Gun control laws have been a hot and controversial topic for some time now. Many different parties have argued with each other about applying laws that will control firearms in the U.S. I chose to write about this debate because I do not have a personal opinion on the matter, I do not own a gun or am an enthusiast, neither do I argue for gun restrictions. Many argue with points that it is written in our constitution our natural right to bear arms, while others argue that if we remove the ability to use a firearm or a weapon that is designed to kill someone, we will ultimately reduce or remove violent crimes in the U.S.. An article that argued for strict gun control demonstrated many of the author’s ideas through statistics and data, however, …show more content…
The first problem with using these as viable sources is the fact that they are surveys and not reliable statistical data that should be used for arguing how gun control laws affect violent crimes. The author had intended to use this information to compare violent crimes in the U.S. and England/Wales as the laws on guns were different in each nation. A simple problem with the reliability of this data is the fact that these are surveys. The author even went on to explain that these were surveys and not all crime is reported through voluntary surveys. I don’t think surveys should be used in an argumentative article about violence or gun control laws. The other problem with comparing these sets of data with one another were the variance in culture, urban structure, and government structure that these two nations have with one another. The two nations also have differing definitions of “violent” crimes. These are simply logical fallacies that should eliminate this author’s sources from the argument of the article. A more effective form of arguing comparative data on violent crimes may have been from police or official records comparing states that have more or less strict gun control laws. Or comparing data from a pre-gun control era in one state to a post-gun control era in the same …show more content…
I found most of the information they used to be unreliable, irrelevant and hard to apply as reliable data for the purpose of the author’s argument. The website that the article was published on, The Economist, I have not had any experience on and was unfamiliar with the reliability of the articles published on the site. After reading this article, however, I will be very vigilant in how I scrutinize any information that I may use from that site, as I did not find this article to be very convincing or accurate in its data. I also didn’t appreciate the fact that the author chose to use his/her initials rather than a full name. I have no idea as to who this person is or what kind of experience they may have. It’s possible that it was someone completely inexperienced in gun laws or the justice department and chose to write an article about their opinion. After reading an article like this, I understand why it’s so important to research into the reliability of an author’s information and resources. If I were to use this data in my own paper or for my own research, I would be sadly misguided and be using unreliable or irrelevant data. It is very important to know what you are reading, who wrote it, and whether the information is reliable or credible. If we do not research information regularly, we can have mistaken ideas and
The author’s methodology first includes a discussion of the issue at hand leading to a synopsis of why this problem even originated. Additionally, the author presents information on how other people in the field perceive the issue and who is to “blame” through the use of quotes. For example, Mark Rosenberg, the founder of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control argues that it was the leadership of the CDC who prevented further research on gun violence. On the other hand, another primary speaker, current Injury Center Director Debra Houry has been thought to have defended the agency’s decision by saying it still partakes in data collection of firearm research. After discussing the CDC and the need for it to address an issue like this, the NRA’s influence on the organization is explained.
He adds to this development by stating three intriguing and interesting facts that show that gun violence is clearly an issue in the United States in this day and age. Something that is only applicable to the website version of the article is that he even further establishes his credibility with these facts with clickable links that will bring one to the source of the fact or statistic that he used. At this point, he states the purpose of his article which is to essentially throw in his view on what should be done about gun violence in the United States. He uses a general gun proponent quote to show the opposing side of the argument, and uses it to strengthen his own argument. At this point he begins to state how gun safety should replicate toy, car, or swimming pool type safety.
By reading both of these two article about guns control, I can only say the they both the authors make sense in a way, for example we take David Burnett’s, director of public relations for ‘Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) article "Students Should Have the Right to Carry Guns on College Campuses.” In his article “Students Should Have the Right to Carry guns on College Campuses”, on the issue of banning guns on college campuses. Burnett’s strongly agrees and he defends his view in support of a student’s right to having concealed firearms with permit. Burnett uses statistics about ‘gun-free’ colleges and how being gun free doesn’t necessarily mean crime free. He uses the crime statistics from two colleges in Colorado to support this.
The reliability of official statistics, especially through documents based on police data, can be hindered by a number of limitations. As police data is one of the main sources of data looked at when studying statistics, the limitations revolve around the reporting and recording of the crimes. There are instances in which the official crime statistics do not reflect the precise crime rates. (Ross, 1999) Misrepresentation can be caused by a number of different factors.
