Introduction
Few topics are more politically divisive than gun control in an era of wide gaps between Republicans and Democrats. Over the past several years, party differences on some policy options—and even on whether gun violence is a major national problem—have widened. However, a few particular policy initiatives still have bipartisan support.
Currently, slightly over half of Americans (53%) believe that gun restrictions should be tougher than they are. However, just 20% of Republicans and Republican leaners share this opinion. Similarly, just 20% of Republicans agree that making it more difficult to purchase weapons legally will reduce the number of mass shootings. While 73% of Democrats share this view, the majority (65%) believe it would have no impact (Pew Research Center, 2021). Thus, the increase in gun violence stimulates the appearance of new policy regulations and measures to reduce the number of incidents.
Research Topic
There have been several high-profile mass shootings in the United States in recent decades. Mass shooting episodes are particularly conspicuous, but most killings receive minimal media attention. Although there has been much discussion about mass shootings, it is widely believed that they have little impact on legislation. When analyzing past laws related to mass shootings, the effects differ based on the ruling political party.
In places where Republicans control the legislature, the number of laws that relax gun laws following a mass shooting rises. There is little evidence that mass shootings significantly impacted laws passed during Democratic-controlled legislative sessions or on adopting measures tightening gun control. Numerous high-profile mass shootings have occurred recently. Three key conclusions concerning how mass shootings affect gun laws are presented in this research.
First, widespread shootings often lead to significant policy changes. The year after the mass shooting, there was a 15% rise in the number of firearm measures submitted in a state (Luca et al., 2020). With more media coverage, this impact gets stronger.
Second, although mass shootings only make up a small percentage of gun fatalities, they have a disproportionately large impact compared to other killings. Third, the effect of mass shootings varies depending on the party in power when examining laws that have been passed. The central question of the research is how the increased number of mass shooting impact the policymaking and implementation of new regulations in gun control.
Number of Mass Shootings
The time at which the offenses were committed is the independent variable in the case analysis, and the measurement level is interval. Regardless of these definitional differences, there were 19,384 gun murders in 2020, up 34% from the previous year, 49% over 5 years, and 75% over 10 years. There have been at least 95 incidents of gunfire on school grounds so far in 2022, which have resulted in 40 fatalities and 76 injuries. In the US, school shootings have increased significantly over the previous few decades; in 2021, there were more than in any year since 1999, and the average age of the shooters was 16 (Katsiyannis et al., 2022).
Additionally, an examination of Everytown’s Gunfire on School Grounds dataset and associated research reveals some crucial findings. Those results should be taken into account in dealing with this situation. For instance, 73% of school shootings had at least one person aware of the shooter’s plot before the shooting events. Additionally, 58% of perpetrators had a link to the school, 70% were White men, and 73 to 80% got firearms from home, friends, or family (Katsiyannis et al., 2022).
In the United States, gun violence claimed 39,707 lives in 2019, an increase of 17% from 1999. Public mass shootings made up less than 0.1% of homicides in the United States between 2000 and 2016. However, the rate at which they occur has tripled from 2011 to 2014, and more recently, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of mass shootings has increased from 417 in 2019 to 611 in 2020 (Katsiyannis et al., 2022). The database does not include shootings that had more traditional motives, including gang fighting or armed robbery, or that had unidentified perpetrators.
Recorded Number of Deaths
The number of fatalities reported over time will be the main dependent variable, and the ratio measurement will be used. According to different research done by the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, 240 mass shootings in the United States between 2009 and 2020 resulted in 1,363 fatalities. However, mass shooting-related mortality is poorly studied and comprehended (Zakopoulos et al., 2022). One reason for this is that no single, recognized definition of a public mass shooting exists.
Over time, many interest groups and law enforcement agencies have provided differing definitions. However, it revolves around shooting numerous people in a public place. In 2021, 45,027 people were murdered by guns (including 20,937 suicides), including 313 children under the age of 11, 750 injuries, 1,247 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, and 3,385 injuries. As of 2020, there have been 611 mass shootings in the US, up from 269 in 2013 (Katsiyannis et al., 2022). Typically, instances involving four or more fatalities qualify as mass shootings.
The Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as resulting in four or more injuries. To date in 2022, there were at least 95 incidents of gunfire on school grounds, resulting in 40 fatalities and 76 injuries (Katsiyannis et al., 2022). People who experience violence, criminality, and abuse are at risk for various negative outcomes, such as drug and alcohol misuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, failure in school, and criminal behavior.
The Definition of Mass Shooting
There is no universally recognized definition of a public mass shooting; over time, many groups and law enforcement agencies have offered a variety of definitions. The United States Congressional Research Service defines the term “public mass shooting” as an incident in one or more public places (Zakopoulos et al., 2022). It involves the murder of four or more people with firearms, excluding the shooter, chosen randomly within one incident and without a means to an end, such as terrorism or robbery.
This is also consistent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s definition of “mass murder,” which includes killing four or more individuals in 2005. The United States government’s directive in January 2013 reduced that threshold to three deaths or more (Zakopoulos et al., 2022). The definitions mentioned earlier were merged to create an open-source database to study public mass shootings specifically, as opposed to gun violence in general as a social phenomenon.
They excluded shootings resulting from more traditionally motivated crimes like armed robbery or street violence in which the offenders have not been identified, focusing instead on indiscriminate violent attacks in public spaces. According to their definition, there have been 118 mass shootings in the United States over the previous 40 years as of February 2020, most of which used legally purchased weapons (Zakopoulos et al., 2022). Thus, mass shootings, gun violence, and school shootings all seem to be on the rise.
Conclusion
Overall, more than half of Americans think current gun laws need to be strengthened. Only 20% of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters agree with this viewpoint. When reviewing legislation that has been approved, there are varied responses to mass shootings depending on which party is in power. There is scant proof that shootings of a large number of people had a significant influence on legislation approved by Democratic-controlled legislatures or on steps strengthening gun control.
People who are subjected to violence, crime, or abuse run the risk of suffering from several unfavorable consequences. Therefore, it is necessary to acknowledge the problem at the state level and implement measures to reduce the number of crimes that have occurred over the last decade. The increase in incidents involving mass shootings may contribute to the new laws regarding gun control.
References
Luca, M., Malhotra, D., & Poliquin, C. (2020). The impact of mass shootings on gun policy. Journal of Public Economics, 181, 104083. Web.
Katsiyannis, A., Rapa, L. J., Whitford, D. K., & Scott, S. N. (2022). An examination of US school mass shootings, 2017–2022: Findings and implications. Advances in neurodevelopmental disorders, 1-11. Web.
Pew Research Center. (2021). Amid a series of mass shootings in the US, gun policy remains deeply divisive. Pew Research Center, 29.
Zakopoulos, I., Varshney, K., Macy, J. T., & McIntire, R. K. (2022). A descriptive analysis of mass shootings in the United States from 2010 to 2020: the relationship between firearm dealership density and proximity to mass shooting sites and a comparison with McDonald’s and Starbucks retailers. Cureus, 14(9).