The Ethical Basis of Gun Violence Essay

Crouch, C. L. and Christopher B. Hays, eds. God and Guns: The Bible Against American Gun Culture.
Westminster John Knox, 2021. ISBN: 978-0664266820. [Crouch & Hays]
Thurman, Howard. Jesus and the Disinherited. Beacon Press, 1976. ISBN: 978-0807010297. [Thurman] The Ethical Basis of Gun Violence Essay

Pick a significant contemporary ethical topic, either from those studied in this course or from current events. Write an original four to five (4-5) page essay on the topic, in which you take a clearly-articulated position. Clear articulation does not mean that you must be dismissive of other positions. Rather, more nuance is better than less nuance, even if it means a modest, nuanced position.

Your Final Essay will be MLA formatted. While you need to do item 1 (below), be sure to have the bulk of your paper in items 2-5 below. Also, don’t forget to have a good conclusion, but be succinct. The Ethical Basis of Gun Violence Essay

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(1) Your essay should have a clear, introductory paragraph and thesis statement (4-5 sentences altogether). Your introduction should discuss the ethical path that you are taking.
Consider the readings from the first two weeks of this course: how will you proceed?
For Example: Do you follow one of the authors that we read or some outside approach? Why?
You should also outline the issues in the discussion of your topic.
For Example: Why is “whiteness” so controversial? – OR – What is the debate between the beginning of human life and human personhood? The Ethical Basis of Gun Violence Essay

(2) The body of your essay should demonstrate fluency with the issues pertaining to your topic. Engage robustly: do not fight strawmen.

(3) The sections of your essay should demonstrate clear progression and interconnectedness, leading toward a compelling case for your position.

(4) You should follow the standard of good grammar, formatting, and citation that is appropriate to MDL standards.

(5) Conclusion should be no more than four to five (4-5) sentences.

(6) A Works Cited page must be included but is not part of the four to five (4-5) page essay. The Ethical Basis of Gun Violence Essay

Assignment 8-2: Final Paper
Morality and ethics are two factors that have been indulged in great debate over the years concerning the plight of humanity. That is mainly on the debate surrounding gun violence in America that has now extended its pangs to the recent cases of mass murder of school-going children and teens, including their teachers. Such factors portray the ethical failure of a civilized society whose influential public leaders ignore or, in most cases, explain defensively the already proven and evidence-based practices concerning gun ownership and its effects on public safety. The essay will, therefore, assess the current debate on ethical implications of gun violence based on gun ownership and in consideration of America as a religious country. The Ethical Basis of Gun Violence Essay
The Ethical Implications of Gun Violence
The main discussion revolves around the contemporary perspective of gun ownership and debate on the ethical grounds of gun use and ownership using a religious perspective.
Contemporary Perspective of Gun Ownership
The United States Constitution’s Second Amendment states that such rights cannot be infringed when a militia is well-regulated for free State security. However, such assertions reignited the debate concerning the United States’ gun laws ((Turret et al. 109). That is because some argue that the Second Amendment gives individuals the right to own firearms for self-defense. On the other hand, the other argument surrounding the amendment is the need to have an armed militia that helps to protect the nation from external and internal threats, considering that during the time the Second Amendment was upheld, America did not have a strong army (Turret et al. 107). The same amendment tends to be interpreted by another group as a section that helps American citizens prevent themselves from the government’s potential tyranny, which presents some practicality gaps since America is currently guided by democracy and military protection. The Ethical Basis of Gun Violence Essay
Apart from the Second Amendment, there is also a need to reflect on the nature of Americans’ rights, which helps assess gun rights and gun control. In that regard, all citizens must acknowledge that rights tend not to be absolute since there is a limitation to these right’s scope to prevent serious harm to the general public (Webster and Gostin 1187). That is how we understand that despite the right to freedom being a fundamental right, its limitation does not allow infringing on other people’s well-being, such as yelling scary words in public places, making these rights more conditional. Hence, just like individuals have the right to own cars once they have passed the road and written skill tests, the right to own a firearm should never be exceptional. That is because it is only individuals who have passed various tests, including undertaking a safety test, regular renewal requirement, mental health, and criminal background check, should someone be considered before an individual is allowed to use or own a firearm (Webster and Gostin 1187). Also, evidence shows that if the United States can focus on putting restrictive laws on gun use, it can reduce the current increased morbidity and mortality rates related to the misuse of firearms.
Nonetheless, the issue of gun violence has long been distracted by different conversation that surrounds gun ownership, including mental health assessment, arming school teachers, and conducting the gun purchasers’ criminal background. As it stands, the cases of gun violent mortality and morbidity rates have proven that gun purchasing in America is more for mass destruction rather than for security purposes (McLeod et al. 580). The Ethical Basis of Gun Violence Essay That is because so many young people have access to guns, including individuals that are not supposed to be owning these guns. Considering that children are the ones who suffer most when it comes to gun violence, it is necessary to use multidimensional approaches that can help save the high mortality related to gun violence. For instance, Spero (1) states that approximately three million children in America have been exposed to shootings yearly, with about 4000 teens and children killed and over 15000 injured yearly. As it stands, many countries, including New Zealand and Australia, have used public health intervention concerning gun violence since these countries have also been experiencing mass gun violence murders (McLeod et al. 537). Hence, the question remains of why the United States has failed to acknowledge evidence-based practices that can uphold public health safety, as in other countries that have successfully implemented such interventions. However, such a question has no simple answer since the dilemma within it is actually ethical. One reason for that is that there is little collaboration between the legislature and the healthcare system to identify the ethical issues that surround gun ownership with the current increased gun violence cases (McLeod et al. 537). That is because there will be a need for the current leaders to put aside their self-interest and assess the well-being of American citizens as required by law and Christian Doctrine. The Ethical Basis of Gun Violence Essay
Debate on the Ethical Ground of Gun use and Ownership using Religion Perspective

