Gun Violence Sociology

Many students in America, might consider school almost like a home because they spend about half a day in. We need students to be safe at school, so why not have an officer patrolling the hallways. To make the school much safer, the officers should have guns in case there is a threat towards the students. In the eyes of many United State citizens a gun can symbolize death; however, a gun can save several people’s lives. As U.S citizens, we have the right to keep and bear arms, so why do we not have police officers with guns patrolling schools. “Gun violence is a major social issue in America and American schools and university campuses have become targets of gun violence” (Bond). In the U.S we had several severe situations when someone comes to the school and starts to kill not only students, but teachers and staff, this could have been prevented if we were prepared and secured. Although the opposition may suggest it could be more dangerous to have an officer or guard be allowed with a gun; however, having an officer with a gun would decrease the number of shootings and other minor problems at schools.

The relevance of gun violence has been on the rise today and often one cannot walk away from the news without hearing a story related to gun violence either being covered or displayed on the news ticker scrolling through the screen. This paper will analyze three sources: an article written by Dov Cohen, titled “Culture, Social Organization, and Patterns of Violence,”on the trends of violence based on location, a Ted Talk given by Dan Gross, titled “Why Gun Violence Cannot become America’s New Normal,”on the topic of gun violence and how it affected his life as well a proposition to ending violence in the U.S, and an article, “Analyzing Available Data Could Help Improve Background Checks Involving Domestic Violence Records,” written by the U.S. Government of Accountability Office(GAO) which covers the process of background checks within the sales of firearms. These three sources will be evaluated on the basis that they evoke a strong argument with the use of ethos, pathos, and logos within their pieces.

Gun violence is a very controversial topic because everyone has their own perspectives on this particular topic. There are so many crimes caused by fire arms that it’s just plain out ridiculous. Many people have lost their lives due to gun violence and other crimes due to the use of a gun. Although guns are used for protection in certain cases, but most of the time they are not. There aren’t too many cases where someone used a gun for self-defense but there are many news stories and etcetera about a crime committed with the use of a firearm. A long time ago weapon violence had its issues however in no way like what is going on it current society. While there are occasions that have happened that appear to be stunning, tragic and pointless, comparable activities have happened decades prior; with the exception of they didn 't appear to happen as regularly as they do today. Weapon savagery has developed into a worldwide emergency. A few individuals feel we ought to boycott weapons inside and out, while others feel this would be unthinkable. Disposing of firearms may cure the issue however it may not be sufficient to make the issue go away.

Just imagine sitting in class one day and hearing a loud bang and the next moment there is a confusing, abrupt, commotion. Imagine walking into a movie theater and not walking out. It is hard to imagine things like this happening because we have never experienced these moments ourselves, but to victims of gun violence, these moments are familiar and very real. Gun violence is becoming too common in this country. So common, that when there is a shooting, people are unaffected by such news. There has been desire from the people of America to change gun policy, but there are also people that argue against this because it goes against our Second Amendment rights. Although there are reasonable arguments on behalf of and against more regulations on guns, more regulations and background checks would reduce crime and death due to guns.

The mistaken belief that there is a direct link between mental illness and violence is disrupting the gun control system. Individuals with mental illnesses only cover a very small portion of violence in general, and even less with gun violence. Instead, the focus should be on criminals and drug users. “Individuals who have exhibited dangerous behaviors in the past, have a criminal record, or have a history of drug abuse, for example, are much more likely to commit future crimes” (Wolf, 2015, p.851-878). The reason the government is focusing on certain groups of people are to predict future violence, so if they limit the ability of the mentally ill to purchase weapons they are thinking it will reduce gun violence. This hypothesis would not make a significant dent in the gun violence problem of the United States, because again the mentally ill only make up a very small portion. The shooter of Sandy Hook middle school used his mother’s legally purchased weapons and ammunition to commit the murder, even if the ban of the mentally ill were in place it would not resolve the problem. The only way to make sure future mass shooting done by someone with schizophrenia, or other severe illnesses is to fund the mental health programs, and at the moment the country is doing the exact opposite. “Unfortunately, funding for mental health care has diminished significantly; over the past few years states have cut approximately $4.35 billion from their mental health care budgets” (Wolf, 2015, p.851-878). The best way to stop violence is to recognize there is a

Since 1982, at least sixty-two mass shootings have occurred, thirty-two of them since 2006. (Aronsen). Jared Loughner was sentenced to life in prison after shooting nineteen people in January of 2011. Last July, fifty-eight people were shot and twelve killed while watching the new Batman movie in a theater in Colorado. In December, twenty-six people were murdered, including twenty first-graders, in a Connecticut elementary school (Follman). The issue of gun violence only becomes relevant after a horrific event such as these, then fades from public concern after about two weeks. The number of injuries and murders using guns in the United States is a large number, which can hopefully be

Each year homicide and assault-related injuries result in an estimated $16 billion in combined medical and work loss (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/17/education-gun-violence-presidential-debate-2012_n_1974740.html). Gun violence may be broadly defined as a category of violence and crime committed with use of a firearm, it may or may not include actions ruled as self defense, actions for law enforcement. Gun violence is prevalent in African American Communities, although some might believe that it is not a racial issue ( CNN New’s stated “America’s Gun problem is not a race problem).

