Gun Control Ethos Pathos Logos

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For many years, gun control has been a disagreeable topic to debate about.From , The Legal Information Institute, the Second Amendment states, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms.” In other words, citizens of America have the right to keep weapons in homes for self defense. Which clearly means the Second Amendment has established the foundation of gun control, which has caused many debates in the past, and in current times. Authors use rhetorical appeals, ethos, logos, and pathos, when discussing issues such as gun control to persuade readers to take one side or the other. Ethos is the appeal of credibility , which is the appeal to convince the reader to respect or value the authors opinion. For example, in the article “Gun …show more content…

For instance, in “Gun Violence in America: The Struggle for Control”, a book about gun control, Kirsten Goss states, “the book covers everything from "wild west" shootouts to the landmark firearm laws of the 1920s and 1930s to the present political debate over massacres in schools”. Logos is shown through the time periods, 1920’s and 1930’s, because it is a fact that firearm laws took place during those times. Another example would be in , “Individualism and Collectivism in America: The Case of Gun Ownership and Attitudes Toward Gun Control”, Author Katarzyna Celinska writes, “This article uses a unidimensional index of individualism and collectivism to analyze one of the most debated sociopolitical issues in America: gun ownership and gun control. It tests the hypothesis that the widespread gun ownership in the United States and prevailing attitudes toward gun control”. The statement proves facts about individualism and collectivism because of the analysis and hypotenuse that Celinska is conducting with gun control. Specifically another article, “Should More Gun Control Laws be Enacted”, from ProConorg Headlines, PhD and author John R. Lott, Jr. writes , “A Nov. 26, 2013 study found that, between 1980 and 2009, "assault weapons bans did not significantly affect murder rates at the state level" and "states with restrictions on the carrying of concealed weapons had higher …show more content…

For example, in “Disarmed: the missing movement for gun control in America”, Harrison L. claims, “This thoughtful, well-documented book should be read and examined by would-be gun control activists and other advocates for social reform, as it illustrates the dilemma of government-that-is, as opposed to government-that-should-be”. Meaning the author clearly used pathos to express how wonderful the book is and how the book was for gun control. For instance, in the “Shootings reignite gun control debate in America”, The Evening Standard says, “the issue had taken a back seat since the September 11 terror attacks. President George Bush, who spent yesterday at the campus and ordered flags to be flown at half-mast throughout the nation”. Pathos is clearly shown in the statement above to convince readers of why gun control is needed because the author used a tragic and touchy subject for Americans, and readers will be able to relate back to the subject and feel sad about 9/11. Lastly, from ProConorg Headlines, in “Should More Gun Control Laws be Enacted”, John R. Lott Jr. states, “Even Senator Dianne Feinstein, a gun control advocate, carried a concealed gun when her life was threatened and her home attacked by the New World Liberation Front in the 1970s”. In other words the article is saying even a Senator, who is against gun control, is using a gun for defence because

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