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Sparing or taking away someone’s life is always a subject related to the Supreme Being from a Christian perspective. That is because God, as the creator of heaven and earth, has power over the universe, including creating life and taking it in His own time. That is why Strawn suggests that even if some Christians use the Bible to support violence, there is a need to understand that our society is more of a blood-saturated society (Crouch and Hays 15). In that case, as a country, the first thing that society can do at the rise of gun mortalities and morbidity is first identify the mistake concerning gun ownership and find effective means to do away with gun violence (Crouch and Hays 8). Also, Wizba (8) states that the main aim of human power ascendance was to ensure that the selected leaders would fight for the plight of humanity. That includes improving human beings living conditions, including unprecedented comfort and convenience levels. One factor that leaders must understand is that God created them to represent Him in exercising humanity. The Ethical Basis of Gun Violence Essay
That is because, despite the chaos expressed in the Bible, most leaders tend to defend the current gun violence in America with, in all circumstances, God showed His compassion and care to human beings (Crouch and Hays 38). Hence, even if the leaders try to justify that owning a gun is due to their security, they should be entitled to pass laws that express care and compassion to larger American citizens. That is, considering there are cases that show that prejudicial killings are more related to ethnic and racial profiling. That means most of the gun violence are just victims of circumstances, particularly due to the stereotype that Blacks are violent, making it one of the reasons why most incarcerated individuals are termed to be people of color compared to others (Whites Wirzba 19). The Ethical Basis of Gun Violence Essay
In such a case, several books in the Bible have cited that God always works towards ensuring that the world experiences compassion, justice, and peace, which means that leaders are required to formulate laws and policies on gun control that adhere to the beneficence and nonmaleficence principles (Crouch and Hays 115). That is because the beneficence principle requires individuals to engage in activities that benefit others, while the nonmaleficence principle directs individuals not to engage in activities that can harm others (Spero 15). In such a case, as a religious country, the American leaders should try to emulate Jesus since he was consistently anti-violence. That is why when Peter struck one of his crucifiers, he restored the ear. That is because God’s kingdom is all about care and compassion for each other. The Ethical Basis of Gun Violence Essay
Conclusion
The paper has evaluated the current debate on the ethical basis of gun violence based on gun ownership in consideration of America as a religious country. In that regard, the main discussion revolves around the contemporary perspective of gun ownership and debate on the ethical grounds of gun use and ownership using a religious perspective. The conclusion is that American leaders must formulate policies while reflecting on beneficence and nonmaleficence ethical principles. That is because, as leaders, they should ensure that they continue protecting God’s creation by all means since, despite some Biblical aspects portraying violence, God has always been a just, compassionate, and caring God. The Ethical Basis of Gun Violence Essay

Works Cited
Crouch, C. L., and Christopher B. Hays, eds. God and Guns: The Bible Against American Gun Culture. Westminster John Knox Press, 2021.
McLeod, Robin S., et al. “A Public Health Approach to Prevent Firearm Related Injuries and Deaths.” Annals of Surgery, vol. 274, no. 4, Oct. 2021, pp. 533–43, https://doi.org/10.1097/SLA.0000000000005056. Accessed 2 May 2022.
Spero, Melissa. “Organizations Behind Ending the Gun Violence Epidemic.” Children’s Legal Rights Journal 43.2 (2023): https://lawecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1279&context=clrj
Turret, Erica, et al. “Second Amendment Sanctuaries: A Legally Dubious Protest Movement.” The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, vol. 48, no. S4, 2020, pp. 105–11, https://doi.org/10.1177/1073110520979408. The Ethical Basis of Gun Violence Essay
Wirzba, Norman. This Sacred Life: Humanity’s Place in a Wound. Cambridge University Press, 2021.
Webster, Daniel W., and Lawrence O. Gostin. “The Supreme Court Expands Second Amendment Rights as the Nation Experiences Historic Levels of Firearms Violence.” JAMA, vol. 328, no. 12, Sept. 2022, p. 1187, https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2022.14073. The Ethical Basis of Gun Violence Essay