S. Department of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and published in a report titled Homicide Trends in the United States, 1980-2008, "the sharp increase in homicides from the mid-1980s through the early 1990 & #8230; is attributable to gun violence by teens and young adults" (Cooper & Smith, 2011)
S. Department of Justice and the National Institute of Justice concluded that "with an estimated 258 million guns in private hands and millions more produced each year, there are many sources and means through which offenders can obtain firearms despite legal restrictions on gun purchasing and ownership by convicted felons, juveniles, and other high-risk groups" (Koper, 2007)
Contemporary Research on Causes of School Shootings Numerous studies have already concluded that victims of frequent bullying are more susceptible to a litany of metal and physical health problems, ranging from clinical depression to increased anxiety and suicidal tendencies, so the supposition that bullying can cause the psychotic episodes typical in school shooting perpetrators is well founded. Indeed, a comprehensive study published by the Canadian Journal of Public Health recently quantified the "impact of repetitive physical bullying on depressed mood, low self-esteem, suicide ideation, low self-reported health and feeling like an outsider at school" (Lemstra, Nielsen, Rogers, Thompson & Moraros, 2012), identifying a clear susceptibility to these afflictions within groups of bullying victims
The unimaginable horror inflicted on six-year-old children at the hands of a gun-wielding sociopath inspired an instinctual outpouring of grief across America, reinvigorating the rancorous political and social debate over gun control legislation in the process. It has been widely reported that "in the first 15 hours following a mass-shooting that claimed more than two dozen lives Friday at (the) Connecticut elementary school, more than 100,000 Americans took their anger and frustration to the White House, asking the Obama administration for a renewed national debate on gun control" (Martosko, 2012), and the President responded to these calls in vigil two days after the shooting occurred
It has been widely reported that "in the first 15 hours following a mass-shooting that claimed more than two dozen lives Friday at (the) Connecticut elementary school, more than 100,000 Americans took their anger and frustration to the White House, asking the Obama administration for a renewed national debate on gun control" (Martosko, 2012), and the President responded to these calls in vigil two days after the shooting occurred. Here he announced his plans to enact sweeping gun control legislation, and just a month later he signed an "initiative to reduce gun violence (that) includes both twelve legislative proposals that would need to be acted on by Congress and twenty-three executive actions" (Perkinson, 2013)
Expanded background checks and a national database to keep track of gun owners have also been proposed, to ensure that persons who are mentally ill or have criminal records cannot have access to firearms. The defeated senate bill had a "requirement that background checks cover every firearm sold, whether at gun shows, the Internet or private sales" (Johns 2013)
However, the American culture of gun ownership, the lobbying power of the NRA, and a strict constructionist interpretation of the Second Amendment have all been cited as reasons why even moderate gun control proposals are so difficult to pass, despite polls that indicate that the American public as a whole overwhelmingly supports such measures. Potential remedies A number of proposed solutions to the problems of gun violence have all been defeated in some form by the American political system, including the recent Manchin-Toomey gun control bill (Pickler 2013)
The political structure of America is such that any concentration of power is considered a bad omen and this democratic concept has triggered real inaction by the government (Lindblom, 1977; Oleszek, 1989; Smith, 1992; Sundquist, 1981). Lack of concentration of power is reinforced by the political tradition backed up with a strong inclination towards incrementalism and against joint analysis (Barber, 1984; 19-38)
This was followed with a progression towards introduction of a bill to ban armored-penetration bullets by Mario Biaggi, who had been an ex-New York police officer. As it turns out, the NRA opposed the bill out without any reservations (Davidson, 1993; 85-98)
The opposition of gun control had become more focused in its campaign to relax the laws, while the execution of GCA through ATF had little to no impact on the reality on ground. The opponents argued by adopting the incremental model, stating that ATF had been the first step towards total prohibition of gun possession (Hardy, 1979; Vizzard, 1993; 170-190)
United States of America is not only the most controversial country on this issue, but it also has the most relaxed and complicated rules and regulations regarding Gun Control (Zimring and Hawkins, 1987; Kopel, 1992). These relaxed rules are said to be due to the controversial role that guns have played in American History (Hofstadter, 1970)
History Between the beginning of the Sullivan Law in New York in 1909 and the passing of Brady Bill in 1993, one can divide the history of Gun Control into five different periods. While some researchers and scholars have added a sixth period which denotes the attempts made by the Southern States to block the supply of arms to the Black population after the civil war had ended (Kates, 1979)
This act however did not include any form of enforcement procedures. NRA, in an attempt to stop a strong preventive gun possession law, was primarily responsible for the drafting of this bill (Kennett and Anderson, 1975; 192-193; Sugarmann, 1992; 30)
On this view, fewer guns mean less crime. Thus, there is a two-step linkage between gun control and crime rates: (1) the impact of gun control on the availability and accessibility of firearms, particularly handguns, and (2) the effect of the prevalence of guns on the commission of crimes (Moorhouse and Wanner, 2006)
He aimed to do this by transfer-tax policy and a country-wide registration system, which he modeled after the "Harrison Narcotics Act." While the bill had been put up for hearings, in both upper and lower houses; it was countered by the NRA along with various sports associations and the firearms industry (Leff and Leff, 1981)
Systemic Roots of Indecision The democratic political system along with values and cultures of human rights, equality, freedom, power, human nature, and economic efficiency have all assisted to slow down the critical action on gun control. The political structure of America is such that any concentration of power is considered a bad omen and this democratic concept has triggered real inaction by the government (Lindblom, 1977; Oleszek, 1989; Smith, 1992; Sundquist, 1981)
Supporters of gun control also used their influence to present a succession of legal proposals in the Senate to limit possession of handguns in the pretext of limiting Saturday Night Specials. They presented these bills by forming official advocacy groups after being convinced that GCA had been the first step towards a total ban on gun possession (Sherrill, 1973; Vizzard, 1993; 170-176)
" While the bill had been put up for hearings, in both upper and lower houses; it was countered by the NRA along with various sports associations and the firearms industry (Leff and Leff, 1981). After intense debates and arguments, the bill was finally passed with the exclusion of handguns and semi-automatic rifles (Sugarmann, 1992; 33)
In the New York City the police had strict control over the use of guns and only the most influential were allowed to possess handguns. This successful control over possession of handguns was being used as a model by supporters of Gun Control; while the opponents were using this situation to unite its support (Vizzard, 1993; 134)
History is said to be repeating itself once again as this process has been invoked several times before in the same manner. United States of America is not only the most controversial country on this issue, but it also has the most relaxed and complicated rules and regulations regarding Gun Control (Zimring and Hawkins, 1987; Kopel, 1992)