Guns and Clauses : On the epidemic of American mass shootings

Abstract: The matter of mass shootings is a widely discussed topic all over the USA, and what is frequently given as a reason to the high number of mass shootings is the lack of background checks and the generally lax gun policies in the USA. But can mass shootings in the USA be impeded by controllaws and if so, how? What other possible ways of impeding mass shootings are there? What other possible ways to impede mass shootings are there? How does public opinion affect the possibility to adopt new gun restrictions in the USA? This thesis examines, using a path-dependent perspective, what role the American gun policy has in creating mass shootings, and whether creating stricter gunlaws could make a desired difference in decreasing the number of fatal mass shootings.Furthermore, this thesis examines the role of public debate in adopting new gun regulations. The study is a scoping review, with the intent of creating a summary of the various contributions to the discussion about the issue. Materials for the scoping review has been gathered using Google and the Umeå university library search engine. The theoretical framework used is the so-called path dependence theory, which claims that current decisions are largely dependent on decisions made int he past, and that it is difficult for institutions to choose a new path once one has been established.The thesis concludes that strict gun regulations contribute in impeding mass shootings, as has been shown in other countries such as Australia or Finland. Furthermore, in the USA, there seems to be acorrelation between high gun ownership rate and number of mass shootings. There are other measures that have been tried, but, although these measures help in minimizing damage once a shooting occurs, they are not efficient in preventing such incidents.