Gun Control Policy Analysis

On any given year, roughly 12,000 Americans are killed in gun-related homicides. That means, on average, 33 U.S. men, women and children die at the hands of others using firearms each day. Stopping this violence entirely is an impossible task. As a people, all that Americans can do is try to mitigate this violence using policy, and recently attempts have been made at doing so by limiting the people’s right to bear arms. On paper, this approach makes sense: to lessen gun violence, fewer guns should be legally allowed in society and more regulations should be imposed on those weapons that can be carried. However, gun control is admittedly not that simple: some cities and states with more stringent policies have lower violent crime and firearm
Such policies have been implemented in numerous “gun-free zones” nationwide, most notably in the city of Chicago. Here, 688 people were killed in gun-related violence in the year 2016, up from 427 the year prior. To compare, Plano, TX, a city with contrastingly loose gun control regulations, boasted a violent crime rate of 130.4 per 100,000 people in 2014, the lowest in any city nationwide. As with any complex issue, however, the solution is not as simple as loosening gun control laws nationwide. It is because of this that a national standard must be set with a concealed carry law that applies to all citizens of the United States that will create uniform regulations on who can apply for and carry a firearm. Doing so will not only eliminate the complex issue of reciprocity but will also help to alleviate the issues of violent crime in cities like Chicago, where criminals have little-to-no fear that those they attack will be able to truly fight back. It will also allow for the placement of greater restrictions on the purchasing and ownership of firearms in places where little constraint is in place, like in St. Louis, MO. There, the murder rate towers at 59.3 murders per 100,000 people (2016), more than twice that of Chicago. Developing a standardized permit that carries with it moderate regulations on what firearms are legal and who can legally obtain them is an important first step in aiding both cities like Chicago and St. Louis that are plagued with rampant gun