America Needs Criminal Control, Not Gun Control

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Recommended: The effect of gun control

In the past few years, there has been a growing public outcry calling for increased gun control measures and restrictions. The unthinkable acts of violence from Aurora, Colorado to Newtown, Connecticut have only strengthened this call for sweeping changes to the way guns are used and regulated. World-wide media outlets have continuously misrepresented facts in an attempt to scare the general public into embracing increased gun control measures. We, as a nation, should focus more on controlling criminals that use firearms than controlling the guns themselves.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) crime statistics, in 2011 there were 1,203,564 violent crimes nationwide, which translates to 386.3 violent crimes per 100,000 inhabitants, nationwide. Violent crimes are defined by the FBI as the following: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) completed a study in 2012 comparing the murder rates of countries from around the world. In the UNODC study, the United States is shown to have had 4.8 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, which ranks at number 102 in the world. To place that number in perspective, the country with the most murders was listed as Honduras with 91.6 murders per 100,000 people; Cameroon had 19.7.
The FBI statistics show that the majority of crimes involving the use of a gun occur in large cities that have the strictest gun control laws in the country. In 2012, in Detroit, Michigan, 333 people were killed by a gun; this equates to 47.5 per 100,000 residents (FBI). New Orleans, if it were a country, with a rate of 62.1 gun murders per 100,000 people, would rank second in the world (Thompson).
Banning al...

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Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “The 2011 Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission.”
City.Milwaukee.gov. 2012. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.
State of Georgia. General Assembly. Safe Carry Protection Act. SB 101. Legis.ga.gov. Georgia General Assembly. 25 Mar. 2013. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
“United Kingdom—Gun Facts, Figures and the Law.” University of Sydney, 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.
United Nations. “Intentional Homicide, Count and Rate per 100,000 population (1995-2011).” United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Web. PDF. 2012.
United States. Department of Justice Crime Statistics. Justice.gov. 7 May 2013. Web. Excel Document. 14 Oct 2013.
United States. Department of Justice. Prisoners in 2011. Carson, Ann; Sabol, William. Bjs.gov. Dec. 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2012. Web. 15 Oct. 2013.

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