Gun Control And Crime Reduction Research Paper
Gun Control and Crime Reduction
Solution
The solution I propose is to deregulate firearm laws and eliminate criminal protection zones through the Buckeye Firearms Association in the State of Ohio.
Problem
To focus on violent crime or crime reduction in Ohio, this paper will offer evidence from other states and countries around the world. Without analyzing firearm laws and crime statistics from other regions, a solution cannot be held plausible to reduce crime in Ohio. We must also disregard any ideological views of the second amendment and focus on the problems we face today involving gun control and violent crime. All over the media one can see that gun control is a strongly two-sided debate and that, “firearms are the problem.” The …show more content…
news informs the public about mass shootings, improper firearm storage and firearm homicides. What the current media does not inform the public about is how gun control is related to violent crime in a particular region. On that note, FBI data shows in 2011, there were 1,118,194 violent crimes with weapons data. Of those violent crimes, 314,189 of them involved a firearm; which is about 28.1%. The same data also shows a downward trend of violent crime nationwide of about 15.7% from 2007 (FBI, 2011). Since the nation is experiencing a reduction of violent crime, we must look at the results of gun control and its effect on violent crime in particular regions. Currently, the nation as well as the rest of the world, is focused on the United States’ gun debate more than ever. With the most previous mass shootings committed by Adam Lanza in Sandy Hook Elementary School and James Holmes in an Aurora, Colorado movie theatre, the country has been questioning whether more firearm legislation is needed or not. The country must also base future legislation decisions from other shootings also taking place in shopping centers and private and public universities. Based on recent shootings, we need to realize something that all the shootings have in common. What would that be? They all occurred in gun-free zones, as legislated by local, state or federal regulations. Therefore, being a problem that is happening over and over, the gun-free zone must be taken into consideration as to why many shootings are occurring in such places.
Solution
The solution I propose is to deregulate firearm laws and eliminate criminal protection zones through the Buckeye Firearms Association in the State of Ohio. First and foremost, the analysis of gun control and its effect on violent crime must be looked at. Chicago, until recently, was effectively a gun free zone. According to the Chicago Police Department, in Chicago, guns were used in 362 of the nation’s 8,583 homicides, which is a 4.2% share of the entire nation in 2011 (CPD, 2011). In 2012, Chicago escalated to over 500 homicides (Gorner, 2013). This increase of homicides occurred with no mass shootings while the rest of nation experienced a downward trend. If Chicago has some of the tightest regulations on firearms, then where is this gun crime coming from? Chicago’s city wide gun ban was ended a year prior in McDonald vs. Chicago. Illinois’ state wide ban against the carry of firearms ended last year in Shepherd vs. Madigan. So, if the rest of the nation had experienced a downward trend in crime, why hasn’t Chicago? What are other states and cities doing that Chicago is not? This is simple; the rest of the nation is not empowering criminals. According to the FBI, NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System) background checks have been increasing since 2005, with over 50 million nationwide in the past three years (FBI, 2011). Not only that, but the issuing of concealed carry permits nationwide has steadily increased. From 2004 to the first quarter of 2012, Ohio’s permit holders increased by over 900% from about 25,000 to 282,907 permits (BFA, 2012). In 2009, Ohio Criminal Justice Statistics conclude that violent crime peaked in the early 1990’s and trended downward towards its lowest point in over 30 years (OCJS, 2009). With the downward trend in crime and an upward trend in concealed carry permits, the statistics prove that Chicago is nothing more than a perfect example of gun control laws empowering criminals. Still, many gun control advocates claim that an area such as Chicago with tight gun control legislation, have high homicide and violent crime rates due to outside factors.
For example, criminals obtain firearms out-of-state and bring them into the city. They claim that unless the same laws are regulated across the country, America will never be like the so-called, “crime-free” Great Britain. Taking a look at a long term trend, in 1910 Great Britain had a murder rate of 0.81 per 100,000 people. Then in 2011, Great Britain reported a murder rate of 1.4 per 100,000 people, which is about a 50% increase (Home Office, 2011). What happened over these 101 years is that Great Britain outlawed the right to self-defense with a firearm, including all private ownership of firearms. Meanwhile in the United States, the murder rate decreased from 7.9 per 100,000 in 1910, to a reported 4.1 per 100,000 people in 2011 (FBI, …show more content…
2011). In 2003, Malcolm examined history concerning England’s goal to reduce crime by imposing vast gun control. After the 1997 gun ban, handgun crime doubled. In 2002, for the fourth year in a row, gun crime rose by 35%. In fact, 10,000 firearm crimes were committed (Malcolm, 2003). More recently, England’s police reported 730 per 100,000 people were assaulted compared to 262 per 100,000 people in the United States (Civitas, 2012). The right to self-defense in England has been destructed and proves that criminals do not follow laws.
