Gun Violence In America Research Paper

1. INTRODUCTION
Aggression, conflict, stress, frustration, anger these and more emotions are all linked to self-defeating emotions that impact on our cognitive, mental and emotional capacity to function normally. When aggression is not properly and accordingly dealt with it can lead to various detrimental consequences for the individual and surrounding members. Individuals struggling have an inner urge to cause and inflict pain onto others. One way is via the usage of guns. The usage of guns in America is not an eerie or foreign concept to America. In fact gun violence can be depicted as a culture in America. More than 31 000 people per year in America die from gunshot wounds (Hopkins, 2012) However the usage of mass gun violence is not just
(Hopkins, 2012) South Africa however trumps the US with a rate of 17 gun related deaths per 100 000 people as compared to 3.2 in the US. 67% in the US are done via firearms, meanwhile in South Africa the homicide rate is 45%. (Ralph, 2013) Citizens in South Africa are restricted to one weapon for self-defence and a maximum of four for hunting. In South Africa to legally own a gun, the person would have to go through a police background check. Some would say it is harder to get and own a firearm here in South Africa then overseas.
In South Africa there is a long history of rape, theft, robbery and owning a gun is seen for protection measurements. Owning a gun in South Africa Is done to increase a person’s sense of safety (Khazan, 2013) Majority of South Africans fear burglary more than any other crime. In the mid-1990s at least one out of every two white South Africans owned at least one firearm. (Khazan,
The suspect had first shot his girlfriend after a lovers quarrel, then shot her relatives and had then shot 7 random people after fleeing his girlfriend’s house. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1384392/Mass-murder-in-South-Africa.html) South Africa has crimes that are derived from financial motivation as well as poverty, unemployment all of which leads to acts of violence. Shootings are violence are done for protection purposes or for survival as the underprivileged and poverty stricken people resort to criminal acts to fend for them. Shootings done in the US are done on a wide scale range and viewed as irrational and stemming from frustration and uncontrollable aggression and is seen as a culture and way of life. In South Africa the occurrence of violence and shootings are seen as protective measures and some people would view it as acceptable to possess a gun due to the high criminality acts in this country. For people it would only be natural to possess a firearm as it means of increasing their security. Gang warfare is also a common phenomenon in South Africa as you would find people wanting to protect their turfs and not let other people degrade or threaten