Some days crime rates are up and then the next they are down, what we do know is that America is becoming safer. In 2005, 11,346 persons were killed by firearm violence 477,040 persons were victims of a crime committed with a firearm, (National Institute of Justice). Surprisingly, a lot of gun violence in America is related to self defense. Between 1987 and 1990 it was found that guns were used in defense during a crime incident 64,615 times annually. This equates to two times out of 1,000 incidents (0.2%) that occurred in this time frame.
(Kleck, Kovandzic and Bellows, Does Gun Control Reduce Violent Crime?) Among all these different studies, as well as the different aspects that have to be considered when analyzing the data, there is not enough strong evidence to support that gun control laws reduce violent gun crimes. Strong supporting evidence produced by Kovandzic, Marvell, and Vierait in 2005, whose panel data was pertained to 189 large cities from 1980 to 2000, used city data that did not influence the county crime rates. They found that Right to Carry (RTC) laws have no real significant effect on violent crime rates.
The second and third sections go into detail that guns reduce crime. I plan to use this resource as direct facts in my paper. The facts can be implied throughout the paper to reinforce my thesis. By putting hard facts of how guns save lives there would be evidence to say that guns are good and thus promote the theme of the
“A growing body of evidence from academics, advocacy groups and others supports the link between gun restrictions and a reduction in violence.” (Lichtblau) In fact, a recent study from the Center of American Progress concludes that gun fatalities in states with weaker gun laws are over three times as high as those in states with rougher restrictions. (Lichtblau) These findings were reviewed by an expert in gun violence at John Hopkins University by the name of Daniel Webster.
Gun control is a very controversial topic in the United States, where the two main sides are the people opposed to gun control and the people in favor of gun control. It has been a major controversy since owning guns has come into question regarding the nation’s overall safety. It has become increasingly popular with the growing fear of terrorism, and how easy it is to attack the US. “The effect of [the Second and Fourteenth Amendments] on gun politics was the subject of landmark US Supreme Court decisions in 2008 and 2010, that right for individuals to possess guns for self-defense.” (Wikipedia.org).
Overall, gun control laws are an important impact on each state. This article is about whether or not we should have gun control laws, people say it is necessary, other people say that even if we have gun control laws people don 't follow them. I disagree because with no laws more people are making their own guns and there are more attempts and acts of shooting attacks. With gun control laws people would safer and there wouldn 't be as many deaths caused by self
Regulating guns will not stop all of the killings that are occurring in America, and there are better ways to cease the killings than regulating guns. Body Paragraph One: Topic Sentence: Regulating mental health will be more effective in ceasing killings with guns than regulating guns. In an analysis provided, 22 percent of the perpetrators of 235 mass killing, could be considered mentally ill, many of which were carried out with firearms (Qui). Almost 25% of mass shooting killers are being considered mentally ill
While, “39.2% of criminals obtained a gun on the street or from an illegal source.” These facts and statistics can clearly prove the firearm limitations placed upon the people of the U.S. by the government is neither effective, nor required; the only purpose that is served by these limitations is increasing the government’s control over its citizens and thus leading them
Guns are just a tool, like knives and hammers and it completely depends on the people on how they use it. People who support guns and arms say that the Second Amendment secures individual’s right to carry guns with them and that gun rights is needed for self-protection, and was intended for military to have peace and defend the country if needed (Spitzer, 70). Most of the Americans use guns as a source to protect themselves and they believe that gun ownership prevents crime. A study conducted on November 26, 2013 showed that bans on weapons did not significantly affect murder rates at the state level (Lane, 5). Moreover, even if the rules and regulations are executed on gun control, not all criminals obey the law.
This paper also provides an interesting solution to gun violence; instead of already proven ineffective gun control laws, these authors suggest looking at why these laws are ineffective. Planty, Michael, and Jennifer
Moreover, in over 3/4 of the homicides, a gun was used. This begs the question, would deadly crime go down if it is harder to get a gun? Maybe not the acts of crime themselves but the fatality of these crimes could possibly go down. In a perfect world, yes, the deadly crime would go down, but the fact is that most of the guns used in homicides are not legally