Causal Argument essay: Active Shooter Trend

(ONE MORE PARAGRAPH CAN BE ABOUT HOW NEWS MEDIA THAT COVER THESE KILLINGS GIVE PEOPLE IDEAS AND LEAVES ROOM FOR COPYCATS TO DO THE KILLING.)

In a sociological setting, the tipping point refers to a moment when messages and certain ideas, spread within society like wildfire. In the recent decades, active shooting has spread like wildfire, buoyed by violence in popular culture and media as well as fundamentalist propaganda all over social media. Further, Gladwell (2000) explains the three rules of epidemics namely the law of the few, the stickiness factor and the power of context. According to the law of the few, the success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts (Gladwell, 2000). The stickiness factor refers to a memorable message which an audience remembers through impactful and specific content. Lastly, the power of context refers to the environment as human behavior plays out in a given context. Active shooting can be evaluated from these three rules of epidemics as explained by Gladwell.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice (2017) between the years 2000 and 2017, a total of 799 people were killed in active shootings while 1418 were wounded in the United States of America. Most recently, a male sailor in the U.S. Navy injured a woman before he was shot dead at a Navy air station in Ocean, Virginia Beach (Gajanan, 2019). In addition, the incidents of active shooting take place in diverse areas including, areas of commerce, educational environments, government property, open spaces, residences, houses of worship, and health care facilities (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2018).

Those who carry out active shooting, indeed have particular and rare set of social gifts as described by Gladwell. In the recent New Zealand shooting, Brenton Tarrant the Australian perpetrator, was driven by racial hate and he later claimed affiliation to white power groups (Al Jazeera News, 2019). In the incident, he attacked innocent Muslim worshippers in two separate mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in what authorities have labelled terrorist attacks. Having claimed 49 lives in the duo attacks, the shooter was arrested and put into custody by the New Zealand authorities. Among the victims, were a 68 year old and a four year old girl showing the indiscriminate nature of the attacker. Referring to Gladwell, the attacker clearly possessed peculiar traits aside from the rest of the population and this contributed to his actions. Evaluated psychologically, the shooter has a problem because even when he was presented before the judge at court, he was remorseless and kept smiling at the media cameras while flashing white power hand signs (Al Jazeera News, 2019).

According to the Library of Congress (2015), The Gun Control Act of 1958 refers to Japanese legislation that basically forbids the citizens from possession and ownership of guns and swords. It is aimed at legally controlling the possession of firearms and swords and although the Japanese have severally amended the law it has only been to increase restriction (The Library of Congress, 2015). As a result, Japan as a country has one of the world’s lowest deaths caused by gun violence or suicide (Ibid, 2015). To demonstrate, the suicide rate in Japan is alarmingly high but at the same time, very few of these deaths are carried out with the use of a gun or firearm (The Library of Congress, 2015). This shows clearly that, there is effectiveness of gun control through legislation if the people would allow it.

On the contrary, in the United states where people have assumed these rights, one in three people knows a person who has been shot while firearm homicides are 20 times higher than the rates of 22 combined countries with similar wealth and population (CBS Interactive Inc. , 2018). In addition, there are on average 7 children and teenagers killed by guns in a single day in America and in a population of 100,000 there will be 13 such deaths (Ibid, 2018). In 2011, guns killed 31,076 Americans in homicides, suicides, and unintentional shootings (Cook and Goss, 2018). Nowhere else in the world do guns kill as many people as they do in the United States of America and is a pity.

The notion that gun ownership by the citizens affords the pubic and themselves greater protection is widely misplaced. This is because in a recent study, 48% of the respondents gave protection as their first reason to prefer such gun possession/ownership which was 22% less than respondents in a similar 1999 survey (Cook and Goss, 2018). During the same period, the rates of crime have increased and so have the accidental shootings, suicides by gun and domestic violence involving shootings. It means that possession by the citizens does not actually increase protection but instead endangers people all the more.

By comparison, Israel and Switzerland have heavily armed publics but the rates of gun related deaths re nowhere near that of the United States of America. For instance, in Israel beginning from 2006, the defense forces are not allowed to carry guns while on leave and since, only 20% of suicides have been caused by guns (Cook and Goss, 2018). In Switzerland, there are more people who own guns even as compared to Israel yet due to strict control and regulation, the rates of gun related violence and deaths are among the world’s lowest (Cook and Goss, 2018). This is despite the national requirement that all eligible men serve in the armed forces up to the age of 34 years. It means that control and regulation is the best answer to the unacceptable rates of death and suicides by guns in the United States of America.

