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7/29/2019 WRD 104-Research Paper
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Stephanie Macias
Kate Flom
WRD 104-231
18 March 2013
Time To Control the Situation
In 1764, before America was even founded, the first recorded shooting
occurred during which four Lenape warriors shot their teacher in their school in
Pennsylvania (csmonitor.com). The Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Connecticut,
being the most recent and some may argue, the most devastating school shooting, has
reiterated and emphasized how dangerous gun violence can be and exhibited the
importance of taking action to prevent further catastrophes. Gun violence does not only
consist of school shootings, but all public shootings in general. This being said, for
several decades now, gun control has become a prominent as well as a controversial
debate among society and the US government. Prior to the most tragic public shootings
such as Columbine High School, Virginia Tech, the Colorado Movie Theatre, and the
Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, I have been and continue to be in resilient
support of stricter gun control laws in the US. Recent research on the issue has
demonstrated the immense impact mass shootings have had on society that have
highlighted the importance of gun control, those who support gun control have better
reasoning, and the overall better atmosphere gun control will provide for society.
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As a result of the most recent public and mass shooting in Connecticut, gun
control has resurfaced as a controversial issue among the US government and society. As
well as grasping the governments, the publics, the Sandy Hook Elementary School
shooting received a massive amount of attention from the media in which the importance
of gun control was made evident. This can be seen in Peter Baker, a political writer and
newspaper reporter forThe Washington Postand The New York Times, and Michael D.
Shears, newspaper reporter forThe New York Times and chief writer forThe Caucus
Blog, Obama to Put Everything Ive Got Into Gun Control in which they describe how
the ceremony held for the victims of the Connecticut shooting impacted the nation,
reflected a decision by the White House to seize on public outrage to challenge the
political power of the National Rifle association and other forces that have successfully
fought new gun laws for decades (Par. 5). Here, it is made evident just how much the
shooting moved the public and certain politicians to support stricter gun control. Other
instances that demonstrate how the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting emphasized
the importance of stricter gun control can be found throughout, lead newspaper reporter
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forThe New York Times, Michael Coopers, Debate on Gun Control Is Revived, Amid a
Trend Toward Fewer Restrictions. More specifically, this idea can be seen when
Cooper explains the failed attempts of Democratic Governor, John W. Hickenlooper, to
push gun legislation forward following the Aurora Theatre shooting but his luck to gain
more attention after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting (Par 7-10). Governor
Hickenlooper and the issue of gun control in general received more attention this time
perhaps because people found this mass shooting the most devastating but also because
these shootings are all adding up.
Similarly, other initial reactions to the Connecticut shooting demonstrate how
detrimental it was in which gun control has become more of a necessity than an option.
Initial reactions to the shooting include politicians such as Governor Pat Quinn and
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo commenting, As governor and as a parent, I intend to
spearhead passage of strict laws that will protect our children and the people of Illinois
from gun violenceand calling the shooting a wake-up call for aggressive action
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(Cooper, par. 12-13). Both these governors comprehend the magnitude of the problem of
gun violence in the US and so are supporting and calling for action to prevent further
tragedies. Vice President Biden stated, I have never seen the nations conscience so
shaken by what happened at Sandy Hook. The world had changed and is demanding
action (Baker, par. 12). Other mass shootings definitely arose attention and action in the
US but there has been a staggering amount of mass shooting recently, drawing even more
attention to the issue. Despite not supporting gun control legislation, after the Newton
shooting Republican Representative Robert W. Goodlatte explained, But in terms of
background checks, in terms of keeping weapons out of the hands of criminals and
people who have serious mental health difficulties, we want to do that, and we would
take a close look at that (Baker, par. 15). Prior to the Newtown shooting, Representative
Goodlatte did not support any form of gun legislation but now he is not only considering
background checks on gun buyers but also suggests he will support a form of this law.
For any issue or choice, a person has an opinion, which they derive for certain
reasons. Peoples support or opposition forgun control legislation is due to their
reasoning that must derive from some source. A multitude of research studies have been
performed in order to explore and analyze what possible reasoning people have for either
supporting or opposing gun control. For instance, looking at peoples reasoning for gun
control through a social lens, Katarzyna Celinska, a scholar at John Jay College of
Criminal Justice within the University of New York, performs a study and discusses the
results in her Individualism and Collectivism in America: The Case of Gun Ownership
and Attitudes Toward Gun Control. In her studies, Celinska specifically sets out to
address the validity of the claim that most Americans have individualistic lifestyles.