Barriers
The strongest barriers are legislations supported by arguments based on emotion and fear. The emotion and reasoning for outlawing firearms on campus and school grounds because they are, “learning environments,” is absolutely illogical. LaPierre stated on December 21, 2012, “[Gun-Free Zones] tell every insane killer in America that schools are their safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk” (NRA, 2012). When a police officer does show up with a firearm, lethal force, the shooter recognizes they’re no longer living in a fantasy world –so the shooter turns the firearm on themselves. Reality has hit at that moment. In Clackamas, Oklahoma, a shooter in a shopping center was faced with a concealed carry permit holder and then decided to commit suicide.
Why does America keep ignoring the truth? Mass shootings are not taking place in a stadium, a courthouse, banks, air ports and even in businesses that support concealed carry. Gun control has been proven ineffective over and over again. A report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows that determining the effectiveness of firearm laws is insufficient due to lack of evidence (Hahn, 2003).
Fennel concludes in an article published in The Journal of American College Health that, “concealed carry permit holders are nothing to fear” (Fennel, 2009). Fennel is right, licensees, or concealed carry permit holders, have proven to abide by the law. The Texas Department of Public Safety reported in 2011 that concealed carry permit holders were convicted of 120 of the 63,679 crimes, which is about 0.1884% of all crimes (TDPS, 2011). In the same year, 520,000 concealed handgun permits were issued in Texas (Legally Armed, 2012). The 120 convicted licensees make up 0.00023% of all Texas concealed carry permit holders. If gun control advocates claim that guns equal more crime, and that permit holders have a tendency to, “snap,” at any time, why haven’t Texas statistics proved this?
When facts and logic are brought to the table, deregulating gun free zones and extending the rights of permit holders become a clear, safe choice. Feeling safe and being safe are two different things. It is time that the State of Ohio, as well as other states, to repeal gun bans, enforce current laws that restrict felons and mentally unstable people from owning firearms and restore the right to self-defense.
References
Chicago Police Department (2011). Chicago muder analysis. Retrieved from https://portal.chicagopolice.org/portal/page/portal/ClearPath/News/Statistical%20Reports/Murder%20Reports/MA11.pdf Civitas Crime (2012). Comparisons of crime in oecd countries. Civitas: the Institute for the Study of Civil Society. Retrieved from http://www.civitas.org.uk/crime/crime_stats_oecdjan2012.pdf
Federal Bureau Investigation. (2011). Expanded offense data. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/expanded-offense-data Federal Bureau Investigation (2011). Total NICS background checks. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/reports Fennell, R. (2009). Concealed carry weapon permits: A second amendment right or a recipe for disaster on our nation 's campuses. Journal Of American College Health, 58(2), 99-100.
Gorner, J. (2013). Chicago marks 500 homicides. Chicago Tribune.
Hahn, R. A., Bilukha, O. O., Crosby, A., Fullilove, M. T., Liberman, A., Moscicki, E. K., . . .
Briss, P. (2003). First reports evaluating the effectiveness of strategies for preventing violence: Firearms laws. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5214a2.htm
Home Office (2011). A summary of recorded crime data from 1898 to 2001/02.
Home Office.
Retrieved from http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/crime-research/historical-crime-data/rec-crime-1898-2002
Irvine, J. (2012). Attorney general announces first quarter 2012 chl statistics. Buckeye
Firearms Association. Retrieved from http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/8380
Legally Armed (2012). United states concealed carry statistics. Legally Armed. Retrieved from http://legallyarmed.com/ccw_statistics.htm Malcolm, J. (2003). Lessons of history: firearms regulation and the reduction of crime. Texas
Review Of Law & Politics, 8(1), 175-187.
National Rifle Association (2012). Full text of remarks from national rifle association ceo wayne lapierre. Daily News America. Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/full-text-nra-remarks-gun-control-debate-newtown-article-1.1225043
Ohio Department of Public Safety (2009). Ohio criminal justice statistics. Retrieved from http://www.publicsafety.ohio.gov/links/ocjs_Statistics.pdf Texas Department of Public Safety (2011). Conviction rates for concealed handgun license holders. Texas Department of Public Safety. Retrieved from
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/RSD/CHL/Reports/ConvictionRatesReport2011.pdf
Solution
The solution I propose is to deregulate firearm laws and eliminate criminal protection zones through the Buckeye Firearms Association in the State of Ohio.
