The recent decades have been characterized by dozens of high profile mass
shootings in the US. The looser state's gun laws and policies controlling the
accessibility of the firearms to the civilian have led to an increase in homicide rates.
Lancet (2017), states that young people are legally acquiring firearms from the state
which they are ending up misusing and committing crimes. The mass shootings raise
a concern about the policy responses to the illegal acquiring of the firearms. The
mass shootings are evidence in the areas of the USA where there are few
restrictions on acquiring and use of guns (Jay Meadows, 2018). Irony is seen when
America been one of a developed nation in the world by experiencing horrific gun
massacres regularly because of loose gun laws.
Light & Slonimerov, (2019), identified that the rates of mass shootings
have increased gradually over the past five years. The recent mass shooting in El
Paso, Texas and Dayton in Ohio in separate areas within 13 hours shows a fault in
the gun laws and policy. Mass shooting are more prevalent and given much attention
in the United States compared to homicides. On the contrary, the people's views and
complaints about the impacts of illegal acquirements have seen little influence on the
authority and the policymaking. Barry et al., (2018), established that gun policies
enactment and regulations in the USA have received little attention depending on the
party in power.
, Despite the negative views on gun crimes, the incidence can act as a starting
point for the policymakers to change the policies by focusing the attention on
firearms crimes. Most importantly for this paper, the research will focus on
establishing the effects of loose gun policies, the states' mass shootings rates and
levels of gun ownership in the US. The high profile data is obtained from the
publications and reports on FBI databases (Simeon, 2019). The research focuses on
the problems arising due to loose gun law and policies enforcement in Chicago.
Literature Review
First, the understanding and analysis of mass shooter and mass shooting is
crucial. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) describes an active shooter as an
individual who is actively engaged in attempts or killings people in a confined
populated area. In the definition by DHS, the people involved in mass shooting use
firearm that is licensed. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) states that mass
shooting is defined as a shooting that results in the death of more than four people
who are killed by one or a group of murderers.
According to Lancet (2017), the selection of the target area by a mass
shooter occurs at a random. The same report indicates that the mass shooter can
target different people such as spouses, people of different race, of individuals with
different religious believes. Furthermore, the same report indicates that mass
shootings are perpetrated by people who often isolated. Therefore, the same report
indicated that the practice is hard to detect as it is associated due to its association
of the individuals within the society.
Additionally, Light & Slonimerov (2019), states that the people involved in a
mass shooting are associates the practice with psychological delusion or revenge.
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