Acts of violence have increased affecting both the victims and the public sense of the general welfare of the society. This has called forth the launching of campaigns that aim at preventing crimes. Reducing violence is key for the success of any social system making it a primary goal. Gun control is a public policy issue that addresses the right to carry guns among members of the public.
Key Trends
The key trends that have shaped the evolution of public policies regarding gun control include the focus on community-oriented policing, increased use of technology, and the threat of cybercrimes. Community-oriented policing was aimed at building trust and respect between the community and the police through working together to address crime challenges (Shi & Lee, 2018). Increased use of technology has made it easy for police to ensure public safety through the use of technologies s thus shaping the policies on who has the right to carry guns. The threat of cybercrimes is growing at a fast rate so specialized technology and knowledge are required to address this thereby shaping policies on gun control. The policies around the issue of gun control have evolved, and the right to carry is given to selected individuals to reduce crimes. This is so since there are laws developed to determine who is to buy new firearms, the type to buy, and how the sale should occur. Community-oriented policing and advanced technology trends have influenced this evolution.
Court Cases
There are court cases that have shaped the evolution of public policies relating to gun control-right to carry. The court case on the shooting that occurred at Marjory Stoneman school resulted in the death of seventeen people is one of them (Shi & Lee, 2018). From this incident, seventeen others were injured forcing survivors to launch a gun-control organization for students and urge lawmakers to implement effective gun control regulations. The court case related to National Firearms Act (NFA) also shaped the evolution of policies since it required restriction for the sale and ownership of certain risky firearms.
Impact On Public Perception
Community-oriented policing has made the public realize that their safety is prioritized by security agencies. The passing of NFA made members of the public realize that measures are being put in place to control gun-related killings. An example is when the Gun Control Act was passed as a result of the killings of Marin Luther King resulted in a ban of mail-order sales of all guns to some specific parties (Shi & Lee, 2018). These specific events have caused the evolution of public perception by making them realize that the right to carry guns around should not be granted to everyone.
Predictions
The future direction of public policies can be predicted since the evidence is required for solutions. I would predict that psychology may be used in community-oriented policing and the threat of cybercrimes to make contributions to policies for gun control. Research on evolution risk can also be applied to regulate the right to carry firearms to reduce misconduct. The public policies might continue to evolve by redirecting developmental backgrounds and bigger sociocultural procedures that may lead to gun-related deaths.
Criminology Theory and Connections
Social learning theory explains the development of policies relating to gun control. This is so since from the theory, the use of guns is examined and found out that male felons with guns are with greater exposure to gun violence (Shi & Lee, 2018). From this theory, the influence of trends on developing policies can be developed since it considers gun control to be an integral part of ensuring crime prevention. This explains how policies regarding community-oriented policing should be developed. There are connections between social learning theory and departmental policy. The theory explains how associating with criminals can cause one to engage in crimes and departmental policies ensure that there is no association between gun criminals and others. The theory also has connections to federal policies restricting ownership of guns to specific individuals since it states that exposure leads to crimes through modeling.
Reference
Shi, W., & Lee, L. F. (2018). The effects of gun control on crimes: a spatial interactive fixed effects approach. Empirical economics, 55(1), 233-263.