Topic Selection
The implications and effectiveness of gun control policies in the United States is the theme selected for the informative synthesis essay. The topic was chosen due to the ongoing discussion and widespread public anxiety about gun control in the US, which gave rise to several laws and restrictions at the state and federal levels. In addition to being relevant, the subject has a plethora of data from numerous stakeholders, including lawmakers, proponents of gun rights, and public health officials, creating a solid foundation for a thorough, insightful synthesis essay. Concerns about this subject include the abundance of available information, which calls for a systematic method to sift through and select the most trustworthy and pertinent sources for an objective presentation of facts.
Annotated Bibliography
Kruis, N. E., Wentling, R. L., Frye, T. S., & Rowland, N. J. (2021). Firearm ownership, defensive gun usage, and support for gun control: Does knowledge matter? American Journal of Criminal Justice, 48(1), 21–50. Web.
Kruis et al. (2021) examined the relationship between gun ownership, self-defense use of firearms, and support for gun control policies, demonstrating how views toward gun control are influenced by knowledge. This source was selected owing to its thorough examination of gun ownership and the range of viewpoints on gun control. However, the issue with using this source is that it concentrates just on Pennsylvania, which may not give a complete picture of the national mood and laws about gun control.
Pomeranz, J. L., Silver, D., & Lieff, S. A. (2021). State gun-control, gun-rights, and preemptive firearm-related laws across 50 US states for 2009–2018. American Journal of Public Health, 111(7), 1273–1280. Web.
From 2009 through 2018, 50 US States’ gun-control, gun rights, and preemptive firearm-related laws were examined by Pomeranz et al. (2021). This source helps us understand how state gun control laws have changed over the past nine years because it provides a complete analysis of those laws. The issue with this source is that it only covers the years up to 2018, and there may have been significant changes to gun control laws since then that this source has yet to catch up.
Post, L. A., Mason, M., Singh, L. N., Wleklinski, N. P., Moss, C. B., Mohammad, H., Issa, T. Z., Akhetuamhen, A., Brandt, C., Welch, S. B., & Oehmke, J. F. (2021). Impact of firearm surveillance on gun control policy: Regression discontinuity analysis. JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, 7(4). Web.
Post et al. (2021) looked into how firearm monitoring affected gun control legislation, concentrating in particular on the efficacy of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (FAWB) (1994-2004) in preventing mass shootings in public. This source was chosen to empirically examine a key gun control measure and its effect on public safety. The study’s primary focus on the Federal Assault Weapons Ban raises questions about how well other gun control measures may be understood.