology 104.4(2015): 879-904. AcademicSearch Premier.Web. 3 May 2016.