Is there a correlation between gun ownership and gun violence? You might have heard the claim that gun ownership and gun violence are correlated.
This is a false argument based on incomplete data. Gun ownership does not have a significant correlation with gun violence.
Gun violence is caused by other factors, such as the availability of drugs and the lack of adequate mental health care.
Looking at the Stanford university data on gun ownership in the United States and gun violence, we see that the correlation is 0.
There is a significant variation in gun ownership and gun deaths between different American states. For example, Louisiana has the highest rate of guns per person, yet it has only 60% of Virginia’s gun deaths per 100,000 people.
The fact that states can have either low murder rates or high murder rates without high levels of lethality,” or low murder rates or significant murder rates with high levels “of lethality-suggests that other factors are at play.”
The Fundamentalist • 17th December 2016 Gun Ownership and Legally Encourage Mass Murder 2012 – 2015 statistics show there have been 45 schools related shooting killing 137 children and injured 321 children.”
Scholars claim that “criminals simply do not make their guns legally acquire their guns, whereas law-abiding citizens do.”
Nationally speaking, gun laws for obtaining a legal firearm showed to be onerous for citizens compared to thirty other countries.”
Factors That Cause Gun Violence
Factors that cause gun violence include:
1) Poverty:
In countries with high percentages of impoverished residents, homicides are more prevalent, but the causal mechanisms are not well understood
2) Wide Availability of Guns:
Numerous studies have established that there will be a concurrent decrease in the violent population when a country shows strict gun control.
When gun ownership is mandated, there is an increase in shootings or homicides.
3) Alcohol-Based Violence:
Alcoholism tends to accelerate violence rates; in some cities like Cincinnati and Las Vegas, almost half of all murders had been drug- or alcohol-related.
This relates to poverty and substance abuse; in Cincinnati, it is reported that 40% of citizens live below the poverty line, a statistic linked to alcoholism.
Nevada’s exact figures are reported, where nearly 50% of citizens earn less than $1250 per month.
Alcohol is often linked to poor communities having high suicide rates other social stressors.
4) Small Education Rate:
It has been determined certain states that lack educational foundations experience higher homicides and suicides within their state borders.
In California, an estimated 60 percent of juvenile arrests were students who had not completed high school due to moved throughout their adolescence (aged 13 – 30.”
5) “Hypermasculinity” and Gender Role Expectations:
Some researchers state that these culturally prescribed gender limitations primarily focus on poor and under-educated communities.
Studies along these lines discuss the existence of drug-induced temporary hypersexuality and show a clear association between drugs and violence within specific societal segments.
6)Media Addiction and Violent Video Games.
In the USA, nearly 75% of those who play video games are under the age of 18 and are at a significantly higher risk than the rest of society.
Residents that remain sedentary in an apartment often experience death by homicide or die from some other “sluggish behavior.”
This passive nature has caused an unprecedented number of Americans to overeat gain unnecessary weight making them more vulnerable tool chronic diseases from “inactivity-related weight increase.”
7) Health Issues and Mortality Stats:
These murders are typically severe as actors quickly put themselves in harm’s way, for example- suicide bombers.
Most who die this way have some mental disorder that is typically complex and deeply rooted within their social behavior.
Some attribute the high amount of murder in minority communities to racism from the system since African American males have the highest murder rate.
Other research argues that the violence among minority groups helps maintain these people in poverty, which offers the constant state of violence and crime as a reflex or normal state.
Causing stagnation due to an inability to progress as having someone constantly transitioning through one stage/class worsened statistically.
Violent crimes in black communities have a high overlap with illicit drug statistics; 60% of arrests for homicide involved drugs, and about 75% of those arrested for drug -deal-related homicide had arrest records with other crimes such as armed robbery, aggravated assault, etc.
The number one cause of death from someone involved with illicit drugs is homicide.
The second leading cause is suicide. Supplementing instances that illicit drug users are susceptible to criminal types because they ingest an illegal substance will become an impulsive criminal.
Under certain circumstances where no other crime occurred due to lapse in judgment.
The apparent reason for this cluster of homicide and suicide is the injury, isolated nature of limb use in environments where trust is hard-earned.
8) Social Problems and Health Factors in Communities:
Some theorists suggest that the increased crime and violence within these communities of color has more to do with the structure of society than with genetics.
Dr. Madeleine. K. Hamilton suggests that “without deciding the exact determinants of minority underachievement, nothing is to be gained from exaggerated diagnoses.
Which tends to state that it takes a community, a village, families, and relationships for people to succeed.
Therefore factors such as family structure are critical.
This argument may appear valid on first reading (but not be accurate if one elf into its inherent assumptions.)
This approach hints that what is needed is social reforms rather than personal initiative/responsibility reform.
FAQs
What Are Some Facts Gun Owners Face Today?
Most firearm crimes are committed by criminals using weapons that their victims never intended to hand over to anyone else.
Sixteen-year-old Danielle Shields lost her life when a gunman, who had only just begun a career robbing the liquor store where she worked, shot her in the head during a holdup.
Law-abiding citizens rarely arm themselves for protection against such violent crime.
Far from being more lethal than other weapons, handguns are uniquely unsuited to be used in most robberies and assaults.
Missiles and shotguns do not stop to reload and can be fired from a greater distance than handguns, allowing shooters to avoid potentially deadly mistakes at close range better and see their targets clearly before they pull the trigger.
They are hard to conceal except under very bulky clothing; they shoot large caliber bullets that offer up flash and smoke when fired, thereby warning bystanders or alerting them to remain ignorant of events until it is too late.
Handguns cannot be used quietly because they require manually cocking or loading them first.
What Can We Conclude on the Topic “Is There a Correlation Between Gun Ownership and Gun Violence?”
There is no correlation between gun ownership and crime. Violence causes gun ownership, not the other way around. Gun regulation does not work.
What would work is a more robust mental health system, for example, not allowing the mentally ill to obtain guns. “Nearly one out of every five firearm-related homicides is committed by a person diagnosed with mental illness.”
Mental disorders, including addictions, are at the heart of many public issues, including violence and crime.”
Research shows that particular groups—including individuals with psychotic or antisocial personality disorders, minors and those with substance-abuse problems—are at significantly elevated risk for criminal activity.”
The reality is that between 40 percent and 60 percent of people who use psychiatric services each year have symptoms severe enough to interfere with work or school/college, causing them severe social dysfunction.
And about 10 percent become violent.” Mental health treatment can also be a slippery slope if laws regarding patient’s rights are too unclear”.
Certified rehabilitated mentally ill (RMI) patients can purchase firearms if they become eligible and choose to do so whereas others cannot (e .g., convicts).