BBC Panorama: America's Gun Addiction

America's gun violence has been a subject of political and social concerns. The government has the responsibility to protect each citizen from harm. Fighting gun violence and mass shooting is faced with a legal challenge in gun possession. The federal government has the debate on gun control, but many are skeptical of the process owing to the stringent opponent due to the constitutional right to possess a firearm under certain circumstance. The Newtown Massacre caused the political debate about the gun control measures. Most criminals of these mass shootings are known to be mentally ill which has also ill-informed about the gun policy. With mixed view about the causes of gun violence and mass shooting, will the aftermath of the Newtown Massacre bring any changes to the mass killing in the country? What should be the next step for the government and the public do to help curb gun violence and mass shooting in the country in the American society?

The documentary film Panorama – America's Gun Addiction is a clear illustration on how Americans, even after the Newtown Massacre, feel that there should never be gun control. Moments after the Massacre, the sale for rifles skyrocketed according to the National Rifle Association. Almost certainly Americans are still living in fear, yet there is an active law enforcement personnel who sacrifice their time and life to [protect the citizens from harm. The issue is debatable both politically and culturally. Today, the right to own a firearm is protected by the US constitution. The second Amendment of the Constitution states that with a well-regulated militia, necessary for the protection of the security of the state, the right to own and use firearms should not be restricted. The philosophy of the constitutional amendment was meant to protect the citizens to protect themselves in defense from unknown harm. The arguments and the debate that took place decades ago, between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists and strongly influenced the laws of regulation the gun ownership in America (Simon, 2016). Both agreed that the federal government should regulate the gun use appropriately, but never about the legitimate authority to disarm private ownership of the guns to the citizens. The constitutionality of the issue is that it was about the rights of the people to own a firearm, it was never about the rights of the federal and state department to regulate the gun usefully. The federal government inappropriately controlling the gun use like disarmament would be infringing the freedom of the citizen making it a constitutional crisis. Though regulation on background checks during purchase which should be a primary focus of the federal government (Beckett et al., 2016).

The constitution protects the rights; hence achieving a controlled disarmament would take the time to implement. First, a constitutional amendment that targets to remove the second amendment or amends the right that will still protect that is agreeable to the citizens. Second, it would take an unbelievable amount of budget and enforcement to buy back the guns running into billions since on average of 12 percent of the own population guns. The gun control measures after the massacre would attract huge publicity to account for the dangers of guns. Protecting the citizen from gun violence becomes difficult due to the constitutional right. It would be the right of the citizens to change the law on gun ownership by taking the vote collectively. In countries like Australia, after many gun violence and mass shootings, the government had implemented the disarmament programs to reduce the number of gun ownership which reduced the number of gun violence. It is a possibility if there is a collective agreement on the issue.

Another interesting discovery is the dismal regulation in the purchase of guns. As the Film demonstrates, one can buy firearms even without the supplier conducting a background check on health and criminal history as required by federal law. Most citizens in America legally own guns and some conduct such crimes like the Newtown Massacre. The gun violence, gun suicide and mass shootings that have been on the rise are because there is the unpredictability of the offense owing to the issue of a background check. The cases of mass shootings in America are persistently conducted with persons with mental illness. The perception that gun violence is only about the health of the weapon user should be out of the picture. Experts argue even with the cure of all mental illness or committing towards gun control towards persons with mental health would only result in a 4 percent reduction in the decline of the mass killings (Simon, 2016).This is insignificant regarding the number of violence affecting the country according to the statistics by the FBI. The political focus on the mass shootings in Newtown will also undermine the policies that will be useful to address gun violence generally in the country. Some statistics show that criminal gangs and other unchecked purchase are the main issues. The point is that most cases of gun violence and mass shootings can be conducted by criminal gangs or illegal gun owners because of the private market of weapons. The focused should not be on the policies of backgrounds checks on individuals but must be able to control the private purchases of guns to tackle down on the illicit market of the firearms in daily gun violence and mass shootings (Beckett et al., 2016).

In America, owning a gun is a fundamental right under certain circumstance. Therefore policies on the gun control should be appropriate according to the law. The perception that regulating through background checks before purchase should be reconsidered since mass shootings happen less often than gun violence in America. The debate on gun control is a collaboration of the government and the citizen to help curb gun violence and possibly reduce the need for firearms by employing policies like more background checks not targeting the mentally ill but everyone who purchases the gun. Newtown is just the beginning of the debate; it may end only if there is a collective agreement to end the violence.

Reference

Beckett, L., Harris R., Popovich, N., Diehm, J. and Chalabi M. (2016, June 21 st ). America's gun problem is so much bigger than mass shootings. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/21/gun-control-debate-mass-shootings-gun-violence

Simon, E. (2016, October 17 th ). The Right to Arms and the American Philosophy of Freedom. The Heritage Foundation . Retrieved from www.heritage.org/political-process/report/the-right-arms-and-the-american-philosophy-freedom