Do fewer guns in the population mean fewer homicides Research Paper

Do fewer guns in the population mean fewer homicides - Research Paper Example Therefore, to reduce homicide cases in their countries, some governments have considered banning gun ownership. Therefore, this shows that these governments believe that homicide is normally committed using guns only. The issue of guns and homicide has raised concerns in the previous years, and is still debated, especially when the USA recently undertook a move to ban gun ownership in the country. Nonetheless, considering the statistics from different countries about their gun ownership status and levels of homicide, it is clear that fewer guns in society does not mean fewer homicides. Homicide and murder are two different elements. Although both involve killing, their difference rests in the motivation behind the killing. While in murder, a person kills due to malicious motives, in homicide, the killer kills for no reason. There have been many incidences this year and in the past years, where people engage in mass shootings in schools, in movie theatres, and in places of worship. This is considered homicide, since the killer has no malicious motive when he or she shoots at the people and kills them. In the USA, such incidences are ones that motivated the government to consider proclaiming a gun ownership ban in the country, in order to prevent such incidences from occurring in the future (Beeghley, 2003). Generally, lawmakers have started getting interested in controlling amount of guns in the population after the incident at Newtons, believing that, the fewer the guns, the safer the population. However, it is important to understand the correlation between gun ownership and reduced homicide. This can be answered using various statistics showing the safety situation in different world countries, with regard to gun ownership. Homicide can be committed using a gun, or any other weapon capable of killing. However, it is easier to commit homicide using a gun. Therefore, if the number of guns in the population is reduced,