preview

Cause Of Gun Violence In The United States

Good Essays

Gun Violence in America

There has been a great surge of discussion about the threat of gun violence here in the United States, a topic that has been expanded into a national and even international debate. Gun violence today affects many, and has been highly scrutinized by lawmakers, lobbyists, which has coined pro/anti gun activists. But what are the numbers telling us? Is this really a public health crisis? The American Psychological Association defines firearm violence as taking a number of different forms, including, but not limited to, suicide and suicide attempts, violent conflicts and disputes, intimate partner violence, unintentional deaths and injuries, violent criminal activity, and violent acts while intensely distressed, intoxicated, …show more content…

One of the main risks is racial disparities regarding homicide by discharge of firearm. The CDC reported that in 2013 almost 60% of victims of homicide by firearm were black (CDC, 2016). Additionally, as mentioned earlier, white males attribute to only 17.0 deaths by firearms compared to African American males at 31.5 in 2013. This data highlights the overwhelming majority of deaths by guns are members of the African American community. Some social determinants that can decrease the risk of being a victim of gun violence are not simply demonstrated because gun violence is a sensitive subject in America that sparks wide debates on moral, governmental, and various other societal issues. There are many firearms in the United States – more than 300 million (Hepburn, Miller, Azrael, & Hemenway, 2007) – about as many guns as people (APA, 2016) which can be an increased risk factor for committing gun violence, but what about those who are killed? Decreasing their risk is equally as complicated. Reducing access to firearms significantly decreases gun violence (APA, 2016) as does policies like Child Access Prevention (CAP) laws, which hold adults liable for insecure storage of firearms around children, have decreased adolescent suicides and unintentional shootings of children (Webster & Starnes, 2000; Webster, Vernick, Zeoli, & Manganello, 2004). In addition, ones of low SES that display signs of poverty, socially disorganized neighborhoods, or high crime rates need a sense of community at the institutional setting. In a study conducted by the University of Maryland for Congress, they revealed that increasing employment in communities can reduce crime rates, thus reducing victims of gun violence (Bushway

Get Access