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Celinskas results determined societys attitudes and opinions on issues are due to either
their collectivist or individualistic ideologies. In accordance to the subject of gun
restrictions, she explains, Holding individualistic values is a consistent strong predictor
of opposing gun control measures in all attitudinal models (244). In other words, those
who oppose gun control legislation are more likely to have individualistic ideologies.
Celinska goes more in depth about her studys results in which she explains, those
who oppose gun control tend to hold individualistic views and by opposing any
limitations on gun ownership, they seek to protect their own self-interest, that of their
families, and the interests of those with whom they closely affiliate, associate, identify
with (233). This means that gun control opposition focus on themselves and fails to take
into consideration the well being of all of society.
Likewise, Robin M. Wolpert, a lawyer whom graduated from Cornell University,
and James G. Gimpel, a professor who earned his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago,
offer a psychological perspective to the issue of gun control in their Self-Interest,
Symbolic Politics, and Public Attitudes Toward Gun Control. Studying whetherself-
interest is a contributing factor in an individuals view on gun control laws. Wolpert and
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Gimpel found self-interest to be a key factor in determining whether someone supports or
opposes gun laws (255). Similar to Celinskas findings, Wolpert and Gimpels results
demonstrate opposition to the issue tend to only take personal aspects into consideration,
excluding society as a whole. Not only did they find self-interest to impact how
individuals view gun control, but Wolpert and Gimpel also found banning guns raises
more self-interest reactions in the public (258). This here goes along to show just how
much self-interest plays a major role in someones decision to support or oppose gun
legislation. While addressing different claims, both studies performed by Celinska and
Wolpert and Gimpel, found an individuals reasoning for their support or opposition to
the issue to be derive from personal qualities such as individualistic and self-interest
factors. Gun control should be enforced because those supporting gun control have better
reasoning in which they are actually taking into consideration what is best for society as a
whole.
Most advocates of gun control believe and argue the more gun laws that are
enforced, the less crime and violence there will be. While some believe this, the
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opposition may argue that gun control laws in fact have little or no influence on crime
and violence in the US. John C. Moorhouse, a professor of Economics at Wake Forest
University, and Brent Wanner, a graduate from Wake University, set out to determine
which claim is true in theirDoes Gun Control Reduce Crime or Does Crime Increase
Gun Control? Moorhouse and Wanner perform a study in which they analyze D.R.
Murrays regression analysis and vector of economic and social factors (109-121). By the
end of their studies, the determined, The findings of this study that gun control is
ineffective in reducing crime rates are consistent with the vast majority of other studies
that use state data (121). Moorhouse and Wanners results demonstrated that gun control
does not affect crime rates like the opposition claimed it did not. For this reason,
opposition to gun control believes and argues there is no purpose for gun regulations and
anything of the sort if there is no decrease in gun violence.
Despite their results showing gun laws have no effect on crime and violence,
shortly afterwards their study reads, Nevertheless questions remain The failure to
find a statistically significant negative relationship between gun control and crime rates
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may be because gun control is ineffective or because the aggregation problems attendant
the use of state data could mask the potential relationship (121). Here, it is apparent that
Moorhouse and Wanner are doubting the reason for why their results were what they
were. Their doubts demonstrate that the claim that gun laws have no effect on crime rates
is not necessarily valid. Even after all the research performed, Moorhouse and Wanner
could not fully and accurately prove the claim that gun control laws have no influence on
gun violence. For this reason, gun laws should continue to be enforced in the United
States.
Stricter gun control should continue to be enforced not only because gun violence
has led to devastating tragedies recently, supporters of gun legislation have better
reasoning than opposition but also because gun control benefits our economy. Philip J.
Cook, a public policy professor at Duke University whom researches criminal justice,
weapons, violent crime and other similar subjects and wrote Gun Violence: The Real
Costs, and James A. Leitzel, the director of public policy studies at the University of
Chicago, look at the effects of gun control on the United States economy in their,
Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy: An Economic Analysis of the Attack on Gun Control.
Even more, Cook and Leitzel study and evaluate Albert O. Hirschmans The Rhetoric of
Reaction Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy. After doing so, they find that their results differ
from Hirschmans, in which they find a non-regulated gun market would not benefit the
economy (117). Having an unregulated gun market would could cause our economy
problems since there have been gun regulations previously. This being said, guns should
continue to regulated and more so than before. Also, Cook and Leitzels results refute and
disprove Moorhouse and Wanners results that suggest gun control does not affect crime
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rates and gun violence. This can be seen in Cook and Leitzels results section, Our
analysis suggests that moderate controls will reduce the availability of firearms, even to
criminals and youths who traffic only in the illicit market, and will likely result in lower
social costs from firearm violence (117). Despite gun control not preventing as much
gun violence as some would think, gun legislation does still have a moderate and
significant impact on gun violence as well as benefiting the US economy like Cook and
Leitzel proved.
