When using sociology, the aim is to find trends and structuring in aspects of how the human society works. Understanding guns within the U.S. and the public opinions on different aspects related to them are best shown through a sociology perspective with data and statistics to back it up. One article which hits on several aspects of gun control and public opinion is an article entitled "Public Opinion on Gun Control" written by Lisa Wade on December 17th in 2012. Of this article, there are several charts which include analysis of the statistics which have been collected through survey analysis and census data and then presented in the article through secondary data analysis.
The article opens with background knowledge about the topic of gun control including a chart explaining the current interest in guns and gun control. It continues to explain through charts and analysis that there is differing support of gun policies and current gun legislation as well as how that aspect has shifted through the last few years in the United States.
Finally, it concludes with a section on gun-related deaths. The author illustrates that through sociology it is difficult to prove correlation that more legally owned guns lead to more gun deaths, especially since there are factors such as population density, level of stress, and differing opinions on guns which affect the death rate tied to guns.
This piece of sociological perspective shows how the public often views guns and gun control and ties that to the current statistics about guns. It is important to understand both the background and how statistics are shown in current climates, especially when hoping to prevent some of the violence related to guns and protect innocent lives. By finding trends and focusing on how the public functions with how the gun climate is currently can lead to a better understanding further in the future.
Wade, Lisa. n.d. “Public Opinion on Gun Control - Sociological Images.” Sociological Images Public Opinion on Gun Control Comments. Retrieved November 7, 2017 (https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2012/12/17/public-opinion-on-gun-control/).
