Stop Gun Violence

Sandy Hook Promise’s 2016 public service announcement (PSA) garnered attention for showing how clear warning signs for gun violence could be easily missed. The foundation was established after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. It is led mainly by people who have lost loved ones in the shooting or other instances of gun violence (Sandy Hook Promise). The foundation’s mission is to “prevent gun-related deaths due to crime, suicide, and accidental discharge so that no other parent experiences the senseless, horrific loss of their child” (Sandy Hook Promise).

The two articles that I have read were “Connecticut School Shooting ‘An Attack on America’” by Ted Anthony and “The Price of Gun Control by Dan Baum. All around I believe these articles were both very interesting and both took different perspectives on the issues of guns in America. Both Anthony and Baum illustrated the different problems that we have in America and our communities with gun control and gun violence. But, they both brought the text together to relate it on a personal level. I enjoyed reading both texts and connecting to each one on a different level.

Taya Kyle, the author of the article “American Sniper Widow: Gun Control Won’t Protect Us”, believes that there are two sides of the argument on gun control. People can use statistics, facts, and real life examples to argue that there should be stricter control of guns in the US, but they cannot eliminate the emotional side of the story. While in the last two decades, violent crime rates have actually been reduced in the US, fears have gone up. Anyone can be a victim of a violent crime because if another person decides to do harm, they will do it under any circumstances.

In this article, Greenhaven Press, is an American publishing company which mainly publishes books on social issues, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning, explains how an improvement of stronger gun control law will save lives. Green haven Press, faults that some gun-control laws are usually board and leaves room for loopholes. Greenhaven Press, developed their thesis by citing statistical facts, the District of Columbia v. Heller case, and quotes from the Second Amendment and the Brandy Act to show how gun-control laws came about and developed flaws through-out time. Greenhaven press’s research shows that the production of the black market of guns would never die out and the only way to keep structure within the American society is to make stronger

In “Ready, Aim- Voting” September 22, 2016, Gail Collins claims that the controversy between having gun control or even a training session before buying a gun is coming up because of the elections coming up. Collins supports her claim by giving the example of Jason Kander who was in an advertisement to not allow Hillary clinton to take away the “gun rights” americans have. Collins is hoping to make Americans understand that it's not safe to not have some restrictions with guns in public because gun control has been a problem since many years ago. The author shows a persuasive and informative tone in her article because we should think on who we want for our next president and so far, both political parties don’t have good nominees for president

The political spectrum in general, have grasped manipulative rhetoric tactics in gaining the public’s support on both sides of the prominent gun possession issue. As everyone knows, the media exploits a multitude of strategies and tactics to influence the community in a specific direction, depending on what opinions they are trying to press on the people.

"Battleground America," written by Jill Lepore, provides a strong history of guns and the way they have changed in the eyes of the American through the years. She proves her point with strong evidence throughout her article, sprinkling it with opinion and argument that is strongly supported. She presents her argument to convince her audience that the open availability of guns allows citizens to undeservingly purchase them by displaying the credibility in her sources, using negative connotations in her speech, and the strength and objectivity only a strong logos appeal can provide.

In 2016 there where more deaths due to firearms in American then due to car accidents, according to the National Centers for Disease control. It can happen anywhere, anytime, and anyplace. It can happen to anyone, young old, black and white. It can be an accident, it can be on purpose. Gun deaths happen everywhere, even right here in Iowa. In the editorial featured in the Iowa City Press-Citizen, “Students, Families Deserve Common-Sense Gun Safety Laws,” the author uses logos, pathos, and ethos to convince legislators to pass common sense gun laws. He believes Iowans deserve these laws passed to better protect us.

