Gun Control and Public Policy - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1181 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2019/03/19 Category Society Essay Level High school Tags: Gun Control Essay Did you like this example? Gun Control and Public Policy Recently, gun control has been a hot topic and many are trying to find a way to please everybody with new laws or to just change or alter the old laws a bit. Gun laws are tricky because the same guns that are protecting us are the same guns that are killing us. Which makes this topic a great topic for review in public policy. Nearly two-thirds of gun deaths are suicides The U.S. gun suicide rate is eight times that of other high-income countries. (Gun Violence in America, 2018) it is also shown that access to a gun will increase the suicide by a gun by three times because it is readily available. Which make sense that suicides by guns are concentrated in areas that have high gun ownership. (Gun Violence in America, 2018) Most people who attempt suicide do not die†unless they use a gun. Across all suicide attempts not involving a firearm, less than five percent will result in death. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Gun Control and Public Policy" essay for you Create order But for gun suicides, those statistics are flipped: approximately 85 percent of gun suicide attempts end in death. (Gun Violence in America, 2018)This is alarming because although the gun violence isnt towards someone else, self-harm is still a great concern. While thinking of gun control and public policy, to models automatically came to mind; the Process model and Incrementalism. The process model is when you analyze the process of public policy. It begins with identifying a problem before trying to move on to the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of the problem. In this case, the problem is gun violence. During the problem identification, the problems are being brought to the forefront for policymakers. The problem with gun violence and gun laws are that a person is more likely to die from a gun then be able to effectively use a gun for self-defense. 21 of 420 homicides (5%) involved a victim who had unsuccessfully attempted to use a gun in self-defense. (Zuckerman,1996) This shows a very big issue because policymakers want to keep that door open to have a weapon for self-defense but if its not even being used in an effective way and typically used in a harmful way it can lead to laws that are not favorable to everyone. The next step is policy formulation which is when policy proposals come in to play, with us going through a major gun crisis right now this is where we are as a nation, we are in the proposal process. This model is a great representation of how policy comes about, however, the common criticism is that it has a narrow focus on process and that it can be ignorant to the content of public policy. As stated before, we are in the policy-making process. We dont exactly know what the laws will be but we are making small changes in the meantime. Currently, we are limiting what kind of guns can be bought by citizens. (Zuckerman,1996) Right now what is proposed is that we restriction who can own a gun or use a gun. The way they are doing so is by requiring a license to get a gun and while applying for that you would have to pass a background check, meaning no criminal would be able to purchase the weapon. Adding to this, a minimum age should be required to purchase (Zuckerman,1996). Another proposal would be to decrease the number of guns for sale and the overall availability. If thats not possible to make it much more unpleasant to buy a gun by increasing the sales tax and raising the prices on ammunition. They also propose a ban on all lethal guns, such as the ones used by the military (Zuckerman,1996), if they can be used in war, we shouldnt be able to access them. Lastly, they want to increase the information on gun use to people and the fatality likelihood would be similar to the existing program on car accident fatalities. (Zuckerman,1996) The second model that fits in with Gun Control would be incremental policymaking, with having a fairly conservative president right now, incrementalism fits in perfectly. It emphasizes existing policies and programs and doesnt typically favor new policy alternatives because it is looked at as threatening or inefficient. There are four reasons that incremental policymaking is done. The first reason is the lack of resources which makes is very hard to identify policy alternatives. Second, usually a previous policy is already viewed as legitimate by policymakers, so why change it. Changing a policy can cause new threats and new or far worse challenges. Third, is the cost to implement a new policy. Heavy investments are put into policies so when the policy changes, many of those investments can be lost. Lastly, incrementalism is politically expedient. Incrementalism reduces conflict, helps to maintain stability, and preserves the political system. I did want to note that I felt as rationalism model (which is a theory based on reason and facts) would probably fit better than incrementalism, based on my views. However, I wanted to show that there are opposing views on this topic and which model stands out to help us understand those views a bit more. I personally believe incrementalism is a downfall in itself because we should want change. However, I can understand the reasons to keep a policy intact and possibly alter it a bit instead of changing it all together. As stated in the article Programs aimed at teaching children to resolve problems nonviolently have been developed and used in hundreds of communities across the country since their primary use has been in schools, they have depended on the support and interest of teachers and school systems for their success. (Zuckerman,1996) This is a good way to keep the current policy intact. It allows for educating on guns at an early age, but not changing anything else about the selling and laws on the guns themselves. Another alternative to actually changing the policy on gun violence would be to reduce the violence that is shown to our children in the media. With hopes that it will reduce violence altogether. Gun violence is a tricky topic because it goes between our amendment of the right to bear arms and our safety. On one hand, incrementalism comes into play because we dont want to alter our amendment. The policy process says that we need to evaluate that amendment and see how we can change it. We are currently feeling this struggle. The biggest incrementalist is the NRA, they dont want the laws to change because they are profiting off of gun sales. They are a great leading force that is hard to stop. With the process model and incremental model being so vastly different, its easy to apply to a topic like gun control because there are a couple of opposing views on it. You can look at it in a more conservative way and apply the incrementalism model or look at it in a more liberal way and dissect the problem and find a solution which closely aligns with the process model.

