Reasons For Unsuccessful American Gun Control Movement

America is suffering a heavy loss from gun violence every day. Undoubtedly, actions should be taken to improve the situation. This is why the gun control movement came into being. In recent years, gun control has attracted more and more people’s attentions. Though nobody has pointed out its final result, it can be seen that the gun control movement till today has not yet succeeded.The thesis studies the reasons why the gun control movement has not succeeded by analyzing American gun culture, laws and rights that are related to guns, and people’s attitudes toward gun control. This thesis holds the idea that, despite the achievements, gun control can not shake the foundation of guns, thus it can not succeed. From the perspective of culture, gun culture is deeply rooted in American history, which makes guns irreplaceable for Americans. From the perspective of law, the Second Amendment is so disputable that gun control advocates can hardly use it as a strong defense; the principle of non-retroactivity allows no enactment of gun laws that infringe previous gun owners’ rights, thus private guns that already existed are under protection; property right is another protection for gun owners. Locke’s theory of property has a profound influence on the U.S. What one earned lawfully is under protection. No government can infringe people’s property right. From the perspective of feasibility, the extent of gun control is gun ban instead of mere gun control. Also, there is not enough evidence to show gun control reduces violence rates, which increases the difficulty of enacting new gun laws. In addition, Americans’ changing attitudes towards gun control indicate that they do not support gun control very much. Even if gun control advocates successfully eliminate the influence of gun culture and want to ratify gun-related laws, they have to persuade the public that gun control will not infringe people’s rights and that the U.S. will thus be a rather safe place. But gun ban will certainly infringe people’s rights and no gun control research is authentic enough to convince legislators and the public to favor stricter gun control. To sum up, gun control in the U.S. can not succeed.