Night after night on the news, there is always a new violent crime that is being reported on. It seems like as a society we can’t get away from the trend of violent crime. Most people relate violent crimes to only shootings, but violent crimes are actually and crimes that involve an aggressive acts such as; rape, aggravated assault, and shootings. The media has brought much attention to these crimes, especially the ones that involve massive death tolls from a single shooter. These mass shootings have brought much attention to guns, even making it a big part of many 2020 candidates' campaigns when talking about gun control. Many people believe that removing guns, in general, would resolve the issue. On the other hand, putting more guns in good people’s hands is a potential fix that is trying to be implemented to stop these crimes.
Violent crimes can be defined as any crime that causes direct harm to another person. This can very over a wide range of crimes. The obvious type here would be a crime like assault where one or more people directly attack another person with physical abuse. This can be something as minimal as someone hitting another person just one time, all the way to someone beating another to death which would lead into another category. Another kind of crime that can be considered a violent crime are sexual crime. As said on justia “Both state and federal laws typically categorize offensive sexual crimes as violent crimes. These include rape and sexual assault. Rape is a form of battery that involves sexual contact with another person without his or her consent. It may involve violent physical contact, or it may be accomplished by means of emotional manipulation or a victim’s inability to consent. In any of these circumstances, it is considered a violent crime because of the highly offensive violations that the victim experiences. Statutory rape is a special category of rape that occurs when an adult individual has sexual contact with another person who is below the age of consent, which varies from state to state. Since the younger participant is statutorily unable to consent, the action is categorized as criminal rape even if the minor gave his or her actual consent.” (Violent Crimes) Another form of violent crime that is often forgotten by many people is high property damage. This is mainly a violent crime at times because arson is an obvious act of causing harm to another individual. Lastly, we have robbery as another violent crime. Robbery is defined as using force and or fear to permanently take something of value. Robbery differs from the lower level theft, in that assault is included in robbery thus making it a violent crime.
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Out of all violent crimes aggravated assault and robberies occur at a much higher rate than the more extreme violent crimes such as rape and murder. The other factor that is brought into these crimes is a gun. A gun is shown to have been used in a very large percent of murders compared to a less than 50 percent of robberies and aggravated assaults. As the FBI has reported “Data from the FBI program indicate that there were approximately 1.2 million violent crimes in the United States in 2015, including 764,449 aggravated assaults, 327,374 robberies, 124,047 rapes, and 15,696 instances of murder or non-negligent manslaughter (FBI, 2016e). The overall violent crime rate was 372.6 per 100,000 people, with the highest rate for aggravated assault (237.8 per 100,000), followed by robbery (101.9 per 100,000), rape (38.6 per 100,000), and murder or non-negligent manslaughter (4.9 per 100,000). Nationwide, firearms were used in 71.5 percent of all instances of murder or non-negligent manslaughter, 40.8 percent of robberies, and 24.2 percent of aggravated assaults in 2015.” (How Gun Policies Affect Violent Crime) When it comes to violent crimes guns aren’t as prevalent as many may think. Their biggest presence comes with murder, which is the lowest committed crime out of the group. Aggravated assault makes up close to 70 percent of all violent crimes committed and a gun is only used in those crimes about 25 percent of the time.