Problem
To focus on violent crime or crime reduction in Ohio, this paper will offer evidence from other states and countries around the world. Without analyzing firearm laws and crime statistics from other regions, a solution cannot be held plausible to reduce crime in Ohio. We must also disregard any ideological views of the second amendment and focus on the problems we face today involving gun control and violent crime. All over the media one can see that gun control is a strongly two-sided debate and that, “firearms are the problem.” The …show more content…
news informs the public about mass shootings, improper firearm storage and firearm homicides. What the current media does not inform the public about is how gun control is related to violent crime in a particular region. On that note, FBI data shows in 2011, there were 1,118,194 violent crimes with weapons data. Of those violent crimes, 314,189 of them involved a firearm; which is about 28.1%. The same data also shows a downward trend of violent crime nationwide of about 15.7% from 2007 (FBI, 2011). Since the nation is experiencing a reduction of violent crime, we must look at the results of gun control and its effect on violent crime in particular regions. Currently, the nation as well as the rest of the world, is focused on the United States’ gun debate more than ever. With the most previous mass shootings committed by Adam Lanza in Sandy Hook Elementary School and James Holmes in an Aurora, Colorado movie theatre, the country has been questioning whether more firearm legislation is needed or not. The country must also base future legislation decisions from other shootings also taking place in shopping centers and private and public universities. Based on recent shootings, we need to realize something that all the shootings have in common. What would that be? They all occurred in gun-free zones, as legislated by local, state or federal regulations. Therefore, being a problem that is happening over and over, the gun-free zone must be taken into consideration as to why many shootings are occurring in such places.
Solution
The solution I propose is to deregulate firearm laws and eliminate criminal protection zones through the Buckeye Firearms Association in the State of Ohio. First and foremost, the analysis of gun control and its effect on violent crime must be looked at. Chicago, until recently, was effectively a gun free zone. According to the Chicago Police Department, in Chicago, guns were used in 362 of the nation’s 8,583 homicides, which is a 4.2% share of the entire nation in 2011 (CPD, 2011). In 2012, Chicago escalated to over 500 homicides (Gorner, 2013). This increase of homicides occurred with no mass shootings while the rest of nation experienced a downward trend. If Chicago has some of the tightest regulations on firearms, then where is this gun crime coming from? Chicago’s city wide gun ban was ended a year prior in McDonald vs. Chicago. Illinois’ state wide ban against the carry of firearms ended last year in Shepherd vs. Madigan. So, if the rest of the nation had experienced a downward trend in crime, why hasn’t Chicago? What are other states and cities doing that Chicago is not? This is simple; the rest of the nation is not empowering criminals. According to the FBI, NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System) background checks have been increasing since 2005, with over 50 million nationwide in the past three years (FBI, 2011). Not only that, but the issuing of concealed carry permits nationwide has steadily increased. From 2004 to the first quarter of 2012, Ohio’s permit holders increased by over 900% from about 25,000 to 282,907 permits (BFA, 2012). In 2009, Ohio Criminal Justice Statistics conclude that violent crime peaked in the early 1990’s and trended downward towards its lowest point in over 30 years (OCJS, 2009). With the downward trend in crime and an upward trend in concealed carry permits, the statistics prove that Chicago is nothing more than a perfect example of gun control laws empowering criminals. Still, many gun control advocates claim that an area such as Chicago with tight gun control legislation, have high homicide and violent crime rates due to outside factors.
For example, criminals obtain firearms out-of-state and bring them into the city. They claim that unless the same laws are regulated across the country, America will never be like the so-called, “crime-free” Great Britain. Taking a look at a long term trend, in 1910 Great Britain had a murder rate of 0.81 per 100,000 people. Then in 2011, Great Britain reported a murder rate of 1.4 per 100,000 people, which is about a 50% increase (Home Office, 2011). What happened over these 101 years is that Great Britain outlawed the right to self-defense with a firearm, including all private ownership of firearms. Meanwhile in the United States, the murder rate decreased from 7.9 per 100,000 in 1910, to a reported 4.1 per 100,000 people in 2011 (FBI, …show more content…
2011). In 2003, Malcolm examined history concerning England’s goal to reduce crime by imposing vast gun control. After the 1997 gun ban, handgun crime doubled. In 2002, for the fourth year in a row, gun crime rose by 35%. In fact, 10,000 firearm crimes were committed (Malcolm, 2003). More recently, England’s police reported 730 per 100,000 people were assaulted compared to 262 per 100,000 people in the United States (Civitas, 2012). The right to self-defense in England has been destructed and proves that criminals do not follow laws.
