A popular debate topic in recent years is gun control and the various aspects of what gun control entails. There are aspects of gun control which are favorable; however, the overall concept of gun control is unfavorable. Aspects such as psychological screenings is one of the more favorable aspects, as firearms should not be in the hands of people who could be deemed dangerous if firearms are in their hands such as those with intense psychological disorders. In regards to the number of firearms in America, arguments such as how more guns result in more homicides are simply not true. Gun control should not be instituted with every aspect that supporters display, but rather, aspects that are favorable to gun rights supporters as well as the gun control supporters.
Statistically, with data gathered by the National Institute of Justice, firearm homicides have decreased since 1993 (2017). Since 1993, the number of homicides committed with firearms have fallen from 17,075 to 10,869 in 2008. By 2008, the number of gang related homicides committed with firearms had fallen from ninety-five percent in 1993 to ninety-two percent (2017). The amount of firearm violence in 2011 has risen since 2008, but the number is only a fraction of the amount in 1993. In 1993, there were 1,222,701 incidents with 1,529,742 victims, whereas in 2011, there 414,562 incidents with 467,321 victims (National Institute of Justice, 2017). These statistics show that gun violence in America has fallen significantly in the last two decades. Out of the total number of crimes committed in 2011, only around two percent were committed with firearms, while out of only violent incidents, the rate was eight percent. The number of violent crimes committed with firearms at eight percent has remained fairly constant since 1993, while the total number of crimes committed with firearms has fallen by over five percent. The information shows that violent crimes have been committed with guns at the same rate over the last two decades, while the total number of offenses have had less guns used in the commission of a crime (National Institute of Justice, 2017). With this information, it is clear that the use of guns in commissions of crimes are not as prevalent as they have been in years past. The amount of gun violence in America further highlights an issue with gun violence in America in regards to homicides, while the issue of the total number of crimes committed with guns has been getting better over the years.
In 2015, there were a total of 372 mass shootings in the United States. A mass shooting is defined as a shooting which kills or injures at least four people. Out of the 372 shootings, there were 475 deaths and 1,870 injuries. In 2015, there were a total of sixty-four school shootings, not all of which contain a death or injury, but rather there being an active shooter. In 2015, the total number of deaths by firearms, including homicides and suicides, in the United States sat at 13,286, with injuries sitting at 26,819 (BBC, 2016). Mass shootings in America are not necessarily the issue, as there are more deaths by shootings that cannot be categorized as mass shootings.
Between 1968 and 2011, there were 1.4 million firearm related deaths. This number exceeds the number of all the deaths in all American wars through the war in Iraq. The number of guns in the United States is estimated to be at around three-hundred million guns (BBC, 2016). Based on the statistics presented, this raises the popular gun rights argument that if there was an issue with guns, people would know it, as this number is only around eighteen million lower than the total number of citizens in the United States.
Statistically, gun violence in the United States is higher than many developed countries, as for every 100,000 people, there are 2.9 murders committed with a firearm, while in the United Kingdom, there are 0.1 murders committed with a firearm per every 100,000 people. Along with this statistic, out of every murder committed in the United States, sixty percent of them are committed with a firearm, while in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom, the rates are thirty-one percent, eighteen percent, and ten percent, respectively (BBC, 2016). The information presented shows that compared to other countries, the United States appears to have a problem with gun violence. Gun control is present in some variation in these countries, and has worked fairly well, but as Americans, a basic right is the right to bear arms. While this right cannot be completely taken away, a method at preventing violence could be implemented, such as psychological examinations appearing on background checks.
An argument for assisting gun control is that the United States mental health system does not work properly to identify individuals who may be a danger to themselves or others, as seen with the Virginia Tech shooting. These flaws with the mental health system in the United States make it easier for people to gain access to firearms due to the faulty state and federal background check systems. Information presented in lawyers Jamie A. Rosen and Carolyn Reinach Wolf’s journal shows that people in schools, workplaces, and families are unaware of how to properly notice and report suspicious behaviors (2015). This makes it easier for people to obtain firearms without having an adequate and thorough background check due to the lack of structure and education within the system.