The reasons a gun is used in a violent crime varies over a wide number of reasons. With robberies involving force and fear, a gun is capable of doing both of those. When fear is needed, a gun could be used as a way to instill fear into a large group with ease while gaining control of the situation at hand. If no one else that is present has a gun the robber with the gun is able to put the fear of death into people involve in the incident, which could stop anyone that is there from possibly calling the police or stopping the robbery themselves. When it is used for force in a robbery it could be being used in two ways. The robber may use it right away to kill the person they are robbing or use it in the case that someone is trying to stop them so they shoot them to punish or stop them. One effect that guns have on a robbery, that most people wouldn’t expect, is that when a gun is present people are less likely to get hurt in the event. This is because the control the gun provides over the situation leads less people to rebel against the robber making them less hostile and less likely to use the weapon for force. Guns are also used because of their ability as a weapon. A gun is essentially unstoppable unless another person is countering with a gun. A gun’s ability to kill is what makes it the most common weapon and why it is used in about 70 percent of all murders. Guns have the potential to kill or harm someone from a distance. This can be beneficial to the person using it for a number of reasons. They can stop the person they are firing at without being identified and be able to shoot them without putting themselves at any kind of risk by getting in a close encounter where they could be disarmed or even harmed themselves. Another reason guns are often chosen by someone who plans to harm someone else is that they are used without a very personal interaction. By being able to kill the person they are meaning to harm without getting close to them they feel that they are able to disconnect themselves from what they are doing. The versatility is major as Cook says “A gun is usually superior to other weapons readily available for use in violent crime; even in the hands of a weak and unskilled assailant, a gun poses a credible threat and can be used to kill quickly, from a distance, and in a relatively 'impersonal' fashion. Guns are particularly valuable against relatively invulnerable targets.” (The Influence of Gun Availability on Violent Crime Patterns)
The day that two students decided to walk into Columbine High School and open fire on the school the world was forever changed. Since that day mass shootings have become a fear in the back of many Americans' head. As these mass shootings continue the idea of controlled has been a major topic in today’s society. But does gun control actually reduce the number of gun-related violent crimes or is better to have more people armed to protect against the next potential mass shooting. When it comes to gun control it is important that it is looked at from both sides. There is regulating what guns people have access to and regulating what people have access to guns. It would be wrong for society if access to guns were taken away, removing the only stop to an ill intent person with a gun in taking away guns from a person who would take action in stopping a bad guy with a gun. The main focus should be keeping guns out of the hands of people who should not have access to guns due to known mental health problems. California is known for having some of the strictest gun laws in the nation. They do not just have laws that say who should and should not have guns, but they have strict laws regulating the access to guns in general. Swearer states “Strict gun control may be the go-to response of many, but it's simply not the answer to the problem of mass public shootings. In fact, since 2000, 17 percent of mass public shootings have occurred in California, even though the state accounts for only 12 percent of the nation's population.” (Swearer, 2018). A ban on guns should be looked at the same way anything else that is banned is looked at. Marijuana is illegal in many states across the country yet it is still accessed by many people. A ban on guns would remove guns from law-abiding citizens how would use them the way the law says, as self-defense. Swearer adds “Texas, meanwhile, has an 'F' gun control rating, yet has seen only 6.6 percent of total mass public shootings since 2000 -- below its expected share, given that it holds 8.6 percent of the national population. On the other hand, Washington state -- with a 'B' rating -- accounts for 2.2 percent of the population but 8 percent of mass public shootings since 2000.” (Swearer, 2018). Just as marijuana is accessed illegally, a criminal who has a desire to use a gun would find a way to get their hands on one. The best way to stop a mass shooting is to prevent the person with the ill intent from getting their hand on a gun. The Sandy Hook elementary shooting was carried out by the son of one of the teachers at the school. The shooter had a known history of mental but had access to his mother’s fire arms. This could have been stopped simply through the better protection of these guns for the shooter.
Violent crimes as a whole are terrible incidents that affect the lives of many people across the country. As a society, it is important that these crimes are reduced in numbers. Guns play a role, that some believe is bigger than it is, in these violent crimes mainly through the murder of an individual person. They are used as a way to bring fear into another person and to control a situation. Finding a way to reduce violent crimes can be started with guns through a form of gun control. It is essential that through reducing the gun-related violent crimes, people with a gun, are not prevented from possibly being able to turn the outcome of a situation where a bad person with a gun into a situation where a bad person was stopped by a good guy with a gun.
- Connors, K., Dale, Cruse, T. L., Mikhail, M., Venado, J., Weingarten, D., … Marsh, M. (2019, August 6). State Gun Laws That Actually Reduce Gun Deaths. Retrieved from http://www.bu.edu/articles/2019/state-gun-laws-that-reduce-gun-deaths/.
- How Gun Policies Affect Violent Crime. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/violent-crime.html.
- Swearer, A. (2018, November 16). Broad Gun-Control Restrictions Are Not the Answer. Retrieved from https://www.heritage.org/firearms/commentary/broad-gun-control-restrictions-are-not-the-answer.
- The Influence of Gun Availability on Violent Crime Patterns. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/449086?journalCode=cj.
- Violent Crimes. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.justia.com/criminal/offenses/violent-crimes/.
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