Gun Laws And Gun Violence

* U.S. suicide rates overall were 30 percent lower than other countries, but the U.S. firearm suicide rate was 5.8 times higher.

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

Among ages 15-19 years, firearm-related suicides accounted for 62% of the suicide rate over the last few decades.

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).

The right to keep and bear arms is protected by the second amendment in the United States. There are several gun laws in the United States that are enforced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. If there is a department in charge of enforcing gun laws then why “were 1043 casualties, including 486 deaths, from the 160 active shooter incidents between 2000 and 2014?” (Michael, par 5). The answer is simple, the gun laws are not tight enough.

Suicide was by far the greatest number of deaths from firearms. According to the CDC of the total 33,594 deaths from firearms in 2014 over 64% of the deaths from firearms were a result of suicide (Kochanek, Murphy, Xu, Tejada-Vera 2014). While it is tragic to know that means the other 36% were killed by having a firearm turned on them it still shows that the dangers of firearms lies mainly in the hands of someone who has a mental illness. Even if we assume all other deaths were from people who had no form of mental illness that is over 20,000 people who if mental illness did not exist or even just better treated, would still be alive today. In order to treat mental illness however, we must be able to distinguish what is and is not a mental illness. For the purpose of this article a mental illness is; any disease or disorder that is clinically recognized and causes some sort of distress. Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S.—43.8 million, or 18.5%—experiences mental illness in a given year (Martinelli., Binney, & Kaye 2014). Considering that most gun deaths are caused by suicide, it is understandable to assume that these people were

Imagine heartbreak, loved ones dying, and losing hope. This has transpired for many in America today, all because of gun violence. It has become a great problem for our society in recent years. Data from Every Town Research has shown In their article Gun Violence by the Numbers “...that on an average day, 93 Americans are killed with guns...For every one person killed, two are injured” Many will deny that gun violence is a dilemma, but it is. Most do not realize this but, over 62% of the deaths are suicide, and just over 1,642 people killed by gun violence were unintended. There is something very wrong here, and something needs to change quickly. If so many of these deaths are incidental, and suicides; There is clearly a correlation between something in our society today, and the terribly high rates of suicide which need to be addressed. I contend we need to get out there and instruct our youth, and adults on how to handle situations with a gun. Additionally, we should discover what is causing so many to feel as if suicide is the only way out of the pain, and suffering from a long unsatisfactory life.

More than 89 people die from gun violence every day and out of those 89 people, two- thirds of them are suicides. Guns displayed around the house make it three times more likely for suicides to occur (Gun Violence 2). Every day, out of seven children and teens that die from gun violence, two kill them themselves. Out of 41 children and teens that are shot and survive every day, one of those 41 survive from a suicide attempt. 89 people that die every day from gun violence, 55 of them kill themselves. Every day, 208 people are shot and survive and ten of those people survive a suicide attempt (Key Gun Violence Statistics 2). In one year on average 827 out of 2,677 kids kill themselves and 280 out of 14,822 kids survive a suicide attempt (Key Gun Violence Statistics 2). In our communities, hundreds and thousands of people commit suicide with a gun (Fact Sheet: New Executive Actions to Reduce Gun Violence and Make our Communities Safer 2). “Firearms were used in 19,392 suicides in the U.S. in 2010, constituting almost 62% of all gun deaths. Over 50% of all suicides are committed with a firearm. On average, 49 gun suicides were committed each day for the years 2005- 2010. White males, about 40% of the U.S. population, accounted for over 80% of firearm suicides in 2010. Firearms were used in nearly 44% of suicide deaths among persons under

I believe to reduce gun violence, we need to go right to the majority of what it is. In this case it would be suicide. One article Suicide and Self- inflicted Harm published by the center for control and disease states there the “deaths per 100,000 people in the US is 6.7.” this is only one statistic for death by gun. Overall suicide is much higher than that. It is not the most sought after death, but it is the most efficient. I have known many people over my short 16 years of life. I have known scores of people who have killed themselves. I’ve been in the position to end my life many times. I’ve had best friends die, watched them die. It is a horrible tragedy. Suicide is a sorrowful disaster.

2015 saw a total of 53,744 gun related incidents,with a total of 13,524 deaths. 2016 had 58,884 incidents and 15,098 deaths. As stated previously, 2017 had 61,593 incidents. 15,612 of which were deaths. If we add these numbers, the past three years have a combined total of 174,221 incidents and 44,234 deaths. 44,234 men,women, and children lost to bullets. In the first four months of this year we have seen 14,487 incidents and 3,713 deaths. This averages to nearly 40 deaths every single day. Parkland’s recent shooting is a grim example of the violence occurring in this country at a rate higher than nearly any other industrialized country. And it is far from the first mass shooting of 2018. The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High that left 17 dead was one of 59 mass shootings in 2018 so far,and has sparked a call for change. (All statistics cited from http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/

We lose more than 32,000 Americans to gun violence every year in this country. That’s an average of 87 deaths a day. These tragedies range from gun accidents and suicides to horrific mass shooting like those at Columbine High School in 1999 and at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012. (Everitt)

In 1996 (the most recent year for which data are available), 34,040 people died from gunfire in the United States. Of these deaths, approximately 54 percent resulted from suicide, 41 percent resulted from homicide, and 3 percent were unintentional. Firearm injuries are the eighth leading cause of death in the United States. In addition, for every fatal shooting, there are roughly three nonfatal shootings. Gun-related crime peaked in the late 1980 's and early 1990 's. Since that time, the United States has made steady improvement in reducing gun-related violence. Gun-related homicides have declined by 33 percent since 1993, including a 35-percent drop in handgun homicides. Meanwhile, from 1992 to 1996, murder rates declined by 20 percent, aggravated assaults by 12 percent, and the

The New York Times, using data from the Violence Policy Center found that from 2007-2015, there were 28 mass shootings attributed to concealed carry, in which 136 people were killed (a mass shooting for the purpose of the study was defined as 3 or more victims). A different New York Times report also found that 8,124 people were killed in the United States in 2014, about 27 a day. The report also found that in the same time frame there were at least 722 non-self defense deaths, which lessens the self defense reason for buying a gun. In these, 218 cases also ended with the gun owner committing suicide (Concealed). This calls into question the mental health of some concealed carry owners, and that there need to be stricter requirements for

Homicide-Suicide rates are a growing number in the United States and the countries around. They were once something that rarely occurred but then they became the front news of every media and news outlet. Many different things can lead to the result