The relevance of gun violence has been on the rise today and often one cannot walk away from the news without hearing a story related to gun violence either being covered or displayed on the news ticker scrolling through the screen. This paper will analyze three sources: an article written by Dov Cohen, titled “Culture, Social Organization, and Patterns of Violence,”on the trends of violence based on location, a Ted Talk given by Dan Gross, titled “Why Gun Violence Cannot become America’s New Normal,”on the topic of gun violence and how it affected his life as well a proposition to ending violence in the U.S, and an article, “Analyzing Available Data Could Help Improve Background Checks Involving Domestic Violence Records,” written by the U.S. Government of Accountability Office(GAO) which covers the process of background checks within the sales of firearms. These three sources will be evaluated on the basis that they evoke a strong argument with the use of ethos, pathos, and logos within their pieces.

On December 14, 2012 a mass shooting occurred in Newton, Connecticut at Sandy Hook Elementary School resulting in the deaths of twenty children and six adults. The gun used at the elementary school was an AR-15 which was registered to the assailant's mother. This same assault rifle was used in an Oregon mall shooting two days before, as well as in the Colorado movie theater shooting of July 2012 (Zornick 2013). Since this incident, politicians as well as businesses throughout the United States have responded by trying to limit the ability of American citizens to acquire firearms. Specifically the purpose of this research is to analyze what degree the Wal-Mart chain's selling of firearms will have on the American public.

For many years, people have been pushing the American government to implement new laws that deal with gun control. Supporters of the argument claim that increased gun control will drastically reduce the crime rate in America. Nevertheless, a majority of gun control arguments are formed from strict control of data and emotional appeal. The mainstream media picks up these stories and broadcasts them to viewers without providing any context to them. While gun control activists assert that gun control is necessary, the American government should not ban guns because of the following reasons: potential vulnerability of innocent people being shot at by criminals and the inability for people to defend themselves against their own government.

Michael Moore’s flawed 2002 expository documentary Bowling for Columbine is ineffective in its goals to open Americas eyes to its very serious gun violence problem. Michael Moore sets out to uncover why the United States can’t seem to end its devastating and reoccurring mass shootings, by using deception as its primary tool of persuasion and effect, Moore attempts to vilify pro-gun activists. The humorous documentary frequently highpoints controversial decisions and actions made by the then President of the National Rifle Association Charlton Heston. Bowling also raises issues such as the ease of buying pointless high powered assault weapons just about anywhere, and American media’s film first ask later attitude towards gun crimes and social and racial issues. Americans are left even more paranoid and hostile than ever before, something the documentary should have set out to end.

Today, there is a huge debate over the extent of America’s gun control. Unfortunately, in the past three years school shootings have greatly increased to become a common occurrence. The drastic escalation of mass shootings have created strong arguments for further restrictive laws against assault weapons. Media is an outlet to express persuasive arguments on certain issues and convince the viewers. Advertisements vary from videos for clothing companies to posters on controversial issues, however, the basis of ads do not take away influence and meaning. Therefore, and argument to buy a product can be as common and as present as gun law commercials. With the recent past in mind, countless ads for gun control have surfaced, and whole there are

The media gladly celebrities people who commit mass shootings and it seems we here about them every day. Despite the fact that gun crime is actually decreasing and owning a firearm is technically one of the safests products you can buy due to there being about 1 per person in the United States and only a tiny fraction of a percent of them are used in crimes. When we hear about all these shootings though we also start to overlook other things that have high death tools, such as drinking and driving, mal medial practice, or even overdose. People think gun violence is through the roof but people are losing sight that there are many other things just as common that kill far more people per year. That is what this ad is trying to remind us

Gun violence has been on the rise for many years and there seems to be no solution. People feel more protected with guns in their home, but actually this increases their risk to be in harm’s way of being hurt or killed because of the gun. The majority of gun ownership is owned by civilians “75 percent of the world’s 875 million guns are civilian controlled”(Gun Violence). People also feel more protected when they carry a gun on their person but this also increases their risk of being harmed “Philadelphia study found that the odds of an assault victim being shot were 4.5 times greater if he carried a gun" and that "his odds of being killed were 4.2 times greater when armed”(Gun Violence). If people knew that it increases their risk of being killed then not very many people will carry a gun around.