Urrbrae AHS Research Project B



Summary My research examined why America has not followed Australia and the UK’s lead in gun control. My key findings revealed that despite overwhelming evidence supporting stricter gun laws, the National Rifle Association (NRA) and a strong gun culture has prevented a change in gun legislation within America. By formulating a report, my Outcome explored possible reasons for America’s rigid gun regulations. It was found that the NRA has a strong political influence on the American parliament and is therefore able to control laws limiting gun ownership. Furthermore, it was apparent that many Americans feel strong ties with their historic gun culture. A vast majority whole-heartedly defend the Second Amendment, an Amendment supporting citizens’ gun rights. In addition, it was revealed that several countries tightened gun ownership regulations following significant massacres. Finally, an analysis of key findings illustrated a correlation between stricter gun laws and a decrease in gun related deaths.Word Count: 150Evaluation E1: Evaluation of the research processes used, specific to the research question Primary ContactPrimary research, specifically emailing a primary contact within the Australian police force was the most effective process of finding relevant information. A specialist within the Adelaide Police Force’s Firearms Unit provided current, credible information regarding firearm use in Australia after the 1996-gun reforms. This primary research reinforced information previously discovered from The Conversation and The Guardian newspaper online. For example, statistical evidence, such as the rate of gun deaths after the 1996-reforms and the percentage of Australian police officers carrying firearms were both confirmed by this primary contact. This process provided invaluable and extensive first-hand information regarding the shifting number of firearms in Australia. The comments made regarding their experience within the firearms unit were elucidating, such pertinent information is unlikely to be available in a book or webpage. They provided a first-hand account of the reduction in gun violence throughout the duration of their career. This established an important key finding, allowing me to further validate prior research that, in Australia, after the 1996-gun reforms, guns and gun related incidents steadily decreased. Primary contact was the most crucial research process, having the highest degree of credibility when compared with other research processes such as Media Analysis and Online Searching. While a limited amount of primary sources were analysed, the usefulness of these outweigh other research processes.Online SearchingOnline Searching was a highly effective Research Process and a necessity as the research question had an international focus. As Online Searching yielded information on a global scale, it was an essential process when conducting research. Gaining information from websites such as World Atlas (Ontieno, 2018) provided extensive, reliable information on current gun laws in America and how these laws varied from state to state. Many sources discovered through this process referred directly to my research topic, therefore, providing an extensive range of perspectives through which I established significant trends and reliable information. ‘Four countries with gun control’ (Jowit, 2019) was one of the many collaborative sources containing different perspectives, this article having 4 different authors. Furthermore, information provided by the NRA (National Rifle Association) official website was vital when answering my sub-question: “Why do American gun laws remain so lenient?”. This website contained credible information from the NRA’s perspective, thus providing an overall balance of information on this topic. In addition, several sources (Vox, The Guardian, British Broadcasting Network) contained studies of death certificates, investigating the rate of death by firearms and how this differed from country to country. After checking the studies validity and scrutinising their methodology, this information was utilised, and established the key finding that stricter gun laws have a significant impact on death rates in different countries (UK and Australia). Online Searching was a crucial part of my research as it allowed extensive searching of information on a global scale. However, Online Searching provided several thousand results, requiring a high level of critical analysis when discerning the legitimacy of these sources. Media AnalysisInformation found from analysing TV programs and media via YouTube was an asset to my research and provided extensive public insight into the NRA and its societal influence. This process provided a range of credible information that became vital when answering my question. One example of this was the documentary Bowling for Columbine (Moore, 2002). The information obtained from this documentary was crucial when writing subsections relating to the NRA in America and its influence. Bowling for Columbine (Moore, 2002) discussed the impact the NRA has on the American public and showed its influence on American politicians. In addition, it contained several interviews with members of the American public, providing information as to why Americans believe gun laws cannot be changed. Similarly, this process proved vital when watching Louis Theroux, Murder in Milwaukee. This documentary reinforced previous findings, confirming the reliability of these sources. Theroux’s documentary re-established information regarding America’s history with guns and why its gun habits are so unique, suggesting the two may correlate. Furthermore, the information taken from these sources proved invaluable, enabling further development of my focus area by validating prior research that in America, the NRA dominates American politics and greatly influences American legislation. However, Moore and Theroux are known for their liberal political views, therefore, these sources contain some degree of bias, and unlike Online Searching, this information is difficult to validate. Sources found through media analysis allowed me to visualise key concepts, such as the percentage of the world’s firearms being in America. This number