Media Influence On Gun Violence

America has become better known for its massive amounts of firearm violence, including murder, suicide, and mass shootings. In 2011 there were 467,321 people victim to crimes committed with firearms. An average of 30,000 people are killed by guns each year, and more than 30 people per day are murdered, along with the 268 people shot per day. Half of these deaths are people ages ranging from 18 to 35, and a third are ages 20 and below; making homicide the second leading cause of death within the ages 15 to 24. However, I believe that the reasoning behind these statistics is the easy access to guns as well as how the media displays the violence to be a commonality.
Guns can be purchased in a variety of locations such as Wallmart, K-Mart,
or even online auction sites; which make it effortless to obtain a firearm for any rationale. This kind of easy access establishes a lack of control throughout the United States in relation to guns. There are 283 million guns in civilian hands which greatly outweighs the 897,000 guns possessed by police. These firearms are acquired because of the average 4.5 million guns sold per year and the 2 million handguns sold.
Along with this tremendous amount of firearms being sold, there is not an adequate background check to evaluate the buyer. If guns are bought through private sales, the consumer is not required to pass a background check, this includes criminals, felons and people with mental disorders.
Not only is there easy access of guns to adults, there is also an extreme accessibility given to children. There are guns specifically created for kids, so that it 's easier for them to use. There was an incident in May of 2013 where a five year old boy shot and killed his two year old sister in Kentucky using a rifle he had found in their living room. This rifle was the boys “first rifle” bought for him by his parents; which was a firearm particularly designed for children. While the majority of adolescent shootings are accidental, “every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.”(1) The isolation of firearms to children and lack of protection is greatly inadequate evidenced by the law that declares only 9 states in America to use trigger locks, which are better known as a gun safety because they make a firearm more difficult to shoot without undoing the trigger lock. Therefore, if the accessibility of firearms is essentially absent when it comes to kids, there should be some way to educate them in order to prevent accidental shootings committed by adolescents.
Directly following the tragedy of September 11th, Wallmarts gun sales increased by 70%. This is due in part by the access to firearms but more by the panic spiraling throughout America, which is further provoked by media coverage. Even during times of decreased crime, the televised reportage increased by 600%, leading to an increase of fear. The media gives an impression of an increasing crime rate, along with the idea that crime is more common that it truly is. They also insinuate that the most common victims of gun violence are elderly, women and white people. However, while the media delivers a fearful image of murderers and victims, they portray the police to be more potent than they are; excluding any criticism toward them due to the fact that “90% of media covered crime is solved.”(2) Along with the praise given to police, the media is greatly focused on the United States military which honors people who have encountered heavy combat and severely violent situations. While watching the news, young boys and girls see someone on television that they want to be, which
leads them to play with fake weapons and engage in artificial combat games. Even though they would be playing with “dummy” guns, it creates a real life simulation which they become accustomed to and as they get older they don 't realize the severity of these firearms. Then, when they come into contact with a real gun at a young age they don 't understand the consequences that follow with the use of a weapon.

Even with the substantial amount of gun violence, the media manages to exaggerate it in the
United States. Other countries such as Canada do not show crime or pump fear into their audience through their media reportage; they show stories relating to flood insurance and hockey. These types of stories do not alter the Canadians mentality like the US media coverage alters Americans mind set.
While Americans are getting overwhelming amounts of fear through the media, leading them to purchase firearms with the intention of protection causing accidents to happen; Canadians aren 't gaining the same sense of fear, evidenced by their 200 gun deaths compared to the US 's 30,000.
Therefore, American gun violence is clearly influenced by the ease of accessibility and the media coverage. Things like background checks should have stricter laws; especially because 87% of
Americans, 83% of gun owners, and 69% of NRA (National Riffle Association) gun-owners support background checks; and they are the only people that would potentially oppose them, so there is no reason to exclude these laws. Then, 70% of the public believe that media has a direct link to the crime rate because of their reportage.

WORK CITED
"11 Facts About Guns." Do Something. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.
"Crime and the Media." Unlv, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013. (foot note 2)
"Kid Shootings." Kid Shootings. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013. (foot note 1)
"USA Gun Violence Statistics." Heedinggodscall.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.
Walshe, Sadhbh. "American Kids Have Far Too Easy Access to Guns."Theguardian.com. Guardian
News and Media, 09 May 2013. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.