The views stated here are those of the individual contributor and do not necessarily reflect those of the staff of Haddam-KillingworthNow.com.
As society continues to evolve, ideals and values of the past are often removed or replaced to fit the modern age. National reforms from the Civil Rights Movement and the Women’s Rights Movement can be attributed to this style of shedding dated social norms. There was undeniable proof of mass discrimination and unequal rights for Americans; because of this and the inherent resolve of these movements, new standards were forged and equality was achieved. Now Americans face a new social reform centered around the use of guns. Most media outlets would have one believe that there is rampant gun violence sweeping the nation and that more gun control measures are needed to combat this perceived epidemic. These claims could not be further from the truth and Americans need to be educated against this type of misinformation.
Gun related stories have been on the rise in recent years. In many cases media outlets have failed to report gun violence statistics in an accurate way. To be more specific, the Gun Violence Archive defines the term gun violence as “all incidents of death or injury or threat with firearms without pejorative judgment […] intent or consequence as a consideration.” This definition indicates that gun violence statistics include defensive actions, police actions, suicides, and accidental incidents. When the media reports a predator-on-prey murder it is not uncommon for them to cite gun violence statistics. These statistics are not indicative of the crime that they are reporting on, which leads the viewers to believe that gun violence crimes include only a specific type of crime. This type of information misuse also promotes the idea that these crimes are happening at drastically higher rates than they really are. Even if only homicide statistics are used, the statistics would still be skewed and not represent the actual threat to most Americans. In a 2013 Business Insider article, “The 25 Most Dangerous Cities In America”, most of the cities had reports reflecting substantial issues with either gangs or drugs (Warner et al.). A similar article from The Daily Beast, reports that the Baltimore Police Commissioner contributes 80% of their homicides to drug related activity (Zadrozny). Milwaukee’s Police Chief takes the statistics a step further stating that “85 percent of [their] shootings are people with extensive criminal records shooting other people with extensive criminal records.” (Kertscher) This means that unless they are involved in drug or gang related activities the average American is significantly less likely to be a homicide victim than the initial statistics would suggest.
Another fact that often accompanies gun violence statistics is the staggering number of guns in America. The 2007 Small Arms Survey states that “with fewer than five percent of the world’s population, the United States is home to roughly 35–50 percent of the world’s civilian-owned guns” (Grad. Inst. Geneva 46). The Washington Post even goes as far as to state that “[t]here are now more guns than people in the United States”, citing information from the U.S. Census and the Congressional Research Service (Ingraham). Mentioning these excerpts when talking about homicide without additional key facts persuades the audience to believe that homicide by gun is a growing American problem. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, however, when The United States’ murder rate per 100,000 inhabitants is compared to the rest of the globe’s, they don’t even fall in the top 100 countries (UNODC 126). Another interesting fact to note about American gun ownership is that as it has continued to climb in the U.S. gun homicide has steadily declined (Perry).
Since gun violence is so highly misrepresented by the media, many law-makers and citizens believe that tighter gun control laws would be an appropriate solution for this perceived problem. Statistically speaking, however, stricter gun laws would have little to no effect on crime. For example, based on false information, many citizens might believe that stricter gun control laws would decrease murder rates. In reality, however, a comparison of states based on the Brady gun control rating system and murder rates shows zero correlation of stricter gun control laws lowering murder rates (Volokh). Many of the gun control laws that are currently in place or that have been proposed recently were made by people who have very little knowledge on the subject and do almost nothing to actually curb gun related crimes. Some of these laws come about as “knee jerk” reactions to horrific events like the “assault weapons” and magazine capacity bans after the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting.
