Gun Violence In America Has Exponentially Increased

From the Las Vegas shooting to the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, gun violence in America is on the rise. Gun violence in America has exponentially increased (“Gun Violence”). Many factors have contributed to America’s massive gun violence predicament such as easy access to guns, advancement of weapons, and lack of awareness of mental health. Sarah Mervosh, a writer and investigative reporter for The New York Times, revealed that around 40,000 people died from gun violence in the United States throughout 2017.

Mervosh’s evidence proved that the rate of firearms death significantly increased in the United States, while shootings like the one in Las Vegas made up a small percentage of those deaths. By stating how school shootings have increased, she explained that 60 percent of firearm deaths were suicides, and 37 percent were homicides.

The purpose of her article was to explain that most mass shootings go unreported and that the United States needs to take affirmative action against gun violence.

To solve the massive gun violence, Mervosh argued that the United States needs to find new solutions to address this ongoing issue by following how other countries such as Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Israel have lowered their gun violence. The significance is that all of these countries have endured massive gun violence, but took affirmative action by creating new regulations and policies. If the United States followed similar procedures such as these four countries, Mervosh argued that gun violence could exponentially decline (Mervosh). Overall, throughout her article, she includes citations from websites such as the NRA, CDC, and many professors who all show that gun violence is a significant issue.

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How Australia solved gun violence with the National Firearms Act

Molly McCluskey, a freelance journalist for the Pacific Standard Magazine in Australia, reported how Australia had addressed gun violence in their country. The Pacific Standard Magazine is a publishing company that focuses on social and environmental justice. In her article, McCluskey stated that over twenty years ago, Australia endured their mass shooting when a man fired at a tourist destination with a semi-automatic rifle, killing over 35 people and injuring 23. Unlike the United States, McCluskey revealed that Australia acted right away and introduced the National Firearms Act, which banned the sale of all automatic and semi-automatic rifles The National Firearms Act forced people to have “legitimate” reasons for wanting to buy weapons and created a 28-day waiting period.

McCluskey called out the United States for not passing bills or acting upon many of their mass shootings from Parkland to Sandy Hook (“Deadliest U.S. Mass Shootings”). She feels that Australia’s solution of limiting guns and enacting an effective solution in six weeks ended their mass shootings and violence. Throughout her well-stated article, McCluskey included citations and links to support her evidence from credible databases and sources such as an interview with an Ambassador from Australia. All in all, her article revealed that the United States needs to take action against gun violence and Australia’s plan is only one solution that the United States could follow (McCluskey).

How Japan Virtually Ended Gun Violence

Chris Weller, a senior reporter for Business Insider, reported how the United States could follow Japan’s solution to gun violence. Business Insider is an American financial and business news publishing company that operates all around the world. Throughout his article, Weller discussed two ways of how Japan ended gun violence. Weller introduced his first claim by explaining how following World War II, pacifism emerged causing the country’s philosophy and intentions to change. With the country’s ideals changing, Weller revealed how laws such as the Japanese Firearm and Sword Possession Control Law in 1958, set forth changes by outlawing the use of firearms in public and a ban on rifles (Alleman). By prohibiting firearms, gun violence in Japan significantly decreased. Weller then mentioned Japan’s second solution, which was that their citizens must pass extensive tests before being allowed to purchase a gun. Japanese citizens are required to attend all-day classes, pass a written test, achieve at least a 95% in a shooting range test, and pass a mental-health evaluation at a hospital. Throughout his article, he includes citations from publishing companies such as The Guardian and The Atlantic to explain multiple perspectives on Japan’s solution (Weller). All in all, her article is not biased and explains how Japan lessened gun violence.

How Israel Prevents Gun Violence

The RAND Corporation is a research company that develops solutions to public policy challenges to make communities safer, secure, and prosperous. In one of their research articles, they explored how Israel’s approach lessened gun violence among troops and civilians. Although Israel is surrounded by war-torn countries, their solution of requiring the Israeli Defense Forces to leave their firearms on base when they returned home on weekends, has significantly worked. According to the World Health Organization in 2017, their solution decreased the amounts of suicides and improved mental health factors by 40% (“World Health Organization”). Compared to Israel, suicides and mental health issues have dramatically increased in the United States. Many researchers such as the RAND Corporation blame the United States’ lack of affirmative action against guns and the promotion of guns as one of the reasons mental health issues have increased (RAND). Overall, they included evidence from the World Health Organization sponsored by the United Nations and information from Israel’s parliament. All of their evidence helped strengthen Israel’s effectiveness and show that their solution can work.

How the United Kingdom Solved Gun Violence

Juliette Jowit and Sandra Laville, reporters for the publishing company, The Guardian, reported how the United Kingdom’s government has significantly decreased gun violence in the last decade. Throughout their article, they provide citations, statistics, and evidence to show how the United Kingdom limited to gun violence. They mention how school and mass shootings were exponentially increasing in the 90’s and how there weren’t any backgrounds checks or policies about firearms. It was the 1996 Dunblane school shooting where 18 people died that transformed the public’s view surrounding guns. Jowit and Laville reported how the United Kingdom’s parliament and the public took action against gun violence and created the Firearms Act in 1997. The Firearms Act banned all cartridge ammunition handguns, which significantly lowered gun violence.

To prove that the Firearms Act worked, Jowit and Laville referenced Mark Mastaglio, an expert on firearms worked for the Forensic Science Service for twenty years. Mastaglio explained how the Firearms Act “was a huge piece of legislation, and had a huge impact on registered gun owners.” The United Kingdom’s action against gun violence with the Firearms Act transformed the United Kingdom’s beliefs about guns and decreased gun violence by having the stringent set of firearms legislation in the world (Jowit). Overall, Jowit’s and Laville’s article uses information from many sources such as graphs from the Scottish government, Mark Mastaglio, and other government officials. All of their sources were used to help prove the effectiveness of the United Kingdom’s solution.

Connection between all the perspectives

From all the solutions created and enacted, all of them have significantly decreased gun violence and have changed the mindset of their people. From Australia’s ban on automatic handguns, Japan’s tests before buying a gun, Israel’s improvement on mental health, and the United Kingdom’s Firearms Act have all limited massive gun violence. Additionally, they all have limited the use of buying a gun and revolve around the improvement of mental health playing a key factor.

Challenges With New Gun Reforms

Although Australia, Japan, Israel, and the United Kingdom have solved gun violence in their own countries, some of the policies they implemented have not worked in Latin American countries such as Brazil. According to CCSPJP’s top 50 ranking, Brazil has some of the most violent cities on the planet (“Global Study on Homicide”). The Mises Institute, a non-profit, research company that looks for a different perspective on multiple topics, reported that Brazil’s high crime rates have caused Brazil’s government to enact and create over a dozen pieces of gun control legislation and regulations.

Some of their laws are that Brazilian must be 25 years of age, have a gun license, pay fees consistently, and go through extensive background checks. Although Brazil enacted gun reform policies, crimes are still on the rise and shootings have not significantly decreased. The reason why those changes were ineffective in Brazil is because of the lack of enforcement by their government (Nino). Overall, the Mises Institute article on gun violence in Latin America included citations from the Citizens Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice (CCSPJP), the United Nations, and The New York Times.

Conclusion

Although Brazil’s gun violence hasn’t improved, many people argue that it is because of the lack of adequate regulations and reinforcing their policies. To solve massive gun violence in the United States, they need to implement harsher policies by limiting all guns, increasing mental health tests, not displaying weapons in public, and taking some types of firearms entirely off the market to end gun violence. All in all, to solve our gun violence, they need to enact better laws and regulations to make sure public or school shootings never happen again.