Justin Cronin

Cooke, Charles C. W. “Gun-Control Dishonesty.” National Review.com. National Review Online, 13 Dec 2013. Web. 13 July 2014.

Gun violence has been a massive issue through the modern age of humanity and has created a sense of division regarding the solution to this epidemic. In Adam Gopnik’s essay “Shootings”, Gopnik addresses the issue of gun violence and demands a change in American government policy to prevent the tragic killings of innocent lives. Gopnik harnesses the tool of emotion and passion to drive his essay. In Charles Cooke’s essay “Gun Control Dishonesty”, Cooke takes the polar opposite of Gopnik’s approach by utilizing factual evidence to prove the futility of gun control.

In her article, Lepore establishes her credibility by presenting her personal experience with guns and the negative effects they can have. Her credibility is strengthened even more because of her stature as a professor at Harvard. She inputs more sources in her article, such as her firing range experience and her interviews with gun experts and executives from the N.R.A. The sources Lepore selects to back up her article and lead people to thinking what she is stating about gun companies and the way they weaken the amendment are true without aggressively attacking them. Throughout her article, Lepore mentions many past events where guns are put into the hands of the wrong people. Through these events, she argues that not everyone should own a gun by once again providing historical and personal evidence. The stories the author chose to use in her article also grab much attention from her audience since the people in the stories are kids or are similar to the readers themselves-parents and citizens trying to better themselves and raise a family.

Guns are one of the most controversial and debated-upon topics in America today. In the Constitution, Americans are given “the right to bear arms,” and many Americans are proud of and believe strongly in that right. Though, that right has been constantly misused. Homicides by gun are at a higher rate in the United States than any other country in the world, mass shootings are at an all time high (many of which have occurred in the past two years alone), and terrorism has been at an all-time high. So, naturally, it is a topic that needs to be discussed. In the articles Change Your Gun Laws, America (1), author Fareed Zakaria provides the readers with some harrowing statistics on guns and insight over how the U.S. laws on guns need to be managed.

"The Fight over Guns in America." Junior Scholastic, vol. 118, no. 8, 08 Feb. 2016, p. 12. EBSCOhost,

He is talking about how the National Rifle Association rarely talks about the National Firearms act because the two basically contradict each other. The evidence he gave was quite clear and still objective. “Limits on gun ownership, such as registration and background checks, that the N.R.A. regularly insists will lead to the demise of the Second Amendment”. It was quite difficult to determine whether he was being opinionated or not. Can you really determine if that is the main reason that the National Rifle Association rarely talks about the National Firearms Act. Alan later describes that the main goal of gun control is gun confiscation. He also made room for certain discussion on stolen weapons and gun theft. If purchasing a National Firearms Act weapon, you have to pass a F.B.I background check, pay a $200 tax fee, and approved by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. The article then cites Jeff Folloder, the executive director of the N.F.A. Trade and Collectors

Franken was also able to downplay the usefulness of a firearm by including a series of sarcastic tips for tragedy in a home. For example, “1. Keep the gun loaded… 2. Put the gun in an unlocked drawer... 3. Rest assured.”1 Where Franken’s article comes up short is the use of hypothetical numbers to exaggerate and intensify the deadliness of guns. His sarcasm adds diversity to his piece, but should be used sparingly. Franken’s conclusion causes his argument to lose its effectiveness, after building his case it just seems ridiculous and out of place.