It’s All About the Drive in Outliers The Story of Success...

In the second chapter of his book â€Å"Outliers: The Story of Success,† Malcolm Gladwell introduces what he believes to be a key ingredient in the recipe for success: practice. The number of hours he says one must practice to obtain expert-level proficiency in a particular skill is ten thousand hours. He goes on to list several examples of successful individuals and makes the correlation between the amount of hours they practiced their skill and when they achieved expert-level proficiency (almost always around ten thousand hours of practice). While the magic number appears to be the main focus of the chapter when it comes to success, Gladwell seems to put more emphasis on the advantage and opportunities each individual experienced. However, I†¦show more content†¦The hours to those facilities were limited, but Joy exploited a bug that would allow him to work more than the typical one hour per day that all students were afforded. The bug may be seen as another opportu nity. However, weren’t other students at that school able to access the same facilities? Couldn’t they also have exploited the same bug that Joy exploited? I believe it was Joy’s passion for programming and desire to improve that led him to put in more hours than everyone else. â€Å"He wanted to learn† (46). He worked long hours and even devised a way to keep at it when others couldn’t or wouldn’t. Gladwell uses The Beatles as another example where happenstance was a deciding factor in their success. It was luck, or maybe fate, that put The Beatles in contact with a club owner in Hamburg, Germany. The club owner’s format required bands to play extremely long hours. Gladwell makes it seem as if the band would not have put in the long hours and potentially would not have become the rock ‘n’ roll legends they are today had it not been for that streak of luck. Other bands played those same clubs in Hamburg. Could they not have also played eight hours a night, seven nights a week? They had the same opportunity as The Beatles. Gladwell’s last example of opportunity paving the way to success is Bill Gates. Gladwell paints a picture of a privileged childhood, private schools, well-funded computer clubs and easily accessibleShow MoreRelatedCharacteristics Of Steve Jobs895 Words   |  4 Pagesperson’s culture, family, generation, and upbringing are more accurate determinants of success when compared to that persons traits such as personality, ambition, and intelligence. While circumstances being conducive to their needs helps, anyone with enough determination can rise above obstacles and become an outlier. Arguments against this, often have faults. There are many clear examples of driven, brilliant people, of all backgrounds, reaching great heights. One published believer of successful peopleRead MoreOutlier1537 Words   |  7 Pageshave thought and understood success compared to the way Malcolm Gladwell argues is the circumstances and families that create success. 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He would take what he found out was wine in those silver locomotives, bottle and sell it. 2. You learn what the job is and then you do it – This lesson came about when Michael had worked so hard to do exactly what DonRead MoreA Concise Guide to Market Research Using Spss71933 Words   |  288 Pages45 80539 Munich Germany sarstedt@bwl.lmu.de ISBN 978-3-642-12540-9 e-ISBN 978-3-642-12541-6 DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-12541-6 Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, speciï ¬ cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microï ¬ lm or in any other way, and storage in data banks

Teacher Strikes Ethical Issues

Question: Discuss the ethical issues that underlie "teacher strikes" and how you believe they should be resolved. Answer: Introduction In the year 2009, on May 12, the legal strategy of Los Angeles Unified School District called the teachers on a strike, because they claim that the labor practices that are being carried out is unfair. According to the system of the school, the public relation war lead to a looming strike from the part of the teacher. The strike was organized to protect at least 2500 teachers and it was against the disruption of the campus at the same time, the initiative lead to the nom-teaching staffs, seeking for early requirement (Blume 2016). Therefore, the examples of teachers strike is there, and if there is a teachers strike