Many workplaces and schools have developed Behavioral Intervention Teams in response to mass shootings to help educate civilians on how to prevent and identify situations long before it escalates. An example of the failure on behalf of the mental health systems in America and on campuses is seen in the Virginia Tech shooting on April 16th, 2007. Jamie A. Rosen and Carolyn Reinach Wolf state that, “The lack of information sharing on the Virginia Tech campus contributed to the failure of the university to identify Seung-Hui Cho as a potential threat of danger to himself and others and prevent the horrific tragedy of April 16, 2007. The Virginia Tech Police Department and Department of Residence Life knew that fellow students made complaints of stalking and unwanted communications against Cho on two separate occasions. Cho’s parents knew of his history of mental illness and struggles at school, both of which started in elementary school†(2015). Faculty had recommended that he seek treatment at a counseling center. Despite Virginia Tech’s counseling team being present on campus, the team failed to notice his behavior. The background checks present when Seung-Hui Cho would not have revealed any red flags, as there were not mental health records with his information, and would therefore not show any issues with him obtaining a gun. Better functionality in the background check system has been implemented after the Virginia Tech shooting after it was found that the shooter was ruled a danger to himself by a court.
While the data presented by Wolf and Rosen suggests that the issue is mental health, other studies show that only three to five percent of gun violence is committed by a person with a diagnosed mental illness (MacLeish and Metzl, 2015). While this is the case, many of the violent crimes may be committed by a person with an undiagnosed mental illness. Another argument presented is that gun control will prevent another mass shooting, but it is explained by MacLeish and Metzl that mass shootings happen so infrequently to actually statistically study them (2015). There are those who question that mental illness and guns are associated in crimes, and yet they continue to push for gun regulation without conducting further research on the topic.
Efforts to curb the purchase of firearms by those with a diagnosed mental illness were prevalent in 2013 when the Florida House of Representatives and Senate passed a law for gun control that required citizens who have every willingly or unwillingly been committed to a facility for treatment of a mental health issues to report them (Florida Senate, 2013). An argument against the need for psychological reporting in background checks is that the reporting will conflict with the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. The ethical dilemma with reporting patients’ psychological issues for background checks is that, “Reporting a patient’s personal information to background check registries requires that psychologists break confidentiality and inform a third party of personal information disclosed in a confidential therapeutic setting†(Kangas and Calvert, 2014).
Conflicting rulings in separate states further the arguments for both sides of the reporting of mental illnesses for background checks. A 1976 court case, Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California, stated that “the safety of society is the priority over the therapeutic relationship†(Kangas and Calvert, 2014). With this ruling, psychologists were expected to break doctor-patient confidentiality and warn a third party who are possibly at risk of harm by the hands of a client. The 1999 case Thapar v. Zezulk argues against the reporting of mental illnesses, stating that, “a psychiatrist was entitled to maintain confidentiality with his patients and did not have a duty to warn an endangered third party. Therefore, psychologists in Texas cannot break confidentiality to inform a third party of potential danger†(Kangas and Calvert, 2014). These conflicting rulings show that opinions and laws in the debate over the need for mental illness reporting in background checks vary strongly between people and states. The reporting of mental illnesses should follow the California ruling because, if there is even a chance of preventing future gun violence while maintaining gun rights, the preventative steps should be put into place if it could involve someone being a threat to themselves or others while protecting the rights of the citizens in an effort to assist the greater good.
The debate over whether or not there should be reports filed of individuals who have a history of documented mental illness to a background checking database has been an important aspect in the gun control conversation. They should be implemented as a measure of public safety, as they could be a key piece of preventing violence against the public or the individual. Evidence of the failure of current background checks are present with shootings such as the one at Virginia Tech. The shooting was a result of not having a proper system in place for reporting mental illnesses for background checks, like the one implemented in California after Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California. An argument presented in Thanar v. Zezulk states the opposite, and could possibly increase the risk of gun violence due to lack of reporting of mental illnesses. Despite this ruling and argument, psychological reportings to background check databases is a necessary step in preventing gun violence.