A majority of Americans have resulted in supporting stringent firearm policies.

This gets

evidenced by the increase of mass shooting cases in schools that the public has taken a stand to

protest. According to Treisman (2019), the percentage of Americans in favor of gun control grew

from 57% to 60% in 2019, although the support division exists between political parties. This

shows that the number increases every day, although a shift in politics may steer the debate

differently. Research showed that 86% of Democrats endorse stricter gun regulation policies in

contrast to 31% of Republicans (Treisman, 2019). Since the Democrats have formed the

government, they may use their political influence to manipulate gun policies because most of

them favor it but could not make amendments since the Republicans controlled the government.

However, it is imperative to look into the influence of mental disorders before making any

amendments.

Many Americans assert that gun control will not prevent people with mental illnesses

from perpetrating gun violence. Research shows that most mass shooting perpetrators have

schizophrenia, loneliness, and other existing mental disorders that drive them into committing

cruel massacres without guilt. According to Metzl &MacLeish (2015), the induction of stricter

firearm control regulations will not stop mass shooters from continuing gun violence in

American schools, clubs, and other public places. The assumption that mentally insane

individuals have a high susceptibility to committing gun violence than ordinary people have

existed since the 1960s and supported by little data. Research by Appelbaum shows that people

with psychiatric disorders perpetrate not more than 5% of gun violence in America; only 6,000

out of 120,000 firearm crimes from 2001 to 2010 involved mentally ill individuals (Metzl

&MacLeish, 2015). Therefore, the assumption that gun violence perpetrated by mentally ill
individuals will reduce through stricter gun control is wrong. However, it is imperative to reduce

gun violence by all available means.

It is imperative for gun violence in America to be reduced by all means. Every year, gun-

related deaths occur through homicides, suicides, and unintentional killings, increasing every

day. According to Miller et al. (2010), more than 31,000 Americans succumbed to gun inducted

deaths, where 2% resulted from unintentional shootings, 62% from suicide, and 36% from

homicidal crimes in 2010(pg,3). It shows that gun violence has been disastrous to the public and

in people taking their own lives by shooting themselves to death or others without the motive of

harming them. The United States suffers more firearm-related casualties than other high-income

countries, which proves a severe problem due to its position as a global leader in many universal

issues (Miller et al., 2010, pg,19)). Therefore, the gun policy controversy needs to undergo

serious debate to reduce the firearm-related deaths that could otherwise undergo prevention.

However, it is imperative to ask ourselves if guns drive people to commit crimes or individuals

drive themselves.

Violent Individuals and guns form a disastrous combination that has resulted in

increasing gun violence. We have already seen that mental disorders have a considerable

contribution to gun violence in America. According to Lu Yu (2020), the easy accessibility of

firearms by individuals has created a framework through which criminals get access to guns,

thereby killing other people. It is undeniable that guns offer a higher level of danger than other

weapons, the fact that campaigners of firmer gun policies have used to their advantage in

advocating their firearm withdrawal agenda. Therefore, if guns get restricted or undergo

complete withdrawal from the citizens’ hands, it is inevitable that gun violence will drop

immensely. We have already seen that 62% of Americans use guns to commit suicide (Miller et
al. 2010), the fact that firearms offer a quick way of harm because of their simple usage and

faster response. Thus, both the government and individuals hold a stake in gun violence, and

their cooperation will inform future gun policies that will lead to a reduction of mass killings and

other forms of gun violence in America