The second amendment of the United States Constitution says – 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. Clearly gun ownership is a right deeply embedded in U.S. society. While many Americans see gun ownership as a freedom, it is also a grave danger. The United States has the highest rate of firearm homicides among high income countries with populations over 10 million.

With gun violence accounting for over 8% of deaths in the U.S. for those under 20 years old, the U.S. also has the highest rate of gun violence towards children in those countries. Children are scared to go to school and parents are scared to send their children to school. An 11 year old girl from Wisconsin said, “The school shootings are scary and we feel like nothing can stop it from happening.” The U.S. is a clear outlier with regard to gun violence. Research has shown that firearm injuries are more likely to occur in areas where people can easily access them, like the United States. In just 2022, over 48,000 Americans died from gun violence. About 80% of murders in the U.S. involve guns, and there were 648 mass shootings in 2022. It is clear that guns pose a danger to U.S. society. Therefore, on June 25,2024, the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, declared gun violence a public health crisis. 

The first federal regulation of the manufacture and transfer of firearms was the National Firearms Act (NFA) that was enacted in 1934. Currently, the NFA levies a tax and registration requirement on machine guns, short barreled shotguns or rifles, and silencers. Then, the Gun Control Act (GCA) was passed in 1968. The GCA established a minimum age for buying a firearm, required that all firearms have a serial number, and expanded the category of prohibited buyers. However, the 1986 Firearms Owners’ Protection Act (FOPA) decreased many of the restrictions on sellers of firearms. FOPA allowed dealers to sell away from the location on their license if at a “gun show,” limited the number of inspections of dealers’ premises, prevented the federal government from having a database of firearms dealer records, and loosened what constituted selling firearms for the purposes of a federal license. 

Then, the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act tightened restrictions once again in 1993. The Brady Act imposed a five-day waiting period for law enforcement to background check a potential buyer. This five-day waiting period is now an instant check system. A year later, the Federal Assault Weapons Ban was enacted which banned semi-automatic assault weapons. This Act expired in 2004. 

A year later, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act and Child Safety Lock Act (PLCAA and CSLA) were passed which gave the gun industry immunity from most civil legal liability. The CSLA also made it illegal for licensed dealers to sell a handgun to anyone unless he/she has a secure gun storage or safety device. Two years later, in 2007, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System Improvement Amendments Act was passed. It provided financial incentives for states to provide information relevant to whether a person is prohibited from purchasing a firearm to the database. 

Finally, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) was enacted in 2022 which required stricter background checks on 18 to 20 year olds, clarified which gun sellers need to get a federal license and conduct background checks, established laws that penalized trafficking, and prohibited sexual offenders from possessing a firearm for five years. 

Evidently, the law has gone back and forth with strengthening and weakening gun owners’ rights. A large reason for this pendulum is because of different sides of the aisle having different beliefs about gun ownership. A 2017 survey found that about 44% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents own guns, whereas only 20% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents do. This report also found that Republican gun owners are more against creating a database to track gun sales and banning assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines, than Democratic gun owners are. Republicans are also more supportive of expanding gun rights – 82% of Republican gun owners favor expanding concealed carry laws, whereas only 41% of Democratic gun owners favor this proposal. 

This political divide is somewhat caused by, but also worsened by interest groups like the National Rifle Association (NRA), Everytown for Gun Safety, and many more. The NRA is the most influential gun rights advocacy group in the United States. It was established in 1871 with the primary goal of “promoting and encouraging rifle shooting on a scientific basis.” Now, it is the country’s biggest and most powerful defender of Second Amendment rights. Currently, the NRA has over 4 million members and has contributed over $140 million to pro-gun election candidates since 2010. Its large coalition of members, power, money, and resources helps to elect pro-gun politicians, and support pro-gun and oppose anti-gun legislation.

On the other side, Everytown for Gun Safety is the largest gun violence prevention organization in the U.S. Their main goal is to end gun violence by registering voters, electing candidates who will fight for gun safety, demanding action from elected officials, and changing how the country thinks about gun violence. They have almost 10 million people in their movement. 

While some laws have decreased the number of gun deaths, the general trend is still increasing with 2021 having a record number of gun murders and suicides. This fast growing upward trend of deaths and injuries due to firearms is cause for concern which is why the U.S. Surgeon General declared gun violence a public health crisis. This announcement followed yet another mass shooting in Arkansas where 15 people, including 12 civilians, were shot. Dr. Murthy urged the country to address the issue as a public health one rather than political one. He said, “It is now time for us to take this issue out of the realm of politics and put it in the realm of public health, the way we did with smoking more than a half century ago.” He called for the ban of assault weapons for civilian use, universal background checks, and a mandate for safe and secure storage for firearms. 

For more information about gun violence in the U.S. visit:

1. https://naacp.org/resources/gun-violence-prevention-issue-brief 
2. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/13/key-facts-about-americans-and-guns/ 
3. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2017/06/22/americas-complex-relationship-with-guns/ 
4. https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/policy-areas/other-laws-policies/key-federal-regulation-acts/ 
5. https://www.wsj.com/us-news/u-s-gun-violence-is-a-public-health-crisis-surgeon-general-warns-7869ede2 
6. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/26/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/ 
7. https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/arms-control/gun-violence/ 
8. https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/gun-violence-prevention 
9. https://www.whitehouse.gov/ogvp/
10. https://everytownresearch.org/rankings/