Imperfections of the Background Check Process
When considering the possible dangers of allowing citizens to bear arms, one must mention the issue of determining one’s eligibility for purchasing a gun. Background checks, while being based on a set of rigid guidelines, may turn out to be inefficient in case the person purchasing firearm uses sophisticated ways of concealing specific parts of their past. For instance, the specified tools allow determining essential information about a buyer, including their debt- and employment-related record, as well as one’s criminal history.
However, the checks in question may return poor results due to the problems associated with technological flaws of the tools used in the process. Indeed, while modern IT devices help store, transfer, and analyse data efficiently, an instance of data mismanagement may result in jeopardising the well-being of a community (Woldoff, Litchfield, & Matthews, 2016). Therefore, the specified issue is likely to fuel the race-related issues and spark further confrontations among the representatives of different cultures to an even greater degree, thus, leading to misconceptions and conflicts in the process of cross-cultural communication among the members of the target society.
Whether being based on one’s gender-related, racial, or any other type of prejudice, the possibility of making a mistake and providing the wrong person with the right to bear arms is likely to become a significant threat. The specified aspect of background checks is, perhaps, the most difficult to address even with the existing options for exposing officials to the environment of increased diversity levels (Pederson, Hall, Foster, & Coates, 2015).
Therefore, the presence of the human factor as one of the key causes of making a wrong decision implies that maintaining gun control policies rigid is the only sensible step to take at present. As long as the process of background checking remains flawed, owning a gun must be viewed as an imminent threat to the social relationships between the state residents.
Preventing the Instances of Gun-Related Crimes and Misuse Thereof
In case carrying arms becomes legally approved, a set of strategies for preventing the abuse of the right to use guns for personal protection must be designed. While not necessarily resolving all controversies surrounding the subject matter, the identified regulations are bound to create a safer environment and encourage responsible behaviours and attitudes among the owners of guns (Butts, Roman, Bostwick, & Porter, 2015).
At this point, one must note that the issue of gun misuse and violence is rooted not only in the lack of appropriate regulations but also in the societal issues that have been flourishing in the American environment for quite a while. Specifically, the problem of inequality, including social, economic, racial, gender-related, and other types thereof, must be mentioned. As the Social Structure Theory explains, the artificial barriers that have been constructed in the contemporary society, as well as the increasingly disadvantaged position in which the identified members of the population have been for a significant amount of time, define the ethical standards, behaviours, and choices of the people in question (Siegel, 2016).
Therefore, to handle the issue, one will have to consider reinventing the current approach toward social interactions. For example, the enhancement of diversity and compromise as the foundation of multicultural communication should be viewed as the first step toward improving the current situation. Furthermore, a set of clear and rigid instructions concerning the background checking process and the use of guns must be provided (Mann & Michel, 2016). Thus, the instances of gun violence, crimes, and misuse of firearms will be prevented successfully.
References
Butts, J. A., Roman, C. G., Bostwick, L., & Porter, J. R. (2015). Cure violence: A public health model to reduce gun violence. Annual Review of Public Health, 36(1), 39-53. Web.
Mann, J. J., & Michel, C. A. (2016). Prevention of firearm suicide in the United States: What works and what is possible. American Journal of Psychiatry, 173(10), 969-979. Web.
Pederson, J., Hall, T. L., Foster, B., & Coates, J. E. (2015). Gun ownership and attitudes toward gun control in older adults: Re-examining self interest theory. American Journal of Social Science Research, 1(5), 273-281. Web.
Siegel, L. J. (2016). Criminology: The core (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Woldoff, R. A., Litchfield, R. C., & Sycafoose Matthews, A. (2017). Unpacking heat: Dueling identities and complex views on gun control among rural police. Rural Sociology, 82(3), 444-472. Web.