In the delicate tapestry of human experience, we must look beyond our borders to understand the weight of the gun violence that burdens our great nation. A sorrowful song weaves itself across the world, yet our own land echoes with a thunderous cacophony of pain and loss. The United States, a land of dreams and promise, finds itself entangled in a storm of gun violence that far surpasses the struggles faced by other developed countries.
Our homeland, a land we hold dear, bears witness to a gun homicide rate that is 25 times higher than those of other high-income countries, a tragic testament to the scope of the issue that plagues us (Grinshteyn & Hemenway, 2016). Furthermore, the specter of mass shootings that haunts our nation is a chilling reminder that we suffer more such tragedies than our developed counterparts (Lankford, 2016).
One may ponder, with furrowed brow, if the root of this malady lies within the depths of our collective psyche. Yet, when we gaze upon the landscape of mental health prevalence, we see that the prevalence of mental health disorders is comparable across countries, a shared burden that unites us in our humanity (World Health Organization, 2017). The United States does not find itself with a significantly higher rate of mental health disorders than other developed nations, dispelling the notion that our gun violence epidemic stems solely from a unique mental health crisis (Kessler et al., 2009).
Thus, as we seek to unravel the tangled threads of our nation's gun violence, we must recognize that our plight is not simply a reflection of the state of our mental well-being. It is a complex issue that calls for reflection, understanding, and the courage to address the factors that contribute to the relentless storm that surrounds us.
Amidst the swirling tempest of gun violence that besets our nation, we must look to the shores of other lands to find solace and guidance. Across the vast expanse of our world, countries have faced the darkness of violence and emerged with lessons that we can glean from their experiences. The role of gun regulation in reducing the torrent of gun violence is a truth we cannot afford to ignore.
In the sunburnt land of Australia, the people bore witness to the horrors of the Port Arthur massacre in 1996. This tragedy spurred the nation to action, resulting in sweeping gun law reforms that led to a decrease in firearm homicides and suicides, a testament to the power of regulation (Chapman et al., 2006). Similarly, the European countries of the United Kingdom and Germany, both of which boast strict gun control measures, have demonstrated that such policies can be associated with lower rates of gun violence (Duquet & Van Alstein, 2015).
Turning our gaze back to the arguments presented earlier, we must acknowledge the complexities of the human condition and the myriad factors that contribute to gun violence. While it is true that mental health issues can play a role in the manifestation of such violence, the evidence suggests that the problem is not solely a mental health issue, as mental health problems are similarly prevalent in other countries with lower rates of gun violence (Kessler et al., 2009; World Health Organization, 2017).
It is essential that we strive to improve mental health care access and reduce the stigma that surrounds those who suffer in silence. However, we must not allow these crucial goals to detract from the pressing need for comprehensive gun regulations to address the unique gun violence problem that plagues the United States. In the pursuit of a safer, more just nation, we must take heed of the lessons of our global brethren and strive to create a world where the specter of gun violence no longer casts its shadow upon our lives.
Bibliography
- Anestis, M. D., Anestis, J. C., Butterworth, S. E., & Houtsma, C. (2017). The association between state laws regulating handgun ownership and statewide suicide rates. American Journal of Public Health, 107(11), 1759-1768.
- Chapman, S., Alpers, P., Agho, K., & Jones, M. (2006). Australia's 1996 gun law reforms: Faster falls in firearm deaths, firearm suicides, and a decade without mass shootings. Injury Prevention, 12(6), 365-372.
- Duquet, N., & Van Alstein, M. (2015). Firearms and violent deaths in Europe: An exploratory analysis of the linkages between gun ownership, firearms legislation and violent death. Brussels: Flemish Peace Institute.
- Grinshteyn, E., & Hemenway, D. (2016). Violent death rates: The US compared with other high-income OECD countries, 2010. The American Journal of Medicine, 129(3), 266-273.
- Grossman, D. C., Mueller, B. A., Riedy, C., Dowd, M. D., Villaveces, A., Prodzinski, J., ... & Harruff, R. (2005). Gun storage practices and risk of youth suicide and unintentional firearm injuries. JAMA, 293(6), 707-714.
- Kessler, R. C., Aguilar-Gaxiola, S., Alonso, J., Chatterji, S., Lee, S., Ormel, J., ... & Wang, P. S. (2009). The global burden of mental disorders: An update from the WHO World Mental Health (WMH) surveys. Epidemiologia e Psichiatria Sociale, 18(1), 23-33.
- Lankford, A. (2016). Public mass shooters and firearms: A cross-national study of 171 countries. Violence and Victims, 31(2), 187-199.
- Roth, J. A. (1994). Impact evaluation of the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act of 1994. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.
- World Health Organization. (2017). Depression and other common mental disorders: Global health estimates. Geneva: World Health Organization.
Further Reading
- Cook, P. J., & Ludwig, J. (2006). Evaluating gun policy: Effects on crime and violence. Brookings Institution Press.
- Hemenway, D. (2011). Private guns, public health. University of Michigan Press.
- Laqueur, H. S., Kagawa, R. M., & Wintemute, G. J. (2018). The impact of waiting period laws on gun deaths in the United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(40), 9984-9988.
- Siegel, M., & Rothman, E. F. (2016). Firearm ownership and suicide rates among US men and women, 1981–2013. American Journal of Public Health, 106(7), 1316-1322.
- Jeffrey W. Swanson et al., Implementation and Effectiveness of Connecticut’s Risk-Based Gun Removal Law: Does it Prevent Suicides?, 80 Law and Contemporary Problems 179-208 (2017) Available at: http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/lcp/vol80/iss2/8
Factual Addendum
Here are some additional sources that further shred the Mental Health Fallacy of the Single Cause:
- According to a report by Everytown Research & Policy, the US gun homicide rate is 26 times that of other high-income countries. Ref. https://everytownresearch.org/report/gun-violence-in-america/
- A study published in the American Journal of Medicine found that US homicide rates were 7.0 times higher than in other high-income countries, driven by a gun homicide rate that was 25.2 times higher. Ref. https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343%2815%2901030-X/fulltext
- A PubMed article also found that US homicide rates were 7.0 times higher than in other high-income countries, driven by a gun homicide rate that was 25.2 times higher. Ref. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26551975/
- According to NPR, the US has the 32nd-highest rate of deaths from gun violence in the world: 3.96 deaths per 100,000 people in 2019. That was more than eight times as high as the rate in Canada. Ref. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/03/24/980838151/gun-violence-deaths-how-the-u-s-compares-to-the-rest-of-the-world
- According to healthdata.org, gun violence accounts for over 7% of deaths in the US among those under age 20, a figure that stands far above peer countries. When excluding infants, who have higher rates of death from neonatal causes, that number jumps to nearly 15%. Ref. https://www.healthdata.org/acting-data/gun-violence-united-states-outlier
- The Pew Research Center found that the US gun death rate was 10.6 per 100,000 people in 2016, which was far higher than in countries such as Canada (2.1 per 100,000) and Australia (1.0), as well as European nations such as France (2.7), Germany (0.9) and Spain (0.6). Ref. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/26/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/