Barriers
The strongest barriers are legislations supported by arguments based on emotion and fear. The emotion and reasoning for outlawing firearms on campus and school grounds because they are, “learning environments,” is absolutely illogical. LaPierre stated on December 21, 2012, “[Gun-Free Zones] tell every insane killer in America that schools are their safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk” (NRA, 2012). When a police officer does show up with a firearm, lethal force, the shooter recognizes they’re no longer living in a fantasy world –so the shooter turns the firearm on themselves. Reality has hit at that moment. In Clackamas, Oklahoma, a shooter in a shopping center was faced with a concealed carry permit holder and then decided to commit suicide.
Why does America keep ignoring the truth? Mass shootings are not taking place in a stadium, a courthouse, banks, air ports and even in businesses that support concealed carry. Gun control has been proven ineffective over and over again. A report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows that determining the effectiveness of firearm laws is insufficient due to lack of evidence (Hahn, 2003).
Fennel concludes in an article published in The Journal of American College Health that, “concealed carry permit holders are nothing to fear” (Fennel, 2009). Fennel is right, licensees, or concealed carry permit holders, have proven to abide by the law. The Texas Department of Public Safety reported in 2011 that concealed carry permit holders were convicted of 120 of the 63,679 crimes, which is about 0.1884% of all crimes (TDPS, 2011). In the same year, 520,000 concealed handgun permits were issued in Texas (Legally Armed, 2012). The 120 convicted licensees make up 0.00023% of all Texas concealed carry permit holders. If gun control advocates claim that guns equal more crime, and that permit holders have a tendency to, “snap,” at any time, why haven’t Texas statistics proved this?
When facts and logic are brought to the table, deregulating gun free zones and extending the rights of permit holders become a clear, safe choice. Feeling safe and being safe are two different things. It is time that the State of Ohio, as well as other states, to repeal gun bans, enforce current laws that restrict felons and mentally unstable people from owning firearms and restore the right to self-defense.
References
Chicago Police Department (2011). Chicago muder analysis. Retrieved from https://portal.chicagopolice.org/portal/page/portal/ClearPath/News/Statistical%20Reports/Murder%20Reports/MA11.pdf Civitas Crime (2012). Comparisons of crime in oecd countries. Civitas: the Institute for the Study of Civil Society. Retrieved from http://www.civitas.org.uk/crime/crime_stats_oecdjan2012.pdf
Federal Bureau Investigation. (2011). Expanded offense data. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/expanded-offense-data Federal Bureau Investigation (2011). Total NICS background checks. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/reports Fennell, R. (2009). Concealed carry weapon permits: A second amendment right or a recipe for disaster on our nation 's campuses. Journal Of American College Health, 58(2), 99-100.
Gorner, J. (2013). Chicago marks 500 homicides. Chicago Tribune.
Hahn, R. A., Bilukha, O. O., Crosby, A., Fullilove, M. T., Liberman, A., Moscicki, E. K., . . .
Briss, P. (2003). First reports evaluating the effectiveness of strategies for preventing violence: Firearms laws. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5214a2.htm
Home Office (2011). A summary of recorded crime data from 1898 to 2001/02.
Home Office.
Retrieved from http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/crime-research/historical-crime-data/rec-crime-1898-2002
Irvine, J. (2012). Attorney general announces first quarter 2012 chl statistics. Buckeye
Firearms Association. Retrieved from http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/8380
Legally Armed (2012). United states concealed carry statistics. Legally Armed. Retrieved from http://legallyarmed.com/ccw_statistics.htm Malcolm, J. (2003). Lessons of history: firearms regulation and the reduction of crime. Texas
Review Of Law & Politics, 8(1), 175-187.
National Rifle Association (2012). Full text of remarks from national rifle association ceo wayne lapierre. Daily News America. Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/full-text-nra-remarks-gun-control-debate-newtown-article-1.1225043
Ohio Department of Public Safety (2009). Ohio criminal justice statistics. Retrieved from http://www.publicsafety.ohio.gov/links/ocjs_Statistics.pdf Texas Department of Public Safety (2011). Conviction rates for concealed handgun license holders. Texas Department of Public Safety. Retrieved from
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/RSD/CHL/Reports/ConvictionRatesReport2011.pdf