What Determines Firearm Crime Rates?
Previously, I have talked about the school massacre happened in Finland, September 24, 2008. But there are some arguments saying that gun control might not need to be tightened. "Gun ownership in Finland is among the highest in the world, but violent crimes with firearm are very rare. Compare that to the U.S. which has just as many guns per household, but a much higher firearm murder rate." Just on Friday, Jennifer Hudson's mother was shot at home in Chicago. It is a big news just because Jennifer Hudson is famous, but actually in the U.S., being killed by guns is so common. So I think this raises a question of what exactly determines firearm murder rates? Why is the firearm murder rate so high in the U.S. compared to Finland if they have the same gun ownership? I think the different lifestyles in both countries will be one of the factors of why U.S. has such a high murder gun rate. First, in Finland, a lot of people has to hunt to make ends meet; therefore their guns are used for hunting, not murdering. Secondly, maybe american children are more exposed to violent video games or computer games; therefore it will affect their thoughts and behaviors.Overall, tightening gun control might somewhat be effective, but the most effective way to lower firearm crime rates will probably be educating the younger generation. If they learn to behave well and not to have so many violent thoughts, then hopefully firearm crime rates will be decreased in the future. However, educating the new generation will take quite a few years, so maybe tightening gun control will be the solution in the short term.
1 comment:
I do agree with you here Margaret, it is very true on the lifestyle's between countries that most determines their crime rate. But at the same time, I also believe that gun ownership should be stricter to controled over. I believe that this is only up to the government to educate our next generation in a more effective way. Also I think that banning gun ownership is the most effective way to decrease crime rates as many countries in the world has done. Because think about it, what happens to the community if criminal could get their hands on a gun so easily? So in my point of view, I think they should banned gun ownership to make it impossible for criminal to have access to guns.
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