Jill Silos-Rooney’s current professional associations include Bethel Woods Center for the Arts., MassBay Community College, and Oxford University Press. She begins her article, “The Top 3 Liberal Arguments for Gun Control”, with an anecdote about a nine-year-old girl who accidentally killed her gun instructor with an Uzi and proceeds to list off two counterarguments and rebuttals and three assertions for gun control in her Thought Co. article, covering what she believes the best arguments for said gun control are. Her strongest pieces of evidence that support her central claim that “America Needs More Gun Control” (page 1) are “Australia, which has a similar frontier history to that of the United

In the United States of America the right to bear arms gave birth to a phenomenon called the “gun culture,” the term coined in 1970 by a historian Richard Hofstadter, which describes America’s heritage and affection for weapons(1). Not only did gun culture become an inseparable part of American democracy, but also it is considered to be synonymous with independence and freedom, the most important values for American society. Even though the crime rate and murder rate in the U.S. is higher than in any other developed country, U.S. citizens oppose every attempt made to pass gun control legislation(2). However, it may sound like a paradox, but the crime level in the most liberal states, when it comes to gun ownership, is the lowest in the

The Atlantic asked its readers about their first memories with guns, and one reader responded with "We lived in southwestern Colorado my first six years of life (1949-1955). My father had a double-barrel shotgun, and a single-barrel one, a .22 rifle, and a “deer rifle.” We ate more venison than beef and almost as much pheasant as chicken.... I never knew where he kept those guns; I never touched one that he didn’t offer. We only saw them when he cleaned them or packed them to go hunting. He let my older sister and me shoot one of them to feel the kick and power and hear the loudness.... When he passed away in 1981, a year after my mother had passed away, we took inventory of their estate, but we never found those guns. Perhaps he sold them or gave them away or simply kept them hidden somewhere so that no one would be able to find them and shoot someone accidentally" (Green). The issue of gun control has been an increasing cynosure in society, growing in its controversy. The polar opposite sides seem to grow further different from one another, with one side supporting and the other opposing gun control laws/actions. Those who support it tend to believe there should either be no place for the firearms in society at all or that there should be very strict restrictions on who may obtain a given firearm. Those who oppose the laws believe there should either be little to no change in current restrictions or, as the National Rifle Association (NRA) advocates, there ought to be

This is because it is alleged that 40% illegally obtain firearms on the black market, and as a result, the “good guy” with a gun, would stop the “bad guy” with a gun. Such assumptions, are right – winged propaganda, spurred by pro-gun associations, such as the NRA, in an attempt, to sway the Capital against the need for additional regulated gun reform. Their argument is fallible, because it implies, that an armed populace will deter criminals. Also, it negates the fact, that statistics have shown, that more guns, lead to more unnatural

Attention Getter: “The battle over guns has proven to be one of the most dangerous in America’s culture wars- and with the murder of 58 people in Las Vegas Sunday night, the debate over how to regulate them has begun again. The argument over gun control isn’t merely about safety. It’s about identity. The gun has transcended its function as a weapon to become a powerful cultural marker. It can signal what kind of person you are, and often to which tribe you belong”. – amp.usatoday.com

The two articles both looked at the gun control issues in different ways. The Backwoods Home Magazine says “it’s about failed social programs, the destruction of the black family in America, and the rotten politicians who are responsible”(Silveira, Gun Control, race, and rotten politicians, 1). The American Enterprise talks about how articles are often published about the victims getting shot or killed, but not when the victim acts in self defense to protect them against a criminal.

When we hear the term gun control, we think of opposing sides of the topic arguing whether citizens should continue to have the right to bear arms or not, including the possible consequences of continuing the use of the second amendment. As we know, gun violence is one a the major political issues that has caused public corruption and still continue to this day. During Barack Obama’s eight year term of presidency, he announced his thoughts and plan for change on how to limit gun control violence. He discusses how gun control can affect the lives of citizens physical and mental health, along with overall lifestyle. Barack shares past tragedies of gun violence and how gun control has played a huge role into our society. Throughout this speech Barack Obama gives on gun control, he persuades the public by using ethos, pathos, and logos to highlight the important concepts for change of this amendment.

Charles W. Collier’s article, “Gun Control in America: An Autopsy Report”, dives into the controversial topic of gun ownership and gun control in the United States. He uses recent shootings, including the George Zimmerman case and the Connecticut elementary