The right to bear arms has been a subject of controversy throughout the years. The courts have ruled decisively that the Second Amendment remains a fundamental right of every American, albeit a few restrictions. Nevertheless, providing Americans with the right to possess firearms certainly has its downside.
The Most Dangerous By Far
| Homicides by firearms per one million people in 2012 | |
|---|---|
| United States | 29.7 |
| Switzerland | 7.7 |
| Belgium | 6.8 |
| Luxembourg | 6.2 |
| Canada | 5.1 |
| Ireland | 4.8 |
| Finland | 4.5 |
| Sweden | 4.1 |
| Netherlands | 3.3 |
| Denmark | 2.7 |
When it comes to firearm violence among developed nations, America stands as the most dangerous country by a mile. America's rate of homicides by firearm more than triple any other developed country, with nearly 30 individuals per million losing their lives to gun violence.
What Is To Blame?
| Failure of the mental health system to identify individuals who are a danger to others | Easy access to guns | Drug use | Violence in movies, video games, song lyrics, etc. | Spread of extremist viewpoint on the internet | Insufficient security at public locations | Inflammatory language from from prominent political commentators | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of Americans that believe gun violence to be largely caused by... | 48 | 40 | 37 | 32 | 29 | 29 | 18 |
There are a variety of factors that can lead to gun violence, all of which carry partial blame. According to a poll by Gallop, the failure of the mental health system stands as the most widely-accepted explanation for gun violence within the United States. The prolific nature of firearms remains the second most popular rationale, with nearly one in two Americans believing that easy access to guns contributes to gun violence.
Solutions To The Problem
| Background checks for gun shows and private sales | Laws to prevent the mentally ill from buying guns | Federal database to track gun sales | Ban on assault-style weapons | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of Americans who favor... | 85 | 79 | 70 | 57 |
Although the problem of gun violence remains a grave issue facing the nation, there are measure that can be taken to alleviate the problem. What's more, certain methods for managing gun violence are overwhelmingly popular among the American public. Background checks, preventative laws, and a federal database are all relatively uncontroversial issues that could go a long way to reducing gun violence.