Gun Control

With the continuous news on the latest shooting, whether it be in a school, movie theatre, concert venue, or church, there have been increasing levels of attention and focus on gun control laws. There is extreme controversy about guns killing people versus “people killing people.” The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recorded the firearm mortality rates in every state; in 2016, the average across the country rose to 11.8 per 100,000 people. While many people agree that victims of violence should be able to protect themselves from murder, the question of gun ownership regulations is debatable. Do these laws have an impact on the overall murder rate? This question demands an answer. This paper attempts to come closer to the answer by exploring the differences in states’ gun laws and their corresponding murder rates. Influential factors to include are deaths by guns, as this is important to distinguish. The overall socioeconomic status and levels of diversity in states will be included, as well as the level of mental health in the state, as these factors have been publicly considered factors of murder. Race, age, and gender will also be considered as potential factors