Gun Violence Policy Brief

 Introduction

            In the wake of the extensiveness of gun violence and rising rates of mass shootings, government and other private entities had to explore the issue swiftly and revise the firearm policies. Nurses and other medical experts deal with the overwhelming number of gun violence casualties on a daily basis (Swanson et al., 2015). Based on medical reports, gun violence accounted for an estimated 36,252 USA deaths in 2015 and continuous to be the leading cause of death among young people aged 10-34 years old. Social work field has a duty to address important matters affecting communities across the globe including the outstanding issue of gun violence in USA. In 2017, 39,700 people succumbed to gun violence. Out of these number, 60% were fatally injured and 40% died. The persistent nature of gun violence forced government officials and other entities to try and find out the root cause of the violence.

Analysis of Gun Violence Alternatives

 Gun violence accounts for 27% mortality rate in the past decade and due to lack of a clear policy or national action, the states have tried to fight these predicament by adhering to effective policy making mechanisms (Jones, & Stone, 2015). Nevertheless, there is no noted progress in enacting meaningful laws that would reduce gun violence. In order to gain a deeper comprehension into recent policymaking progress, one needs to identity past gun violence trends. In simpler terms, gun violence is an urgent multifaceted issue and needs evidence-based answers.

 In the past, most recommended or enacted policies involved gun restrictions. For example, the policies controlled who owned guns. The number of bills and regulations passed increased in 2019 when Democrats took control of both houses. The increasing number of bills passed is an indication of the rising attention paid to gun violence by different sectors. In order to enact operative laws and policies, policymakers need to access evidence-reliant material and researches on gun violence (Malina et al., 2016). Analyzing gun violence evidence helps legislative departments tailor the policies according to interdisciplinary agenda.

 Apart from legislators, psychologists have made significant contributions to the policymaking process. In addition, psychologists wrote reports which convey reliable conclusions and commendations (Newman, & Hartman, 2019). These recommendations and conclusions usually pinpoint the loopholes in the legislation process and gives legislators the chance to cross reference with the reports. Thus, the psychologists also analyzed past work and suggestions before making conclusions.

            Gun violence issue culminates risks factors and protective elements which makes people more or less susceptible to gun use against other people or themselves. Due to this reason, no one can predict a perfect profile of a gun users (Hogan, & Rood, 2015). Instead, gun violence is closely connected to individual, family or sociocultural risks factors which combine over a certain period of time to influence gun use. One of the most persistent predictor of gun violence is a past of violence mannerisms. Preventing gun violence is guided by developmental risk studies. Developmental risks minimizes the introduction of guns in the community. Preventive efforts could also reduce the relative infrequent cases where mentally ill people participate in homicide or other illegal forms of gun use. Reducing gun violence incidences emerging from illegal misbehavior is a vital objective in the formulation of primary and secondary inhibition strategies. Consequently, readdressing developmental backgrounds and other social cultural mechanisms.

             While making policies, the policymakers have to ensure that the policy addresses both male and female offenders. Even though more men are involved in gun violence, the policy should account for everyone (Hogan, & Rood, 2015). Preliminary evidence claims that altering social norms among males will affect behavior and perceptions associated with masculinity hence reducing gun violence cases and its prevalence in the communities. Such interventions must be tried and tested in order to produce effective means of advocating for justice among gun violence victims.

Policy Options for Gun Violence

 One of most proposed policy is banning guns. This proposal is usually pushed forward due to mass shooting in public spaces such as night clubs and schools (Hogan, & Rood, 2015). Mass shooting claims the lives of many innocent people and policymakers insist on banning the use of guns within public spaces. Even though banning weapons is not a suitable option, some say it will reduce the number of fatalities and the number of gun violence incidences.

            An alternative option is keeping guns from children. Some of the noted gun violence incidences are attributed to children who were too young to know how to handle guns. Since 2009, men below the age of 21 years old have carried out mass shooting in public spaces (Swanson et al., 2015). Even though some of the perpetrators of these crimes use illegally acquired guns, keeping guns away from young children is an effective proposal that would reduce gun violence especially in school settings and malls. Also, increasing the current age limit to gun acquisition is an effective way of preventing homicide cases among young people. One research revealed that increasing gun acquisition age to 21 will reduce gun violence by 17%. It is obvious that preventing young people from acquiring guns may be difficult, but is a huge step in reducing gun violence.

Recommendations

 Generating a standardized checking systems for background evaluations. These standardized systems would point out an applicant past hence help one judge whether or not an applicant will be issued with a gun license (Swanson et al., 2015). Thus, all the gun applicants will be required to complete a background check. Secondly, reinforcing regulations in order to ensure that high-risk persons such as convicts or people with a past of violence are hindered from acquiring guns. Thirdly, the ban of imported, production or allocation of assault guns keeps people safe and prevent further misuse of guns.  In addition, making sure that health workers are well equipped to handle gun injuries will help to reduce the number of guns violence deaths. Medics can offer counselling to gun violence survivors and even make referrals to other medical institutions. Subsequently, training and equipping medical workers with the knowledge they need to prevent gun violence may help ensure lives are saved and people live according to safety measures. In the event that a mass shooting occurs all the buildings should have escaping points in order to save lives.

 In summary, Gun violence is an ever changing issue in USA. Policy makers have tried to come up with interventions that control how people acquire and use guns. Nevertheless, the policy making never amounted to anything hence forcing other stakeholders to look into the issue. Some groups of people and activists proposed banning gun use in public spaces while some were of the opinion that guns should only be issued after a thorough background check. In all, none of the interventions have prevented gun violence. Psychiatrists and other medical experts have exposed loopholes in the policy making procedures thus helping legislatures come up with more effective policies.

 

References

Hogan, J. M., & Rood, C. (2015). Rhetorical studies and the gun debate: A public policy perspective. Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 18(2), 359-372.

Jones, M. A., & Stone, G. W. (2015). The US gun-control paradox: Gun buyer response to congressional gun-control initiatives. Journal of Business & Economics Research (JBER), 13(4), 167-174.

Malina, D., Morrissey, S., Campion, E. W., Hamel, M. B., & Drazen, J. M. (2016). Rooting out gun violence.

Newman, B. J., & Hartman, T. K. (2019). Mass shootings and public support for gun control. British Journal of Political Science, 49(4), 1527-1553.

Swanson, J. W., McGinty, E. E., Fazel, S., & Mays, V. M. (2015). Mental illness and reduction of gun violence and suicide: bringing epidemiologic research to policy. Annals of epidemiology, 25(5), 366-376.