The Creation of a Monopoly on Violence
The Monopoly
There is a push towards a monopoly on violence. This monopoly is dangerous and can lead to violence against others without resistance.
A movement grows as we speak to tighten the restrictions on guns and diminish the Second Amendment. This movement is because of the seemingly increase in mass shooting attacks (mass shooting typically refers to 4 or more people being shot).
Their response to the mass shooting problem is that guns are the problem and that we need to have more gun-free zones and remove guns from our society as a whole. This will create a monopoly on violence. No one will be able to defend themselves from the people who do not follow the laws.
So if removing guns and creating gun-free zones isn’t the solution to preventing mass shootings, what is? Well, we can go back to the question: how do we prevent any crime?
Preventing Crime
As mentioned in my article How to Prevent Crime there are three factors that prevent crime, morality, probability of getting caught, and punishment for crime. Changing these factors will affect whether or not a person will commit said crime. The degree to which you must adjust these values change with each crime, it’s a nuanced model and difficult to balance. But it is possible.
Getting Caught
Creating spaces like gun-free zones drastically decreases the probability of getting caught. Thus increasing the likelihood of someone committing a crime in that area. This is why you see more and more school shootings, since 1990 when we pass the Gun-Free School Zones Act. All that did was put a huge target on school.
With this act, the probability of getting caught is much less than in locations that allow open or concealed carry. Therefore criminals are more likely to commit violent acts in schools and other gun-free zones.
They have a monopoly on the violence in these areas. If guns aren’t allowed in this area and they come waltzing in with a gun, who’s going to stop them? The people with no guns? Good luck.
The way to prevent mass shootings and school shootings with the getting caught factor is to increase the present resistance if a shooting was attempted. That means removing the monopoly of violence in these areas and allowing others to have guns to stop the shooter.
Now it’s not as perfect and simple as that. But using simple Game Theory, if a criminal wants to commit a mass shooting he will choose a location in which he is more likely to be successful. So one prevention method is to make fewer locations in which a criminal can be successful in his acts.
Punishment
When talking about a school shooter or any kind of mass shooter, although their acts are horrific and irrational, it is important to remember that these acts are rational to them. They go into these acts knowing the punishment for their crime is life in prison or death, but that still doesn’t deter them. The only way to adjust this factor is to increase the punishment of the crime.
This can be torturing them first before killing them or before throwing them in jail. Ironically that is inhumane and cruel and unusual punishment, violating the Eighth Amendment.
I still think it is important to mention this as a solution since other solutions to the same problem are violating the Second Amendment. I disagree with adjusting the punishment for these crimes as we give power to the government to commit cruel and unusual punishment, which is worse in the big picture than the acts of an individual.
Morals
It is clear that almost everyone thinks mass shootings and school shootings are morally wrong. But clearly, there are some who think otherwise. So how do we convince these people that what they are doing is morally wrong and thus prevent them from committing these crimes?
That is a very difficult question to answer. One factor in where their morals are at and how they act is how they were raised. More importantly, if they were raised with two parents in the household.
Single Parent Households
The same-sex parent in a household is the most important parent to their child. It gives an example and mentors to look up to. They learn from them and follow in their footsteps to be like them.
About 25% of children, don’t have that parent to guide them through this relentless world. That’s about 3 times higher than it was in 1960 (around 9%), and more than 3 times higher than the worldwide average (around 7%). Why is this so important?
Well, a child who grows up with only one parent in the household is more likely to be in poverty and turn towards a life of crime. More likely to be abused, emotionally unstable, struggle academically, and be delinquent. These factors follow the children into adulthood and are the most incarcerated population.
It’s the fact that our culture has accepted single parents and fatherless homes as normal which has led to these issues arising. It is not only that our culture accepts it but our government incentives it too. We give tax breaks and other income benefits to single parents with children. Similar to how the government incentives being poor. All this does is gives an incentive for people to be single parents.
Incentivize the Nulcear Family
Just imagine if the government gave you tax breaks and income benefits only if you were married and had children. We would have a lot more nuclear homes than we do now. This would reduce crime, reduce poverty, and increase productivity.
The impact of fatherless homes and single-parent households is seen even more prevalent in Asian American homes. They have the smallest percentage of single-parent homes at around 3%. They also have the smallest incarceration population and highest income earners with a median income of $85,000.
Having two parents in the household is the most important factor to reduce crime and is also the most overlooked. We need to change the discussion when a mass shooting happens from gun control, the second amendment, and police to what caused the aggressor to commit these acts, how was he/she raised, and how we promote more of a nuclear family.
Creating a Monopoly on Violence is not the solution to our gun violence problem. Promoting nuclear families and two parents in the household with help fix the problem at its roots.
Sources
https://nypost.com/2022/05/27/we-overlook-a-significant-factor-in-mass-shootings-fatherlessness/
Cynthia C. Harper and Sara S. McLanahan, “Father Absence and Youth Incarceration,” Journal of Research on Adolescence 14, no. 3 (2004): 369-397.
M. Anne Hill and June O’Neill, Underclass Behaviors in the United States: Measurement and Analysis of Determinants (New York: City University of New York, Baruch College, 1990). Robert Rector, “Married Fathers: America’s Greatest Weapon Against Child Poverty,” June 16, 2010.