Annie Tran: Gun Violence in America

Gun Violence in America

by Anson Stevens-Bollen

The Importance of This Issue

One of the most controversial topics in America is gun violence. It has been a rising problem and without finding the correct way to go about it, our death rate will continue to gradually increase. There have been many mass shootings that may have affected the rest of us, whether if it was emotionally or physically. Since we've been seeing a variety of news about shootings more recently, it has brought this problem into the light and it must be addressed immediately. Mass shootings have taken place in various public areas where you wouldn't expect it such as schools, music venues, movie theaters, and so much more.

Ever since the school shooting at the Sandy Hook elementary, it brought this ache in my heart since I, myself, am striving to become an elementary teacher. I thought about my future students and how they could possibly become victims because America hasn't done anything effective to address this problem. The fact that there are sick people out there that have this urge to kill any human being brings an endless pit in my stomach and I want this problem to be addressed and acknowledged properly.

The Causes of Gun Violence
There is no direct cause in gun violence, but the collective of shooters this past year have apparently been known to have mental issues. The following information on these causes of gun violence is gathered from an article titled "Gun Violence: Prediction, Prevention, and Policy" by the American Psychological Association. They explain the factors that could constitute these mental issues and list out early-onset aggression, family influences, school/peer influences, the community, and exposure to violent media as being the many factors that could be the reasoning behind the youths' mental issues (APA).

          1.     Early-onset Aggression

             
Early indications of aggression signifies an increased risk for antisocial behavioral problems. Children who have been known to be highly aggressive throughout their childhood will continue to have these serious conduct problems and be labeled as "life-course persistent". Poor behavioral control and as well as difficult temper are associated with the development of early-onset aggression in children.

          2.    Family Influences

The people that you grow up with are the most influential people in your life since it's the environment that you're learning everything in. Family is an important part in socialization and helps with development in beliefs and perceptions, so the youth that are starting to get exposed to this aggressive behavior will experience negative parenting practices and will only amplify the learned behavior as they grow older.

          3.    School/Peer Influences

Another important factor that is just as influential as family is your peers. Children who enter school with high levels of aggression will probably have a hard time adjusting to the setting of school and as well as getting along with their peers. They're in a different environment and surrounded with people that they don't know. Children who have poor academic experiences and low engagement will most likely assert the same behavior towards their peers and will reflect problematic behavior and aggression or violence.

          4.    The Community

The type of community you live and grow up in can highly affect your social behavior. For example, living in communities that are disadvantaged with high levels of crime and violence will create difficulties in healthy developments. The children living in these kinds of environments would also have early exposure to violence which can lead to deviant behavior. What these kids grow up in and learn can possibly be reflected. There's also peer pressure that still thrives in our society and could play into the community as these kids are still figuring out what's right from wrong for themselves.

          5.    Exposure To Violent Media
                                 
This is another factor that people believe causes gun violence (I don't believe this is a cause at all, by the way). As children grow up, they're exposed to this violent side of media, from video games to television shows. This, apparently, desensitizes children to violence and normalizes the idea that violent behavior is fine. What they learn from the violence that they are watching can be reflected towards what they do in the future. This is why people want censorship, but putting walls up around children to protect them can do more harm

Statistics In America

Gathered from the FBI, they concluded that there was an increase in active shootings from 2000 to 2013, proving that gun violence is a rising problem in America.

To show how problematic gun violence is in America, here are some statistics to showcase how many school shootings we've had since 2000.

According to the Washington Post, there have been a total of 18 school shootings in America this past year. The maps above indicate the areas targets and how many were killed in the event of.

To show that violent games don't have any correlation to gun violence, here is a statistic that shows Japan being the highest rank in video game revenue, but being one of the top countries that have the lowest amount of violent gun deaths (Chang, 2019).

Effects of Gun Violence

          1.     Sandy Hook Elementary School

                                                

On December 14 of 2012, 26 people were shot and killed in an elementary school. Adam Lanza, a 20 year old Caucasian, autistic male, grabbed 3 guns that were in his household and made way to the elementary. The school had recently installed a new door system where you had to get buzzed in to enter, but Lanza had no problem with that and shot his way in. He shot 20 students and 6 adults. Lanza was born autistic and grew up isolated according to the notes he wrote. This was probably one of the reasons he did what he did, but I believe there was more underlying issues that pushed him to go on a murder spree with children (Glorioso, 2019).

          2.     The Colorado Theater

                                           

On July 19 of 2012, there's a premier of the showing for The Dark Knight Rises, but there were underlying plans ahead. James Holmes, a 25 Caucasian male, threw tear gas canisters and shot at the crowd. 12 people were killed and 70 were wounded. His apartment was rigged with several makeshift bombs and booby traps. Everything was disarmed and he was charged with sentence to life after several trials. He had many mental health problems, which everyone believed, but it seemed like there was no real motive behind the shooting (CNN Library, 2019).

How We Could Prevent Gun Violence
It's as simple as this: regulation. To help put into perspective of what I'm trying to say, here is a statistic to show you.

Here in this chart, we have other worldly countries put next to each other on a graph to show how gun regulation can keep violent gun deaths very low. In other words, this chart is comparing each country's amount of deaths from gun violence in the year of 2017. All the countries, except the United States, have some form of gun regulation to restrict citizens from owning firearms apart from military and police force. As you can see, if our country would come up with some form of gun control regulation, then we wouldn't be the one with the highest amount of death from gun violence on this map.

Interviews

1.     Aaron Smith

     Gun violence does affect me a little bit. The reason why is because I grew up in an area known to be "violent" so gun violence growing up was a semi-norm. At an early age, gun violence affects you really hard because you're hurting someone's relative or somebody you know. Although I believe gun violence is bad, I do also believe that people have the right to protect themselves.

     






2.     Michelle Sinclair

     Yes, gun violence does affect me because I'm affected by everything that happens in this world. In my opinion, gun violence affects everyone and it creates fear within all of us. This creates an issue for safety and trust. I don't know if I could trust someone with a gun and not knowing if they could do something crazy. Maybe we could lessen the gun violence in America by creating a longer process/more requirements for acquiring a gun, plus training and workshops for it. It really shouldn't be allowed though. If you're not in the military or authority, you shouldn't be allowed to own a gun.





3.     Erika Torres

     Yes, gun violence does affect me. Gun violence makes me question the safety of myself and my future kids. I question my safety in places that I shouldn't be feeling in the first place. I feel this insecurity in places like a park, school, mall or bar, so I believe that we need stricter laws on gun control and that not just anyone should be allowed to purchase a gun, especially young kids. We need gun restriction.

Works Cited

American Psychological Association. "Gun Violence: Prediction, Prevention, and Policy". American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/pubs/info/reports/gun-violence-prevention

Chang, Alvin. "Why video games aren't causing America's gun problem, in one chart". Vox. August 7, 2019. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/8/5/20755092/gun-shooting-video-game-chart

CNN Library. "Colorado Theater Shooting Fast Facts". CNN. July 14, 2019. https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/19/us/colorado-theater-shooting-fast-facts/index.html

Glorioso, Chris. "I-Team: Childhood Documents Reveal Sandy Hook Shooter's Descent into Depravity". January 22, 2019. 4 New York. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Adam-Lanza-Newtown-School-Shooting-Sandy-Hook-Connecticut-504704251.html