Arguments surrounding gun violence and gun laws have been ongoing for decades. While some believe gun violence is more of a blip, others reckon it's a trend. Some hold an opinion that a gun is a weapon of self-defence and cases of gun violence occur due to merely few who've gone rogue while others firmly believe these weapons do more harm than good and call for stricter gun laws.
However, before standing for one side over another, it is important to understand what gun laws are exactly, how they vary from one country to another, and their effect on gun violence.
Introduction
Gun laws and policies regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification and use of small arms by civilians. They are often enacted with the intention of reducing the use of small arms in criminal activity, specifically weapons perceived as being capable of inflicting the greatest damage and those most-easily concealed, like handguns.
Laws of some countries may afford civilians a right to keep and bear arms, and have more liberal gun laws than neighbouring jurisdictions. There may be separate licenses for hunting, sport shooting, self-defence, collecting, and concealed carry, with different sets of requirements, permissions, and responsibilities.
Persons restricted from legal access to firearms may include those below a certain age or having a criminal record. Firearm licenses may be denied to those felt most at risk of harming themselves or others, such as people with a history of domestic violence, alcoholism or substance abuse, mental illness, depression, or attempted suicide. Those applying for a firearm license may have to demonstrate competence by completing a gun-safety course and by showing provision for a secure location to store weapons.
Although gun control is a global issue, each country has the sovereign authority to regulate firearms within its borders.
● Yemen and the majority of the states in the U.S. do not require any permit for acquisition of majority types of firearms.
● Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland are partially licensed applying that any non-prohibited citizen can buy repeating rifles and break-action shotguns from licensed dealers, and a permit is only required for handguns and semi-automatic firearms.
● Out of the remaining countries, some require a shall-issue license (e.g. Canada, Czech Republic, and Malta), issued only to people who meet all legal requirements. Usually, in such countries, authorities must prove that someone has violated legal conditions in order to deny them the license.
● In countries with may-issue licensing laws (e.g. India, South Africa, and Thailand), authorities are at discretion in determining whether a person may obtain firearms.
● In some countries (e.g. China, Japan, Myanmar), only very limited groups of people can own them.
● In countries like Cambodia, Eritrea, and the Solomon Islands, ownership of firearms is completely prohibited.
A 2016 study, published in the academic journal, Epidemiologic Reviews, systematically reviewed the evidence from around the world on gun laws and gun violence, to understand whether restrictions imposed on purchasing guns and its ownership tended to be followed by a decline in gun-related deaths. Although the authors state that their findings do not conclusively prove that gun restrictions reduce gun deaths, they did find a compelling trend in this matter wherein restrictions imposed on the purchase and ownership of guns deflated such crimes.
The study examined roughly 130 studies that had been conducted in 10 different countries. Each of those 130 studies had looked at some specific change in gun laws and its effect on homicide and/or suicide rates. Most of them looked at law changes in the developed world, such as the U.S., Australia, and Austria, while a few looked at firearm legislation in developing countries, specifically Brazil and South Africa.
This study found that firearm violence declined after countries passed a raft of gun laws at the same time. This finding doesn't highlight one specific law, like an assault weapon ban in isolation. Rather, it highlights countries that passed big packages of gun laws, which overhauled the nation's firearm code fairly broadly, which generally included:
● Banning powerful weapons, like automatic rifles.
● Implementing a background check system.
● Requiring people to get permits and licenses before buying a gun.
South Africa’s comprehensive Firearm Control Act, passed in 2000, contained all these measures. One study found that firearm homicides in five major South African cities decreased by a whopping 13.6% per year for the next five years.
Austria’s 1997 Firearm Law limited access to powerful firearms, imposed rules about how gun owners had to store their guns and required background checks. Two studies conducted on this law found evidence that the law had reduced deaths. According to one of them, firearm homicides went down by 4.8% while suicides went down by 9.9%.
Multiple studies on Australia’s 1996 National Firearms Agreement, which outright confiscated 650,000 guns (about one-sixth of the national stock) from public circulation, in addition to imposing background checks and licensing rules, found clear and strong evidence of a reduction in firearm deaths after the law's passage.
A study on Missouri’s 2007 repeal of its law requiring a permit to purchase a firearm, which in effect repealed the state's background check requirement, found that after 2007, Missouri's homicide rate jumped by 25%.
According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, since 1968, more than 1.5 million Americans have died in gun-related incidents. In comparison, approximately 1.2 million service members have been killed in every war in U.S. history, according to estimates from the Department of Veterans Affairs and iCasualties.org. [6]
A Lott study found that castle doctrine laws reduce homicides by 9%. But a second study came to the opposite conclusion, finding an uptick in homicides after states passed such laws. A third study looking at stand-your-ground laws also found an uptick in deaths.
Data from Quebec revealed that a Canadian law limiting access to guns led to a rise in suicides by hanging—a large enough increase to offset the decline in suicides by firearm that followed the law. Other studies, from Australia and New Zealand, found a similar substitution effect.
However, there is very good evidence—some of it from the same countries—that reducing access to guns reduces overall suicides and homicides; hence, while this study is not conclusive, it is very suggestive.
Conclusion
“We know we can't stop every act of violence, every act of evil in the world, but maybe we could try to stop one act of evil, one act of violence.”
- Former U.S. President Barack Obama
Time after time, we read or hear about cases of gun violence—a shooting that happened at a concert, a club, a theatre, a religious place, or even a school. Additionally there are cases of police brutality, where the very people who have sworn to protect our rights, are the ones to take them away. A number of questions fill my mind when coming across such news.
Why haven’t gun laws been tightened? How many more should be affected before they are hardened? Why is there leniency on such laws especially when the lives of people are at stake? How did a student have such easy access to an armed weapon? Was it really that easy to attain a license? Are there loopholes in the laws surrounding firearms that allow such personnel to get away with their actions, with little to no repercussions?
Surely, some of these thoughts must’ve crossed your mind, at one point or another.
In the same way that a hunter’s safety course must be taken in order to receive a hunting license, a general gun safety course should be required in the event of a purchase of any gun.
It is important we take a stand against gun violence and call for stricter gun laws, because today we may not be directly affected by it, but tomorrow who knows?
As Albert Einstein rightly said, “The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.”
Article by -
SV,
Co-Editor,
For the Record,
PES MUN Society
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