then that will lead to the disruption of the campus environment therefore, it is important to find a resolution to stop this teachers strike. The History of Teachers Strike Teachers strike is nothing new and it had its presence in the history as well. In the year 1970, the teachers strike helped the teachers in winning a contract but at the same time, this particular strike also heightened the racial conflict at the same time. Therefore, a city, which is being considered as the black majority city, created a sense of fear among the people and they thought that in a black majority city the perceived power of the whites would be in the hands of the teachers. Therefore, in the 1970 strike their existed a racial polarization, which had a huge influence of the strike as well (Golin, 2002). The word strike was not very familiar to the teachers until nineteenth century; it was a word that was very common and familiar, to the blue-collar workers; who used to work for the capitalist owners. The whole thing changed and after the nineteenth century strike, became a common word for the teacher, which would help them to defend the legal monopoly that they used to exercise (Robert Tyssens, 2008). At least this how the scholars and the critics describe the strikes, that have been carried out by primary and the secondary school teachers; in order to defend the legal monopoly against the state (Gunster, 2008). The Effect of Teachers Strike In the year 2013, the National Union for Teacher or the NUT and the NASUWT called for a strike, which not only caused disruption inside the campus but at the same time, it became a cause for the trouble for both the parents and the students. According to the education minister of England the strike that has been called by the teachers had affected the campus, the career of the students and the life of the parents and along with it has affected the reputation that is attached to the teaching profession largely (Association, 2013). There are many scholars and experts who believe that, most of the time the teachers strike does not receive, any support because it is illegal. At the same time it cause inconvenience for the people. Thus, most of the time the strikes that are being organized by the teachers, had gone through a failure (Majhanovich, Pitman, Ginsburg, 2012). The Resolution of the Problem The teachers strike is truly a very big problem for the academic arena; therefore, steps should be taken to resolve the issue with utmost priority. The problem could be resolved by understanding the problems through which the teachers are going through and at the same time, it is important for the system of education to motivate the teachers, so that they energized to carry on their work. Apart from that there should be a proper mapping, which will help the people to know about the process that is related to teachers strike, which include not only the study of politics, and history, but at the same time it include, the study of sociology at the same time. The research methodology, and that too a detail research methodology, will help, in the mapping process; therefore, these can be the ways to resolve the problem arising due to teachers strike (Robert Tyssens, 2008). Conclusion The teachers strike has a long history related to it and it has resulted in lots of strike taking place in Britain and in other places of the world. The strike has resulted in lots of historical decision taking place but at the same time, it is the cause of many troubles at the same time. The teachers strike, disrupt the campus to a great extend, and at the same time it affect the reputation of this particular profession as well. Therefore, it is important to resolve the problems that are giving rise to teachers strike. References Association, P. (2013). Teachers' unions call further strikes in pay row. the Guardian. Retrieved 19 May 2016, from Blume, H. (2016). California Briefing / Los Angeles. latimes. Retrieved 19 May 2016, from Golin, S. (2002). Newark Teacher Strikes : Hopes on the Line. Retrieved 19 May 2016, from Gunster, S. (2008). Listening to Labour: Mainstream Media, Talk Radio, and the 2005 B.C. Teachers Strike. Retrieved 19 May 2016, from Majhanovich, S., Pitman, A., Ginsburg, M. (2012). Preparation, Practice, and Politics of Teachers : Problems and Prospects in Comparative Perspective. Retrieved 19 May 2016, from Robert, A. Tyssens, J. (2008). Introduction: mapping teachers strikes: a professionalist approach (1st ed.).