In recent times, Columbine, Fort Hood, Aurora, Newtown, and Charleston have become the epicenter of gun-related violence in the United States. Of the 12 deadliest shootings in the United States, six have happened from 2007 onward (Ehrenfreund, 2015). Each mass shooting event brought the gun debate to the national limelight. These tragic events make global headlines which invariably makes other developed countries conclude that the American society, with all its prosperity and standing as a world leader, is not able to contain this social menace.
Given that other advanced countries have far less gun-related violence within the period of time that these mass shootings occurred in the United States, there are social forces contributing to American …show more content…
Not only should gun owners demonstrate that they are mentally stable to own a firearm, but they must be held criminally liable if their weapons fall into the hands of another person who is not permitted to use a firearm. This is an important tissue to making gun laws stricter because a mentally deranged person possessing a weapon is a danger to public safety. Our criminal justice system allows an insanity defense by perpetrators of gun violence, which is an excuse in criminal trials that argue that the defendant is not responsible for their actions due to an episodic or persistent psychiatric illness. There are gun laws that are intended to prevent criminals from owning guns, but it does not go far enough to prevent the guns from getting into the hands of another group of people, the mentally unstable.
Miller et al. (2013) contribution to the study of gun violence, adopt international ecologic studies comparing the United States to other countries. The cultural worldview of the nations of the world varies greatly. Cultural universals like the value of human life have similarities in the beliefs of various societies. However, the extent to which the human life is valued is expressed in norms that will tell the difference to our responses to situations like mass …show more content…
(2012) show how substantial the burden of gun violence is to American society by using the operational definition of productive life lost, disability, fear, and economic costs, and make the conclusion that a large majority of the public favor remedying the weakness in the current gun laws. However, Harding &Wilson (2012) observe that the evidence of opinion on gun control is largely split, where majority favor many specific gun control proposals, but at the same time these majorities also think the measures will not be effective in reducing violent crime. He further asserts that support for the general concept of stricter gun laws has declined significantly in the past
Given that other advanced countries have far less gun-related violence within the period of time that these mass shootings occurred in the United States, there are social forces contributing to American …show more content…
Not only should gun owners demonstrate that they are mentally stable to own a firearm, but they must be held criminally liable if their weapons fall into the hands of another person who is not permitted to use a firearm. This is an important tissue to making gun laws stricter because a mentally deranged person possessing a weapon is a danger to public safety. Our criminal justice system allows an insanity defense by perpetrators of gun violence, which is an excuse in criminal trials that argue that the defendant is not responsible for their actions due to an episodic or persistent psychiatric illness. There are gun laws that are intended to prevent criminals from owning guns, but it does not go far enough to prevent the guns from getting into the hands of another group of people, the mentally unstable.
Miller et al. (2013) contribution to the study of gun violence, adopt international ecologic studies comparing the United States to other countries. The cultural worldview of the nations of the world varies greatly. Cultural universals like the value of human life have similarities in the beliefs of various societies. However, the extent to which the human life is valued is expressed in norms that will tell the difference to our responses to situations like mass …show more content…
(2012) show how substantial the burden of gun violence is to American society by using the operational definition of productive life lost, disability, fear, and economic costs, and make the conclusion that a large majority of the public favor remedying the weakness in the current gun laws. However, Harding &Wilson (2012) observe that the evidence of opinion on gun control is largely split, where majority favor many specific gun control proposals, but at the same time these majorities also think the measures will not be effective in reducing violent crime. He further asserts that support for the general concept of stricter gun laws has declined significantly in the past