An executive summary is a thorough overview of a research report or study. It usually summarizes the key points of a report for its readers. Therefore, an executive summary helps its readers save time. It also helps prepare them to understand the overall content of the study. This paper will delve into providing an executive summary of a study related to the issue of gun control in the United States. More specifically, the paper will address the following criteria: the purpose of the executive summary, the background of gun control, results of research, available federal data on gun control, economic predictors, and recommendations for gun control. The purpose of this executive summary is to inform the reader on the issue of gun control in the United States. The executive summary will provide key points of a study that delves into this topic. Some of the issues that will be addressed in this paper are the current state of gun control and the effectiveness of gun control in the United States. Other issues that will be addressed include the necessity of controlling guns in the United States and if the U.S. government have the right to ban gun in the United States. Gun control refers to the government regulation of the manufacture, sale, and possession of firearms. The issue of gun control in the United States is very divisive. According to Schuppe (2018), the debate on this topic has been raging since the 1960s when it blossomed as a national political issue. This issue is well addressed in the Constitution of the United States, especially in the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment of the U.S. reads that “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” (“Second Amendment,” n.d). According to the government of the United States, the Amendment was only created to prevent citizens who are not in the military or law enforcement agencies from possessing firearms. But, the way it reads, it grants the citizens the right to bear arms. There are a number of cases that were brought before the Supreme Court of the United States when it comes to the issue of gun control. Most of these cases fought for the right to possess firearms and used the Second Amendment of the United States to protect their rights. As of now, the government of the United States does not have the right to take away firearms from its citizens. However, it is vital to note that it is capable of controlling the manufacturing, sales, and possessing guns. As stated earlier, the issue of gun control existed in the United States for many years. It is for this reason that it was included in the U.S. Constitution in 1971 in the Bill of Rights. The issue is also addressed by the Second Amendment of the United States. According to Longley (2016), numerous attempts were made to outlaw as well as ban the possession of firearms in the United States, but the U.S. Supreme Court overthrew all the cases. In addition, throughout history, different organizations and Acts were added, namely:
The National Rifle Association” (NRA) which was formed in 1871.
In 1927, the U.S. Congress passed a law to ban the mailing of concealable weapons.
In 1934, “The National Firearms Act” (NFA) of 1934 was enacted with the aim to regulate the manufacturing, sales, and possession of firearms in the United States, especially the possession of machine guns.
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In 1938, “The Federal Firearms Act” (FFA) was passed. The aim of enacting the FFA was to limit the selling of guns. In addition, individuals that deal in selling firearms were required to obtain a licence from the FFA.
In 1968, the “Gun Control Act” was passed.
In 1986, “The Armed Career Criminal Act” was passed.
The 1994 “The Brady law and Assault Weapon Ban.”
In the 1990s, a number of laws and regulations were enacted or disputed.
The creation of these organizations, as well as the enactment of these laws, was the start of many other organizations and laws. They also formed the basis of regulating guns in the United States as many government officials attempted to ban guns, although they have never succeeded. The most recent attempt to ban guns in the United States was in 2016 when President Obama asked the U.S. Congress to enact a law the prohibits the sale as well as the possession of machine guns (Longley, 2016). This was after the incident in Orlando, Florida, where a man identified as Omar Mateen killed 49 people using a machine gun (Longley, 2016). The results of the literature review have provided more insight into the issue of gun control. The results of the research have also provided information and reasons as to why it is not possible to control guns in the United States. The Constitution of the United States gives its citizens the right to bear firearms. The literature review also gives the researcher more information regarding the numerous research that has been conducted in the past, the way the research studies were conducted, as well as a summary of the findings. Research studies on gun control indicate that the government of the United States attempted to ban the sale of guns multiple times. However, they have never been successful as all of the attempts were stopped by the Supreme Court of the United States. According to research done by Kondro (2010), there are numerous Acts that were passed to licence guns and register all firearms. This is due to the risks associated with the illegal possession of firearms. Other than licencing and registration, other Acts were passed, such as the Privacy Owners Act, which was passed to prevent health care professionals from discussing guns and gun safety. More specifically, the Act prevents doctors and nurses from discussing these issues with violators. According to Shulman (2015), if any health care professional fails to abide by this Act, they will be disciplined by the Florida Board of Medicine. Proponents of gun control believe that gun control policies will reduce crimes and deaths caused by gun violence. The opponents of gun control believe that governments enacting a law to ban or control the possessions of firearms take away the rights of U.S. citizens. There are a number of research studies that provide information on the stakeholders of gun control. A stakeholder is any individual or group that is affected by a policy. There are numerous stakeholders that are affected by the issue of gun control. Some of them include the legislative assembly or committee, the NRA, the Human’s Right Watch, the U.S. Congress, and gun manufacturers. With regard to the legislative assembly, there are numerous organizations under this wing, some of which are for gun control while others are against gun control. The NRA and gun manufacturers are against gun control while the Human Rights Watch and the U.S. Congress are for gun control. There are many sources that the U.S. federal government uses to gather data on issues related to data. Some of the sources include the Bureau of Alcohol, The Bureau of Tobacco, the Bureau of Firearms, and the Bureau of Explosive, which trace guns on behalf of the U.S. federal government. These bureaus usually from all the states in the U.S. and insight into gun discoveries. In recent years, states have also been taking actions on gun control. However, according to Devi (2016), their progress is being hampered by the absence of a strong federal response. While people argue for and against gun control, no one applies basic economics to the issue (Kajar & Robinson, 2009). However, applying the basic principles of economics, a banning on any type of firearms will lead to an underground market for those weapons. The firearms will be sold on street corners instead of gun stores. In addition, banning of any type of guns will result in illegal weapons being smuggled into the country. A ban will end the regulation of those firearms. Therefore, there will be no records of these transactions. More to this is that the guns will be untraceable. Just like the way the criminal justice system is fighting drugs, it will expend a lot of money fighting the black market in guns. The U.S. government should leave the gun control regulations as it is. Individuals planning to buy firearms should continue going through the regulations that have already been put in place. These include background checks and fingerprints. Individuals planning to buy guns should also be evaluated mentally and psychologically.
References
Devi, S. (2016). The long road to gun control in America. The Lancet, 388 (10041), 224 225.
Kajar, S. & Robinsom, S., (2009) Gun Control: A economic analysis. Foundation for
Economic Education, from https://fee.org/articles/gun-control-an-economicanalysis/
Kondro, W. (2010). Gun control. Canadian Medical Association.Journal, 182 (9), 1.
Longley, R., (2016). US Gun Control Timeline , Retrieved from
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/rightsandfreedoms/fl/US-Gun-Control-Timeline.htm
Schuppe, J. (2018). What is gun control? Everything you need to know. [Online]. Retrieved February 8, 2020, from https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/smart-facts/what-gun-control-n858071
“Second Amendment.” (n.d). [Online]. Retrieved March 11, 2020, from https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/second_amendment .
Shulman, S. T. (2015). More gun control ideas. Pediatric Annals, 44 (9), 342-343.
