Gun Violence Research Paper

Gun violence is a soaring epidemic that seems all too familiar in cities and town all across America. Once peaceful urban environments, are now riddled with bullets on a daily basis. Thus, leaving Innocent victims being shot and killed every day, while their families are left in shock trying to cope with the fact that their loved one is no longer with them. Without better gun regulations and prevention tactics, gun violence which results in thousands of American citizens deaths will only continue to grow. National statistics of gun violence are some of the highest in the world, much higher than all other wealthy Western world countries.
Gun homicide is the second leading cause of death, behind car crashes for ages one to nineteen in the United …show more content…
When news first breaks that a mass shooting has occurred at a public venue, mental illness is the first assumption that comes to mind. Shootings such as Newtown Connecticut in 2012 where Adam Lanza a mentally ill person, killed 26 people including 20 elementary students, only elevate these assumptions. Contrastly to these assumptions New York mental health attorney Carolyn Wolf argues “The problem with tying mental illness to the gun control debate is that people assume those with mental illnesses are more prone to violence that those without these issues” (Wolf). The reality is, people with a history of violence or those who are drug abusers have a higher risk for gun violence than the mentally ill. Yet, in the months following the Newtown massacre, New York legislation passed the SAFE Act. The Act would require mental health professionals to report patients to the state he or she thought were dangerous. Government officials would then go to that patient's residence, and confiscate items that could be used in a mass …show more content…
Since such intrusion is unconstitutional, Wolf believes, “The duty of confidentiality between a doctor and patient is one of the core guiding principles of the practice of medicine” (Wolf). Without the trustworthy relationship between doctor and patient, how can a patient ever be properly treated? Patients knowing that there is a chance of intrusion against them, will only scare the patient to hiding things from that practitioner. Wolf also believes, “Instead of developing new legislation focused on keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, legislation should call for increased funding and awareness of mental health issues that will help identify, intervene, evaluate, and oversee the mentally ill” (Wolf). If we can cure mentally ill people or at least get their diagnoses to be less severe, only then will both parties be is consolidation. Surprisingly enough, people with serious mental illness only account for a small percentage of firearm related homicides. While the issue of mental illness and gun are still a very controversial debate, researchers have found psychological factors play a larger role in these

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