3 Pro-Gun Control and 1 Against Gun Control Articles (Non-Scholarly Sources)

1. http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/05/politics/obama-gun-control-evolution-executive-order/index.html

(Unity/Topic Sentence) Obama implies in his speech that both houses of congress has failed to tighten and implement stricter gun control laws. (Development/Body) Obama recalls the many gun shooting events in the past three years and faces the audience with tears and his voice shaking from frustration. In his speech, Obama mentions that Americans have somehow been numb to recent violent events happening in America. He also mentions that we need to start feeling a sense of urgency about violence because innocent people are dying. (Coherence/Conclusion) The president says, “Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let's use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully.” He calls on the Americans to step up because change starts on ourselves.

1. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/07/us/gun-control-explained.html?_r=0

 

      (Unity/Topic Sentence) This article talks about background of gun control including what it is, when this idea started, what law enforcement authorities say about it, etc. (Development/Body) In the section where arguments in favor of gun control is being talked about how imposing gun controls will result in fewer deaths. It was also mentioned that people who favor gun controls believe that the more people carry weapons, the more likely it is that an everyday dispute can escalate to lethal force. (Coherence/Conclusion) People who support gun control believe that there is a correlation between the high rate of gun ownership in the U.S. and the high number of deaths in the country and one way to stop this is to impose stricter gun controls. “While gun-rights advocates say more people armed equal a safer society, people who favor gun control say the opposite is true: the more people carry weapons, the more likely it is that an everyday dispute can escalate to lethal force.”

1. http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/making-gun-control-happen

     (Unity/Topic Sentence) The author of this article talks about how recent events relating to imposing gun control such as: Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Giffords shooting still hasn’t taught Americans to stand up and impose stricter gun control tests. (Development/Body) The author questions, “what does it take?” and then goes on about how anyone can purchase guns so easily, even purchasing as many guns as they want. Later on in the article, the author suggests to mandate a criminal background check for all gun purchases since forty percent of gun sales are “private” sales not involving a licensed dealer. (Coherence/Conclusion) The author reminds people that they need to wake up and stop being ignorant about what is going on in the country and calls out on the President to do the same thing. “…confident that the profound sense of urgency many of us feel right now will diminish, and we will soon return to our familiar, dystopian status quo. All they need to do is wait out the furor, as they have so many times before. We can only hope that President Obama doesn’t choose to do the same.”

1. http://time.com/4100408/a-criminologists-case-against-gun-control/

          (Unity/Topic Sentence) In this article, Jacob Davidson interviews a criminologist James Jacobs who recently wrote a book called Can Gun Control Work? Jacobs talks about how many people have totally misunderstood the idea of “Gun Control.” (Development/Body) Jacobs mentions that one misunderstanding is that America has currently had a remarkable decrease in violent and gun crime since the early 1990’s. He also mentions that most gun-related deaths are suicides and not murders. (Coherence/Conclusion) In the end, however, Jacobs suggests that the most effective thing the U.S. can do to reduce gun violence is working on law enforcement strategies aiming at the people who are most likely to commit gun crimes: drug dealers, gang members, etc. The author says, “There’s no simple correspondence between the number of firearms in private hands and the amount of gun crime…”