Gun control as a sociological debate in American society

Gun Control as a Social Problem

A recent report in the Washington Post states the following:

More than 4,000 children and teenagers are killed by guns every year in the United States. That tragedy is drawing thousands of marchers to Washington this week. The organizers, who are calling the Mother's Day event the Million Mom March, want stricter gun laws. They say new laws would mean that fewer children -- and adults -- would be hurt or killed ( Shen).

In this context, the calls for stricter gun control laws are therefore not seen as an individual problem but as a social issue that threatens the safety and well-being of the community and which requires action from the leadership and governance of the society.

However, the issue of gun control is one that has raised heated debate in American society. There are many who disagree with gun control, and who see gun ownership as a social, cultural and individual right that is inherent in the constitution and in the very ethos of the country, as a free and democratic nation. The rationale put forward by that not in favor of gun control is that they have the right to defend themselves.

But this debate goes much deeper. It is in fact an argument that reveals a deep rift in the country. In sociological terms it is a disagreement between those in favor of social control and those who value individual freedom above social norms and collectivism. There are many there sociological dimensions to this problem that will be explored in this paper.

2. Definition and statement of the problem

The call for gun control is in essence an urgent call to stop the extremely high rate of gun crimes in the country.

Gun crimes -- or firearms offenses -- are never far from the headlines in the United States and other countries with high levels of gun ownership. Incidents such as the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007 & #8230;and the Columbine High School shootings in 1999 are all high-profile examples of what some have called "the firearm epidemic (Qvortrup).

The view that gun control is directly related to a reduction in violent crime in the country is supported by many studies. In The Global Gun Epidemic From Saturday Night Specials to AK-47s by Cukier and Sidel (2005), the authors make the case for a strong link between the availability of guns and gun-related death and injury throughout the world. The statistics tend to support these views."Firearms are the second leading cause of traumatic death related to a consumer product in the United States and are the second most frequent cause of death overall for Americans ages 15 to 24…" (lintelman). It is also shocking to note that since 1960, "…more than a million Americans have died in firearm suicides, homicides, and unintentional injuries ( lintelman).

( Source: http://livingtextblog.andosciasociology.net/2009/01/29/dj-dylan-lintelmanfgcu-gun-control/)

On the other hand there is the opposing standpoint which states that the ability to own guns in fact reduces crime through deterrence. But what this debate is really about is the high rate of violent gun-related crime in a modern, first -- world country like the United States. It is therefore a debate that revolves around the issue of social violence and the need to end or reduce violence in society; as well as the need to find ways and means of reducing the increasing number of crimes attributed to the availability of guns.

This view is expressed by sociological commentators. For example;

Gun control is a serious problem in the U.S. And we need to find solutions to this problem before more innocent lives are taken. There is a big difference between political parties on this issue. Republicans want less gun control and less government altogether. They believe the right to own a gun is an inherited right and think that it should have little regulation. Democrats on the other hand, favor more gun control in order to prevent school related incidences and unnecessary homicides ( lintelman).

3. The debate

The debate about gun control in the United States revolves around the interpretation of the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution declares that "a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed" (Lintelman).

There are various interpretations of this Amendment. Some interpret the wording to refer to the right to defend oneself in times of attack or invasion -- which is linked to the history of the country. While the Amendment suggests the right to bear arms, other are of the view that this right is subject to laws and restrictions and should not be interpreted too openly.

The debate is summarized succinctly as follows:

More gun control will make our streets safer, but without guns how would we protect ourselves and our families from violent crimes? Guns are one thing that you can't live with and you can't live without, and right now the debate goes back and forth with no resolutions in sight ( Lintelman).

5. Conclusion: possible solutions

The issue of gun control is on many levels a sociological problem. It is a problem of dissention and conflict in the society as well as an issue that pertains to normlessness and anomie in American culture.

Furthermore, it is suggested that the roots of the problem lie deeper than the superficial debate about gun control. In sociological terms, this problem is to do with the lack of meaning and the breakdown of inherent normative structures. In this sense the debate about gun control should be seen against the underlying background of these sociological issues. Even if a compromise was be reached about whether or not to have gun control, there would still be underlying structural causative features that would need to be addressed and which are the source of this problem in the first place.