Citizens in the United States of America should not have guns for protection. Although the 2nd Amendment has been cited as giving the citizens this right to guns, scholars are divided on its strict legal interpretation due to the wording used. As such, the rights may be curtailed to only include ownership within a “militia” or the National Guard thereby limiting individual rights of gun ownership. In addition to the legal concerns and controversy, there are alarming statistics on the rate of gun violence, homicide and suicides caused by the right to gun ownership in the USA. For example, over a million Americans have been killed due to gun related deaths in the past three decades alone and this is more than all the combat deaths combined for the same period (Cook and Goss, 2018).

According to Lopez (2019) the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution states that, “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”. This is the basis upon which the argument for the individual rights to gun possession and ownership has been built by the proponents throughout the decades. In essence, there is the individual right theory which interprets the quoted phrase as meaning that there is a constitutional right for an individual citizen of the United States of America to possess or own a gun (Lopez, 2019). In addition, such an interpretation would further mean that, state or other legislative bodies have no right to prohibit or restrict gun possession and ownership in so far as the individual citizen is concerned. This is the main pro in the debate; that the people have a right to arm themselves especially for defense and protection.

As a countermeasure to active shooting, citizens in the United States of America should not have guns for protection. This is of necessity and not mere sentiment as illustrated by the alarming and uniquely American high number of deaths from bun related violence, homicides and suicides. As has been compared to Israel, Switzerland and Japan, legislation in the United States needs to curtail the rights of individual possession of lethal guns despite the 2nd Amendment. Indeed, the 2nd amendment should be read in the interest of national defense rather than seeking to enshrine individual rights to gun ownership and possession which will not work.

In conclusion, active shooting is largely caused by psychological misconceptions of the perpetrator, who forms in their mind, a victim and victimizer dark dialectic leading up to the action. Whether the motive is vengeance, revenge upon bullies or the result of violent imagery in modern culture, the perpetrator of an active shooting is essentially, mentally disturbed. Researchers report that, an active killer lives in isolation where the world is poorly interpreted. As a result, there is absence of benevolent friendships, decency and reasonable humanity which is a result of mental disturbance. The urge or drive to kill and even to die in the process, is thus born and eventually executed as an active shooting. Given Gladwell’s three rules of epidemics namely the law of the few, the stickiness factor and the power of context, active shooting should be viewed from the perpetrator’s position, the social context where guns are plenty and the authorities in power being reluctant for any change despite active shooting deaths.

Works cited

Al Jazeera News. New Zealand mosque attack suspect Brenton Tarrant grins in court. Mar 16, 2019. Web. April 7, 2019. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/zealand-terrorist-attack-suspect-grins-court-190316011147796.html>

CBS Interactive Inc. Death by gun: Top 20 states with highest 2018. Web. April 7, 2019. https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/death-by-gun-top-20-states-with-highest-rates/21/ >

Cook, Paul. & Goss, Kelly. Gun Facts: From: The Gun Debate: What Everyone Needs to Know. 2018. Web. April 7, 2019. http://www.cagv.org/facts/>

Fahnestock, Jeanne & Secor, Marie. A Rhetoric of Argument: Text and Reader 3rd Edition. McGraw-Hill. 2003.

Federal Bureau of Investigation. A Study of the Pre-Attack Behaviors of Active Shooters in the United States between 2000 and 2013. June 2018. Web. April 7, 2019. https://www.fbi.gov/file.../pre-attack-behaviors-of-active-shooters-in-us-2000-2013.p...>

Gajanan, Mahita. Gunman Dead, 1 Woman Injured After Active Shooter Reported at Naval Air. April 5, 2019. Web. April 7, 2019. http://time.com/5564920/naval-air-station-oceana-virginia-beach-shooting/>

Gladwell, Malcolm. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. Little, Brown and Company, 2000.

Library of Congress. Firearms-Control Legislation and Policy: Japan. 2015. Web. April 7, 2019. https://www.loc.gov/law/help/firearms-control/japan.php>

Lopez, German. Study: where gun laws are weaker, there are more mass shootings. Mar 8, 2019. Web. April 7, 2019. https://www.vox.com/2019/3/8/18254626/mass-shootings-gun-violence-laws-study>