Firearms In American Culture

Research shows that whether attempters live or die depends in large part on the ready availability of firearms. A study by the Harvard School of Public Health of all 50 U.S. states reveals a powerful link between rates of firearm ownership and suicides. Based on a survey of American households conducted in 2002, it was found that in states where guns were prevalent—as in Wyoming, where 63 percent of households reported owning guns—rates of suicide were higher. The inverse was also true: where gun ownership was less common, suicide rates were also lower ( Harvard). Many lives could be saved if firearms weren't so accessible. The American government needs to adopt policies that would keep guns out of the hands of vulnerable adults and

C. Thesis Statement (position on topic – preview main ideas – outline of speech); A Pew Foundation report found that 79% of male gun owners and 80% of female gun owners said owning a gun made them feel safer, and 64% of people living in a home in which someone else owns a gun felt safer.The Centers for Disease Control listed firearms as the #12 cause of all deaths between 1999 and 2013, representing 1.3% of total deaths. They were also the #1 method of death by homicide (66.6% of all homicides) and by suicide (52.2% of all suicides).

Many teenagers and even adults feel worthless and depressed and give up on life. Instead of taking action and getting help to solve their life problems, these people choose to commit suicide. There are about 30,000 suicide deaths per year. This number is outrageously high. One out of every 45 attempts of suicide actually succeeds. Whether suicide attempters succeed or fail, all depends on how easy it is for them to get the resources they want to use for this task, especially firearms. Deborah Azrael, a research associate at Harvard’s Research Center, found that when guns were predominant in a state, suicide rates were higher. The inverse of this statement was also correct, in states where guns were not prevalent, suicide rates were lower. Many lives would be saved, many suicides would be prevented, and many families would be able to avoid heartbreak and despair, if firearms were not accessible in the United

This means more than half of the suicide in America was done using a firearm. Perhaps the use of firearms use in suicides are high is because it is also reported by GunPolicy that, “The estimated total number of guns held by civilians in the United States is 270,000,000.” Also it is important to take in an account that this number possibly can be much greater because illegal guns and unregistered guns might not be included. With this amount of guns in America, someone with the passion to kill someone or themselves, the most convenient way to commit suicide or kill someone would be to obtain one of the million guns across America. The number of suicides from firearms are so high because the availability to obtain the potentially greater 270,000,000 guns in America. Gun control laws can potential decrease passion crimes and suicides. In Australia, they have passed guns laws that have reduced homicides and suicides. The law that made it possible for the decrease in firearm suicides and homicide for civilians is that

Another consideration is whether firearm violence is more a matter of harm to self or others. Suicides account for 61 % of all firearm fatalities in the United States in 2010 as recorded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (qtd. In Bowen, Injury 2015). In spite of such evidence, Gallup polling data from 2013 showed that 48 % of adult Americans blame the mental health system a great deal for mass shootings in the United States, whereas fewer 40 % blame easy access to guns; an inadequate mental health system is perceived as the top cause of mass shootings (qtd. In Bowen, Saad 2013).

A counter-argument to private citizens owning firearms is that they are a major contributor to suicide worldwide. In an international study conducted by Professor Martin

Gun law advocates argue that gun control laws diminish the amount of weaponry in the streets, and, by extension, in the hands of criminals. Likewise, gun control will diminish suicide. There were 464,033 total gun deaths between 1999 and 2013: 270,237 suicides (58.2% of total deaths); 174,773 homicides (37.7%); and 9,983 unintentional deaths (2.2%) (CDC, 2014). If perhaps, one of these families had a surviving brother or sister, mother or father, due to the current policies, it is worth enacting change. It is inhuman to allow people to die by firearms when they could simply be banned. In light of the recent mass shootings, families are left with the lingering wonder as to whether these national tragedies could be prevented. Criminals can easily

A shocking 11% of teenagers suffer from depression in the US, with 14% having suicidal thoughts and 7% attempting it. By having easy to access guns, teenagers have a much higher chance of finding and using a gun on themselves. When asked, the majority of people who were about to commit suicide had second thoughts after being unable to find an easy access method that didn’t require much thought or lengthy pain, for example hanging themselves. Comparing the percentage of suicide by guns to Australia, a country that changed their regulations on guns in the last twenty years and now has a 35% decrease in gun suicide since this law change presents the clear evidence that restricting guns will reduce the number of suicides

According to a World Health Organization study done in 2010, the Unites States of America has the fourth highest firearm homicide rate in the world after Afghanistan, Iraq and the Congo. More recently, a study done in 2013 by the Center for Disease Control found out that there were a total of 33,169 deaths with the use of firearms and more than half were a result of suicide. These statistics have sparked an extensive amount of modern debates on whether we as an American democracy need to amend the second amendment and regulate the purchase of as well as the right to individually bear arms. Two people who analyze this debate very differently but effectively are Zack Beauchamp who wrote “Rethinking the Right to Bear Arm”, and Nelson Lund who