The mental health system in The United States is flawed and needs serious reform. Many of the mentally ill are failing to seek the help that they need and deserve in a country like the U.S is baffling and must be reassessed. The system causes a rise in gun violence and more specifically, mass shootings. There are many factors that need to be taken into consideration when approaching mental disorders and their correlation with mass shootings. Things such as type of mental disorder, the widespread diagnosis in the US, masculinity in men, and gun laws themselves. This research was done through a series of articles, interviews, and books. Mental disorders need to be taken largely into consideration when trying to find a cause for a shooting, and

Many remember December 14th of 2012 when Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 students and 6 members of the faculty of Sandy Hook Elementary School. Mr. Lanza was a troubled man, enough so that he was driven to shoot his own mother and take possession of her weapons which he would use to wreak havoc on the school whose name would go down in history. A report released...by Connecticut’s Attorney for the District of Danbury says...guns and ammunition involved...at Sandy Hook Elementary were legally purchased by Nancy Lanza [his mother] and then stolen by her son, Adam. One would have to be delusional to believe that Adam would not have found a way to inflict this violence, and that is the unfortunate reality; however, one must wonder whether or not

In the past decade or so, Americans had experienced epidemic level of gun violence taking place in every corner of country. Actually owning gun is legal in the USA, it’s actually our second amendment; the right to bare firearms. Approximately 300 million Americans held gun in their homes.

This article is by CNN and has the title of A generation raised on gun violence sends a loud message to adults: Enough, this is talked about throughout the article. They also talk about the agenda for what the students wanted by doing all the walk outs and protest. Ban assault weapons, Require universal background checks before gun sales; Pass a gun violence restraining order law that would allow courts to disarm people who display warning signs of violent behavior: this is what they stated that they wanted to get from all the protest. But they continue and talk about how students did sit outs where they were still in class but they did not do any work, because they were receiving threats of getting suspend or marked absent from the school.

According to the article a three year old girl was faitily shot and killed in d.c in a second-floor apartment at Benning Terrace by a child playing with a gun. D.C police said a child had a gun in his hands and fired it, turning a innocent summer time play into tragedy when a bullet struck 3 year old Dallas cox in the chest. The police also said we have no reason to belive that it is anything other than an accident, so what we are looking at is how the gun got into the house.

As the daughter of a victim of gun violence I know what it is like to hear about this rising issue and instantly feel pained. Gun violence not only harms those that have been injured or killed, but it takes a lot from close relatives and friends. Within in the past few years it has become normal to hear about this act of violence occurring in America. According to GunViolenceArchive.org, there have been a total of 14,259 incidents in 2016 thus far. This is shocking because the year just began a few months ago and this number is extremely high. The big question is why is this number so high? The gun violence rate in America has inclined over the years and if nothing is being set in place to stop or control it, it will only get worse as the years continue. The Washington Post’s article, “Gun Violence in America is out of Control” is simply stating that the gun violence in America is out of hand and as citizens we need to be aware of this issue and keep that in mind when we are voting for our next president. (Washington Post) In Vox.com’s article, “Gun violence in America, in 17 maps and charts” express that America is one of the most violent countries in the world and gun violence is happening more frequently because of the easy access of guns. (Vox) Both sources recognize that gun violence in America has reached an all-time high, but I agree with Vox’s argument because

There could be many reasons that are causing the violence in the city of Milwaukee, such as, not enough jobs, many teens dropping out of school at a young age, and life is just too compacted for some. Another serious problem could be that, people are having problems verbally communicating with individuals that they have a problem with.

This paper will explore the history of guns, myths and realities of gun violence. Gun violence is a hot topic in America today and some may believe that America was built on gun violence. This country was colonized by the use of violence with guns. We’ve had wars since the invasion of this country. The violence has been around also with the well-known 1775 speech from Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty or give me death” (Jr.). Give me death is a very strong statement that to me means this is of a violent nature. Since then violence with guns would only escalate from taking land to taking lives whether it be homicides, suicides or threats of violence against one another. With the violent history of gun violence in America and so many different opinions, who or what is responsible for the destruction on self and society and what are the some of the ways to discourage these behaviors.