For victims, it usually plays along the lines of:
“There were 2 men standing there, one of them began to speak and he asked me, ‘Are you Lindsay Key’s Mom?’
And I said ‘Yes’.
And he said, ‘There was a shooting at the party Lindsay was at. Lindsay was shot. I’m sorry to tell you this, but Lindsay did not survive her injuries.’
At that moment, a primal scream left my mouth.
Or maybe, it goes something like this:
And I got shot however I was still conscious. As I hit the floor, my body became rigid and unaware of what was happening, I started to scream for help. The next thing you know, I heard the helicopters coming and I heard the ambulance, and they told me I was paralyzed.”
For the perpetrators though, it is rather easier I think, considering that as of 2019, there were approximately 63000 licensed gun dealers in the U.S. alone. And the unlicensed ones, taking into account that any individual may sell firearms without a license if their motive is not to make a profit through regular sales and since no background check is applicable on buyers that purchase arms from these dealers, for all intent and purposes the buyer could be a convicted felon. A 2017 survey by Harvard and Northeastern universities estimates that roughly 1 in 5 transactions occur without a background check.To top it all off, only a dozen of 50 of U.S. states require purchase permits for handguns of which only 3- California, Connecticut and Hawaii require permits for the purchase of rifles and shotguns. It should also be noted that in 2017, handguns were involved in 64 percent of gun murders.
Furthermore, a gun can be purchased on behalf of a third party as long as it is a gift and so children under the age of 18 may have access to guns that were given to them by parents and guardians as gifts, for this only a written permission is needed.
So, for a country whose most recent data shows that in 2017 gun deaths reached their highest level since 1968, with 39773 deaths by firearms, it is an alarming thing when nearly 5 million people become first time gun owners in 2020. In a given year it was predicted that more children in the U.S. will die from gunfire than will die from diseases like cancer, HIV/AIDS, influenza, asthma and pneumonia.
It does not help that on average the American Youth will witness 200,000 violent acts on television by the time he or she turns 18 and the 46 percent of television violence occurs in cartoons. Modern forms of entertainment like video games, music and movies also present violence in a way that like it with pleasurable experiences, interactive games often reward players for successful violent behaviour and offers players the opportunity to become ‘virtual perpetrators’ by assuming roles of aggressors and soldiers. Studies also show that exposure to violence in the media may bring about aggressive behaviour in children and adolescence and may desensitize them to violence.
Keeping this all in mind, professional education and policies to curb gun violence is a necessity. It is important that new legislation be introduced to deal with the ‘gunshow loophole’ and families and community based organisations demand media to limit violence portrayed in mass media as well as advocate to keep this issue on the public’s health agenda. Media education programs should be developed such that they emphasize the inappropriate and unrealistic nature of violence and the consequences and responsibility of being involved in true violence. It is vital to develop a sense of accountability in children and educate them about the dangers of gun violence, it is only then we can expect them to mature into responsible and rule abiding adults.