Isenstein writing for the National Journal proposes that there is a distinct correlation between states with strict gun laws and gun violence. “The states that im¬pose the most re¬stric¬tions on gun users also have the low¬est rates of gun-re¬lated deaths, while states with few¬er reg¬u¬la¬tions typ¬ic-ally have a much high¬er death rate from guns.” (Isenstein) The charts that are presented in the article support the claim, but again bring up the question about the variables used to define death rates from guns. Annotations to the article imply that some outside influence caused a revision to update some charts to only display gun-related homicides and exclude suicides and accidental deaths. Sullum critiques the study and points out a different perspective from the same data. He underscores that the rankings can be drastically altered by focusing on homicides and not including suicides. Wyoming is ranked for having a high suicide rate but a low homicide rate whereas the District of Columbia has a low suicide rate but high homicide rate. (Sullum) The National Journal shows that the six states with the lowest rates of gun-related deaths in 2013 also have relatively strict gun policies when considering the laws for purchasing and carrying handguns. Additionally, these states do not have a ‘stand your ground’ law. (Isenstein) Sullum contends that these states alone have a correlation between gun deaths and strict gun control laws. His example of a contradiction is New

The issue of concealed carry has led to arguments in recent years, with those opposed arguing that it is a danger to society, and those who support it saying it ofers protection from the dangers of society. The increased media coverage of shootings—the “media contagion” factor outlined by the American Psychological Association—has caused the awareness of firearm danger to rise (Media). Further, the gun culture of the United States has promoted the widespread use of firearms since revolutionary times, making guns prevalent in society (Kennett). These factors have grim results, making the United States the leader of developed countries in gun homicides — with almost five times more gun deaths than in any other developed country. These data found,

“According to the Congressional Research Service, there are roughly twice as many guns per capita in the United States as there were in 1968: more than 300 million guns in all” describe in the article Guns In America, By The Numbers by Scott Horsley at npr.org. The number of guns’ sale is increasing every year. Some people might think more gun more peach, but some of them think more gun more violence. In common sense, a place where has the incredibly lax gun law, the country has the strongest culture of gun ownership, highest rate of suicide, highest gun violence per capita. In the EBSCO article, Gun Control in America: An Autopsy report by Collier, Charles W,described “the United States with less than 5 percent of the world’s population and nearly half the world’s firearms (pg. 81). United States is the little country that allows people illegal to carry a gun protect their life in the right way. They use to teach their children how to use guns when they are little. The more we learn, the more we use to. More people using gun as tool to suicide and killing another because the unlimited availability of gun sale. The more gun we have sale, the country will be becoming an armed society. As the number of guns increasing, the US homicide rate was increasing and higher than other country. In the Google scholar article, Violent Death Rates: The US Compared with OECD Countries, 2010, explain that US homicide rates were much higher than other high-income countries, the gun homicide rate in the United States was 49.0 times higher and the overall firearm death rate in the United States from all causes was 10.0 times higher”. This year, I have heard about two homicide case from customer in where I used to work. The death rate of gun violence having a certain relationship to the lax gun laws and policy. The above evidences show how gun violence has been affected to our lives,

Jacobs begins by stating that although all gun deaths are tragic, it is important to know how many are suicides, homicides and accidents. By analyzing data from multiple official sources, he addressed the issues surrounding suicides, homicides, gun accidents and gun crimes. In the process, he found that America is a pretty violent nation in general. He came to the conclusion that although there is still a high amount of gun violence and accidents happening every day, for the most parts the numbers have actually been decreasing, despite the increase in guns. He concludes by noting policy makers should focus on anti-crime strategies and social welfare rather than on gun

“Behind the surface of America’s ‘gun culture’ exists a grim and simple truth: There is no protector; there is no guardian; there is no defender except oneself”(Donovan). In the United States guns are constantly being misunderstood or feared because people are either purely just against guns or they are ignorant. Many statistics that circulate through the media are very one sided, showing only the “dark side” of guns and their potential. Americans opinions on guns are always changing. The leftists are usually against guns and want them to be taken away. However they can’t take away our guns because it would be unconstitutional. Guns should be appreciated for how powerful these items are and not to be banned or misused.

Individuals who commit suicide not only inflict fatal harm to their own life but also adversely affect the lives of family and those to which they are acquainted. This often impetuous action is responsible for very significant numbers of deaths in this country and guns, particularly handguns, are the major instrument of choice to carry out this unfortunate act; owing to their inherent lethality and accessibility (Lewiecki & Miller, 2013).