Issues Regarding Gun Violence Need to be Addressed

Colby Saiz, Guest Writer from Global Human Rights Advocacy 

Note: This article was written by a student of Dr. Meghan Cohen, in the class, Global Human Rights Advocacy. The Highlander is proud to serve as a platform for guest contributions and encourages collaboration between our community and our publication. 

The issues that we continually see with gun violence need to stop. There are too many incidents that occur with young people in the United States when it comes to the accessibility of handling guns. Even worse than the accessibility to deadly weapons is the lack of safety that people know when using guns, which can lead to more accidents. Aside from the accessibility or lack of safety, the mental health status of people when purchasing these guns needs to be evaluated as well. That is why more background checks need to be added before people make a purchase, so that they will not be another number that is added in the statistics of gun violence.  

The gun violence patterns in the United States also raise concern unto what the main community-level factors are that predict casualties. An article by Social Science & Medicine explained that urbanization, income inequality, and racial segregation are the strongest factors that lead to higher gun violence. The demographics of a community play a large role in what communities are impacted the most by gun violence. A 2014-2017 study showed that counties with both high median incomes and high poverty experience high gun violence. These facts show that these communities are not receiving the type of attention that is needed to help prevent more casualties.

A 2025 BMJ Public Health article explains how people in southeastern U.S. communities view gun violence intervention efforts by focusing on trust, program accessibility, and the social conditions that shape violence. The efforts that are being done to help decrease gun violence are slowly developing more and more. However, these programs and interventions need more national attention.  

An article by Social Science & Medicine  explains that more frequent and more recent exposure to gun violence is strongly associated with higher depression scores, increased suicidal tendencies, greater suicide attempts, and higher mental‑health utilization.  This is why there should not only be background checks before a purchase, but a mental health evaluation so that the guns do not end up in the wrong hands.

An opposing viewpoint argues that most gun owners are responsible for their own purchases, and that gun violence starts from individual misconduct, rather than government regulation failures.  These viewpoints often claim that increasing background checks or including mental‑health evaluations before purchasing guns is not necessary and is the government “overstepping.”This perspective shows that enforcing current laws should be prioritized, rather than creating new laws.

While this position does raise a legitimate concern about protecting individual rights, it does overlook the broader public‑health statistics. It is true that most gun owners are responsible for their own purchases, and it is reasonable to protect their rights. However, this does not dismiss the fact that the current government system fails to prevent guns from reaching individuals who could cause risks to themselves or other people. The opposing view’s logic assumes that existing regulations are sufficient enough to not increase gun violence. However, the data continues to show otherwise.

These are issues that people cannot solve alone just based upon individual responsibility when handling or purchasing guns. Research published in Social Science & Medicine shows that community‑level factors such as urbanization, income inequality, and racial segregation strongly predict higher gun‑violence rates. These issues focus on a broader system that deals with gun accessibility that can be solved by gun companies and firearm safety by the government. A 2014–2017 county‑level study showed high gun violence in areas with both high median income and high poverty reveals that violence is not simply a matter of personal behavior—it is shaped by social conditions that current laws do not adequately address. 

However, these opposing views are right about one thing, any new policy or regulation that the government makes must avoid unnecessary burdens on responsible gun owners. This is a reasonable point because acknowledging it strengthens the argument for reforms in the firearm safety issue that is constantly being brought up in the government. This does not excuse that reasonable caution is justified for inaction. This evidence shows that without stronger background checks, mental‑health evaluations, and community‑informed interventions, the United States will continue to see more gun violence that has a resale cause to be prevented.

When reviewing these problems that arise with gun violence, it is important to solve these problems from the inside out. This starts with having more detailed background checks before purchasing a gun. Additionally, a mental-health evaluation before purchasing a gun could help the decrease of gun violence. By starting small to help solve the problem, we can help stop gun violence from a community-based level, to stopping it once and for all in the United States.