"Guns and Violence: The English Experience"

Paper Summary:

This paper explores whether societies in which guns are available to the general public are likely to have lower incidence of violent crimes than those where guns are not readily available. The paper provides particular reference to Joyce Lee Malcolm's "Guns and Violence: The English Experience." It concludes that Malcolm's analysis requires us to consider how a range of variables - from culture to crime statistics methodology -inform and, to a degree, transform the parameters of this debate.

From the Paper:

"This being said, however, one critical factor distinguishes Hickock and Smith from the defendants in the My Lai case; a factor that is evident in Capote's choice of a title for his text: "In Cold Blood". While there are indications that Hickock and Smith may have been troubled to some extent by the brutality of their murders of the Clutter family, this unease did not prevent them from planning on similarly murdering and stealing while hitchhiking across the American south. Both men were not only free agents - to the extent that they were not under orders or a part of a larger organization engaged in an enterprise such as war - but neither were in fear of their lives from victims or those associated with their victims. Thus, self-defense cannot be said to enter into their crimes in any way, shape or form. Instead, and unlike the killings at My Lai, the sole purpose of the murders committed by Hickock and Smith were to further their lifestyle of gaining money through theft without work; the murders simply being a way of ensuring that there were no witnesses who could finger Smith and Hickock for the thefts."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bilton, Michael and Sim, Kevin. Four Hours in My Lai. New York: Penguin, 1992.
• Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and its Consequences. New York: Vintage, 1965.
• Malcolm, Joyce Lee. Guns and Violence: The English Experience. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002.

More papers on "Guns and Violence: The English Experience":

• Analytical Essay # 133394 : "Murder and Other Crimes"
• Analytical Essay # 7257 : "The English Patient"
• Analytical Essay # 33165 : "The English Patient"

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