Looking at the grand scheme of things, stricter gun control laws should be
enforced because of the shattering effects it has had on our nation, supporters of gun
control having better reasoning in their argument, and for benefiting and stabilizing the
economy. For all these reasons, gun control is in general better for society as a whole.
With stricter gun control, it is less likely for devastating tragedies similar to the
Columbine High School, Virginia Tech, the Colorado Movie Theatre, and the Sandy
Hook Elementary School shootings to occur. Also, for the most part, supporters of gun
control have weaker self-interest characteristics than the opposition. Supporters of gun
control tend to have more collectivist ideologies meaning that they take everyones well
being into consideration before their own. Since the gun market has been regulated
previously, if it all of sudden ceased to be, the economy could potentially suffer. All these
factors contribute to and prove the argument that stricter gun control should be enforced
in order to satisfy society as a whole instead of just certain groups of individuals. This
idea goes along with what Cook and Leitzel said in their study, There remains the
necessity of sorting through the costs and benefits to society of proposed regulations,
noting that infringement of privacy and individual freedom is a cost that must indeed be
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given its proper due, There comes a point in life when as a responsible citizen of a
nation, both costs and benefits have to be weighed but wherein the benefits should
outweigh the costs in order to achieve what is ultimately best for society as a whole.
For the purpose of reducing gun violence in the United States future, immediate
legislation action is necessary. Legislation is the most logical way to ensure that gun
control applies to all gun owners. This legislation should include but not limited to bans
on military assault weapons, better execution of current laws, stricter background checks
and gun-trafficking laws. There is current gun legislation but this is evidently not enough
according to the recent gun violence occurring throughout our nation. By enforcing gun
laws, there will be a decrease in gun violence.
For centuries, gun violence has been a leading problem in the United States. As
mentioned before, the first recorded shooting happened in 1764. Despite the shooting
being considered minimal compared to recent school shootings, the fact that school
shootings are even being compared is not acceptable. Even though, mass shootings
should not have to be compared, they are and it is evident how times have become worse.
So much so that recent mass shootings have finally captivated the attention from some
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opposition to gun control. The truth of the matter is that guns are dangerous and should
be regulated and monitored. It is now more than ever crucial to take action and enforce
stricter legislation in order to prevent future violence. This long overdue controversial
debate needs to solved once and for all.
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Works Cited
Baker, Peter and Michael D Shear. Obama to Put Everything Ive Got Into Gun
Control.NYTimes.com.New York Times, 16 Jan. 2013. Web. 5 Feb. 2013.
Bennett, Katherine, John Kraft, and Deborah Grubb. University Faculty Attitudes
Toward Guns On Campus.Journal Of Criminal Justice Education 23.3 (2012):
336-355.Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Mar. 2013.
Celinska, Katarzyna. "Individualism And Collectivism In America: The Case Of Gun
Ownership And Attitudes Toward Gun Control." Sociological Perspectives 50.2
(2007): 229-247.Academic Search Complete. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.
Cook, Philip J., and James A. Leitzel. "`Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy': An Economic
Analysis Of The Attack On Gun Control."Law & Contemporary Problems 59.1
(1996): 91-118.Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Feb. 2013
Cooper, Michael. Debate on Gun Control is Revived, Amis Trend Toward Fewer
Restrictions.NYTimes.com.New York Times, 15 Dec. 2012. Web. 16 Feb. 2013.
Ellison, Christopher G. Southern Culture And Firearms Ownership. Social Science
Quarterly (University Of Texas Press) 72.2 (1991): 267-283.Academic Search
Complete. Web. 6 Mar. 2013.
Moorhouse, John C., and Brent Wanner. "Does Gun Control Reduce Crime Or Does
Crime Increase Gun Control?." CATO Journal26.1 (2006): 103-124.Academic
Search Complete. Web. 16 Feb. 2013.
Wolpert, Robin M., and James G. Gimpel. "Self-Interest, Symbolic Politics, And Public
Attitudes Toward Gun Control."Political Behavior20.3 (1998): 241-262.
Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Feb. 2013.