Gun Control in the United States
Gunshot in the USA
Part I:Thesis Statement
The constitutional right of Americans envisaged in the Second Amendmentto bear firearms should not be restricted, and gun ownership shouldnot be banned since a gun, and a firearm is equal to protection.Guns do not kill, they are crucial tools for protection, and the government should offer measures and policies on how the firearms are issued to ensure appropriate use.
Assumptions
Acts of gun violence will not be stopped or even reduced by getting rid of firearms from the hands of the citizenry. The only way to reduce or eliminate gun violence is by addressing the root causes of it, including assessing the functioning of the country’s mental health system. Also, in a violent world, guns and firearms are necessary tools. One is able to protect oneself from home invasions, muggings, mass shootings, and terrorist incidents when he/she has a gun. Citizenry with unrestricted right to own firearms is a guarantee for safety against the injustices of a tyranny.
Part II:
Purpose
The purpose is to convincethepolicymakers across the political spectrum and public at large that the right to self-defenseoutweighs the need for gun control. I hope to convince some state and federal officials who are pushing for laws restricting the use of guns to instead come up with measures and policies of how to regulate guns in the United States.
Target audience
Ultimately, this is strategic and useful advice for policymakers at the federal level where the laws regulating who may receive or possess guns are set out.Examples are the policymakers at The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), a division of the Department of Justice, administers the GCA (Gabor, 2016). The next target audiences are gun-control advocates such as American Hunters and Shooters Association, American State Legislators for Gun Violence Prevention, Americans for Gun Safety Foundation, Stop Handgun Violence, and Americans for Responsible Solutions, among others (Gabor, 2016). The last audiences are all Americans who would like to see the nation finally make progress in de-restricting guns and bringing down high homicide rates. These stakeholders and target audiences should concentrate on coming up with measures to ensure the appropriate use of guns, such as investing in gun violence prevention programs and addressing systemic discrimination.
Setting
The setting is in the United States, where gun violence is prevalent is high due to easy access to firearms, weak laws, and poor implementations of regulations to combat gun violence. The target community is African Americans. The African American communities, especially young black men, are disproportionately impacted by homicide firearms. In 2017, the number of people who lost their lives to homicide guns was 14,542, and African Americans accounting for 58.5% of these deaths across the nation despite making 13% of the entire United States population (Amnesty International, 2020).
In 2017, the firearm homicide was the leading cause of deaths for black boys between 15 and 35 years, and black men were ten times susceptible to firearm homicide than white boys and men of the same age group(Amnesty International, 2020). Women and children were disproportionately impacted by gun violence. The children from minority communities in the United States are victims of firearm killings. In the United States, homicide is the second leading cause of death among black children, and 65% of such killings are orchestrated by guns (Amnesty International, 2020). The key contributing factors to this crisis is the failure to address systemic discrimination, failure to invest in gun violence prevention programs, and failure to keep firearms out of the hands of individuals who are likely to misuse them.
Part III
Pathos
The statistics about the amount of homicide and murders committed via guns and firearms are alarming. In 2016, 114,994 people lost their lives through gun violence (Steidley & Colen, 2016). In 2017, 14,542 people lost their lives through homicides. An estimated 65% of black children’s homicide killings occur by gun. Many lives can be saved if we view gun violence from this perspective and focus on practical measures and solutions such as increasing investment in gun violence programs, keeping guns off the hands of individuals who can misuse and addressing systemic discrimination.
Ethos
One of the valid concerns I will address is the fundamental right to life. Nobody has the right to take away or hurt the lives of others. Life is precious and unique, and we should protect everybody’s life. The Americans, through the Second Amendment of the U.S Constitution, have the right to own firearms. The opportunity for common ground is safety. Individuals advocating for stricter gun control regulations are concerned about safety. Equally, individuals opposing strict gun regulations are concerned about safety. They argue that limiting the right to own guns denies the Americans self-protection. However, there is disagreement. Proponents of stricter gun control believe that limiting guns reduces the homicides, whereas opponents believe that limiting gun ownership deprives individuals’ self-protection leasing to higher homicides. A misconception and an assumption the advocates for strict gun control regulations posits is that in the event of a mass shooting, the gun owner is likely to shoot non-criminal or family members (Steidley & Colen, 2016). However,individuals will be able to protect themselves from mass shootings, muggings, terror accidents, and home shooting if they have guns.
Logos
The nations that have banned handgun still experience firearm murder. For instance, in 1997, a man shot 16 elementary students and later shot himself in the United Kingdom. This led to the banning of handguns. However, since the ban on handguns, the United Kingdom still experience gun violence. For example, in 1996, before banning, the murder rate was 1.12 per 100,000 individuals; in 1997, it rose to 1.24, and in 2002 it rose to 2.1(Barnet, 2017). Banning guns does not prevent people from finding other means of killing other human beings.
Inthe United States, laws are not applicable to criminals. Gun control does not fully address the gun-related crime issue. For instance, in Chicago, gun sales were verboten in 2010. At that time, there were 432 murders, and in 2012 the number rose to 506 (Amnesty International, 2019). This means that even if there are stricter regulations, criminals will always find a way out. Also, Prohibition in the United States did not stop alcohol. During prohibition, some individuals prospered by supplying and importing alcohol. Banning or stricter gun control, too, will not stop guns and firearms murders. If gun control were in place, the biggest worry would be the individuals supplying guns like those who supplied alcohol.
References
Amnesty International. (2019). Violence affects everyone in Chicago, but it is particularly devastating for the city’s youth. Human rights must be a part of the strategy to address gun violence in Chicago. Amnesty International USA. https://www.amnestyusa.org/reports/chicago-and-illinois-gun-violence/
Amnesty International. (2020). Key facts about gun violence worldwide. https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/arms-control/gun-violence/
Barnet, D. (2017, December 17). Firearms Act: Twenty years on, has it made a difference? The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/firearms-act-twenty-years-on-has-it-made-a-difference-dunblane-port-arthur-a8110911.html
Gabor, T. (2016). Gun ownership in the USA. Confronting Gun Violence in America, 21-36. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33723-4_2
Steidley, T., & Colen, C. G. (2016). Framing the Gun Control Debate: Press Releases and Framing Strategies of the National Rifle Association and the Brady Campaign*. Social Science Quarterly, 98(2), 608–627. doi: 10.1111/ssqu.12323