Gun control policies and effectiveness

¶ … Gun Control in the American Society

The issue of gun control has been a primary social and political problem in the American society, most especially when 'spree killings' have become prevalent among young adults in high schools all over the country. The issue of gun control is always brought up when such killings occur, most especially when a young individual is involved and is the primary suspect in the killings. One of these cases is the killing committed by Kip Kinkel, a Thurston High student in Springfield, Oregon. The killing took place in May 1998, and Kip Kinkel, age 15, killed his parents, Bill and Faith Kinkel, and murdered 2 students and injured 25 others when he attacked the school cafeteria in Thurston High a day after he killed his parents. The murders that took place in May convicted Kip Kinkel and was sentenced to serve 220 years in prison. Many people believed that Kinkel's supposed mental illness and intent to kill was further accelerated with the fact that Kinkel had easy access to guns and other kinds of firearms.

The importance of gun control is one of the measures of prevention that many reports and studies point out regarding the increasing number of high school killings in America. The report by FRONTLINE and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) entitled, "The Killer at Thurston High" analyzes the events prior and after the killings made by Kinkel. Part of the report involves the study of who is to blame with the rapid increase of killings made in high schools, and committed by young adults who happened to have access to guns and other forms of firearms. The report cites several reasons why young adults like Kip Kinkel have easy access to weapons and why do these individuals display violent behavior and can be aggressive and can easily accomplish aggressive, violent, and even deadly acts that harm innocent people. The report enumerated different sectors in the society that has to do with the causes and effects why gun possession is prevalent among young Americans and why violence is an acceptable act for them. These sectors include the law system of the country, families and communities of young Americans, mass media, schools, and businesses who proliferate the production and use of guns.

Families and communities bear the responsibility of monitoring their children's activities, which can help a lot in determining whether the child is involved with any violent or dangerous activity and possesses deadly weapons. Kip was reported to have received from his father, Bill, a 9 mm Glock semi-automatic pistol, one of the guns he had in possession when he went on his 'killing spree' in Thurston High. Clearly, Kip's father's toleration of his son owning a weapon contributed to his easy manipulation and accomplishment of a violent and deadly act (that is, killing innocent people, including his own parents). Also, mass media and the businesses who benefit from manufacturing and producing weapons, specifically guns, are also responsible for the proliferation of young Americans having easy access to weapons. Because mass media promotes violence and desensitizes the youth by advocating violence on TV, and businesses staunch supporters of the "youth gun culture," strict gun control sanctions and the dangers of gun use are not, or even ignored, by the youth.