Taking a deeper look at the type of guns used in violent crime the Bureau of Justice Statistics finds that 87% of gun related crime happens with a hand gun and only 3% occur with the use of “assault” style weapons (U.S. DOJ BJS 13). Another common misconception about guns that are used in crimes is that they are frequently bought at gun shows without background checks through the “gun show loophole”. This is patently false as the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that less than 1% of guns used in crimes were from gun shows (U.S. DOJ BJS 13). The whole point of gun control is to keep the public safe but in many instances the proposed laws have the opposite effect. Looking at mass shootings between 2009 and 2014, The Crime Prevention Research Center concludes that 92% were committed in gun free zones (CPRC 10). These gun free zones are soft targets for criminals, there is little to no threat of them encountering resistance during the crime and this lets them maximize the amount of damage that they can inflict. Even in areas where it is legal to carry a gun other laws may prohibit justified use of it:
“Stand-your-ground laws allow someone to use force in self-defense when there is reasonable belief of a threat […] Connecticut does not have a stand-your-ground law, but instead requires an individual to retreat when able to do so. Under state law, the use of deadly force that might otherwise have been justifiable is not warranted if someone “knows that he can avoid the necessity of using such force with complete safety…by retreating…” (Randall and Deboer)
Despite having laws stacked against them, many law-abiding citizens choose to use guns to defend themselves and others on a daily basis. While the exact number of defensive gun uses per year is unknown, there is consistent data proving that there are “lower injury rates among gun-using crime victims compared [to] victims who [use] other self-protective strategies.” (IOM and NRC 16)
All in all, there is a massive deception when it comes to the reality of gun violence and gun control. Citizens are encouraged to believe that gun violence statistics include mostly predator-on-prey murders when in reality it includes far more surprising categories such as threats, suicide, and justified uses. Additionally, many citizens are swayed to believe that stricter gun laws would create a society where gun related crimes diminish, but in reality it would create perfect conditions for an increase in violent crime. All these deceptions lead society to associate guns with a negative connotation and to a society which trembles at the mere sight of a gun. While gun violence exists, the falsehoods about it sweeping the nation are wildly misrepresented due to a fabricated reality given by many of the media outlets. Yes, Guns can be deadly, but misrepresenting their potential to save lives and disarming innocent Americans is much worse.
Garrett Allain
Haddam, CT
Works Cited
Crime Prevention Research Center. The Myths about Mass Public Shootings: Analysis. CPRC, 2014
Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva. Small Arms Survey 2007: Guns and the City. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Gun Violence Archive. General Methodology. 2017, http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/methodology.
Ingraham, Christopher. “There are now more guns than people in the United States.” The Washington Post, 05 Oct. 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/10/05/guns-in-the-united-states-one-for-every-man-woman-and-child-and-then-some/?utm_term=.7aee830230cb
Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. Priorities for research to reduce the threat of firearm-related violence. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2013
Kertscher, Tom. “85 percent of shooting suspects and victims in Milwaukee have ‘extensive criminal record,’ police chief says.” Politifact Wisconsin, 19 Mar. 2012, http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2012/mar/19/edward-flynn/85-percent-shooting-suspects-and-victims-milwaukee/.
Perry, Mark. “Chart of the day: More guns, less gun violence between 1993 and 2013.” The American Enterprise Institute, 04 Dec. 2015, http://www.aei.org/publication/chart-of-the-day-more-guns-less-gun-violence-between-1993-and-2013/.
Randall, Mark, and Hendrik Deboer. “The Castle Doctrine and Stand-Your-Ground Law.” Connecticut General Assembly, 24 Apr. 2012, https://www.cga.ct.gov/2012/rpt/2012-R-0172.htm.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Global Study on Homicide 2013. United Nations, 2014
United States, Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justices Statistics. Firearm Violence, 1993-2011. May 2013.
Volokh, Eugene. “Zero correlation between state homicide rate and state gun laws.” The Washington Post, 06 Oct. 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/10/06/zero-correlation-between-state-homicide-rate-and-state-gun-laws/?utm_term=.e0afff0207d1.
Warner, Anmargaret, et al. “The 25 Most Dangerous Cities In America.” Business Insider, 13 Jun. 2013, http://www.businessinsider.com/most-dangerous-cities-in-america-2013-6?op=1.
Zadrozny, Brandy. “The Year in Murder: 2013 Marks a Historic Low for Many Cities.” The Daily Beast, 01 Jan. 2014, http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/05/02/she-wanted-out-of-the-relationship-he-put-her-torso-in-a-suitcase.