is hard to fathom, but easily understood when displayed in a visual format. This clarified the scale of these statistics, benefitting me greatly in writing my Outcome. Much like Online Searching, many of these sources contained personal bias, often from the producers/narrators, which discredited certain aspects of the information. E2: Evaluation of decisions made in response to challenges and/or opportunities specific to the research processes usedA major challenge I experienced with all the research processes during the preliminary stages of the research phase was the limited amount of information available on Ghost Guns, the original focus of my research. To refine this topic, I decided to search online, sifting through numerous websites to gain a greater understanding of key points within American gun legislation. The search engine Google lead me to the source, “Democracy Changed After Scrapping a Third of its Firearms” (Alpers, 2013). This website illustrated the impact stricter gun laws can have on societies following a mass shooting, which intrigued me. The decision to refine my question using pivotal information from this site and other examined sources was essential for me to utilise different research processes. With the new question I could now utilise the database EBSCO, providing numerous differing articles and transcripts. I was also able to watch three different media sources: Bowling for Columbine, How to sell a Massacre Part 1 & 2 and Murder in Milwaukee. Each of these sources provided highly credible information, despite some containing bias. Evidence was provided to support these views without needing to discredit information. Furthermore, this new question provided millions of articles when conducting an advanced web search. An opportunity encountered while undertaking online research was the discovery of Professor Philip Alpers’ website “”. While reading through several different sources, Alpers’ work and statements were cited numerous times. After seeing his name referenced in several more articles, I decided to find out more information, checking his credibility. I discovered his website, , with over 200,000 pages of news, data and comparative tables providing published evidence on armed violence and firearm law/control. Further investigation revealed to be highly credible and world renown, having sponsors such as: Global Campaign for Violence Prevention and Centre for Armed Violence Reduction. This new platform was crucial when writing my Outcome, allowing me to justify evidence with valid studies. In addition, it provided links to a myriad of sources that reinstated this information, proving its reliability. In discovering such a reputable platform, it allowed me to broaden my search to statistical evidence rather than relying on opinions and anecdotal evidence. Furthermore, this opportunity provided imperative evidence and numerical data relating to the impact that stricter gun laws can have on a society and thus emerged as a key finding. E3: Evaluation of the quality of the research outcome The aim of the research Outcome was to establish reasons behind America’s lenient gun laws, using a variety of different sources to support this answer. Overall my research Outcome was a thorough reflection of my acquired knowledge and understanding, although not without its shortcomings.My research Outcome collated the information I had assessed in the research phase. I believe the quality of my Outcome was commendable as I successfully analysed and ascertained two main answers for my research question. Credibility was pivotal in validating my evidence. After careful selection of statistical evidence from different sources such as (Alpers, 2013) and the British Broadcasting Channel (Beck, 2017), I was able to substantiate my key findings. This helped to develop my ability to synthesise information and form a conclusion as to the reasons why America has not followed Australia and the UK’s gun regulation laws. Despite incorporating a multitude of sources, I found it arduous to create a balance of information regarding the pro-gun and anti-gun debate in America. My Outcome was largely based on secondary research, with the use of one primary contact to support this information. This may have been as a result of my initial views on gun ownership impacting the sources I chose to use, resulting in an unintentional personal bias. However, public judgement of guns in America is extremely controversial, with a majority being “anti-gun”, which could have also contributed to the bias within sources. As a result of this, limited sources were “pro-gun” and consequently there is a slight imbalance of information within the Outcome. Furthermore, there is a large amount of statistical evidence to support stricter gun laws and their correlation with decreasing gun deaths. There was no statistical evidence found refuting this argument, leaving certain parts of the Outcome without supporting numerical data. Overall the Outcome provided extensive details to answer my question, however, utilisation of more balanced sources would have further eliminated the element of bias. Word Count: 1497Reference List Jowit, J, Laville, S, Otterman P, McCurry J, Beckett L & Wahlquist, C March 15, 2017 7:47pm, Four countries with gun control – and what America could learn from them, The Guardian, viewed 16 April 2019, < for Columbine 2002, DVD, MGM Distribution Co., United States of America. Written, produced, directed, and narrated by Michael Moore.Alpers, P 2013, The Big Melt: How One Democracy Changed After Scrapping a Third of its Firearms, United Nations Trust Facility, Sydney, viewed 19 March 2019, <;. Beck, K 2017, Are Australia's gun laws the solution for the US?, BBC, Sydney, viewed 11 March 2019, <;. Australia confiscated 650,000 guns. Murders and Suicides plummeted? 2016, BBC News Online, Australia, viewed 8 April 2019, <bbc.co.uk/guides/z3t2hv4>. Chapman, S 2016, No massacres and an accelerating decline in overall gun deaths: the impact of Australia’s major 1996 gun law reforms, TheConversation, Australia, viewed 24 April 2019, < Otieno, M May 13 2018, What Are America's Current Gun Laws?, WorldAtlas, viewed 16 April 2019, <;. ................
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