Sophie Jacob Prof. Irwin English 1120 14 February 2023 Critique Essay: David Hogg David Hogg, a gun control activist, wrote an op-ed about gun violence for Fox News, one of the most right-wing news sites. His article, “Mass Shootings Can be Stopped Only if We Work Together”, is an account of his experience in the Parkland, Florida 2018 shooting and a plea for right-wing Americans to join his fight for gun control. He uses a pathos approach and his personal experience with school shootings, adds his thoughts on the matter, and finishes with an attempt to find common ground, with the hope that his message will reach conservative America. Hogg heavily utilizes pathos in his argument. His article begins by describing what losing a loved one in …show more content…
Most of his readers are right-wing conservatives, so he highlights the similarities between the readers and himself to make his point known. He is not out to take away their Second Amendment rights and shows this by saying that “...the movement I helped to start has been pro-Second Amendment from day one” (Hogg 2022). To create change, Hogg explains that opposing political parties need to listen to each other to find solutions. He then calls on his readers to march with him in a protest of gun violence, and acknowledges that people from every side of the argument want to put an end to gun violence, and keep their loved ones …show more content…
There needs to be more restrictions on who can buy guns, and there should also be a better way of educating people on gun safety. If there was a better system of background checks and mental health screenings, I do not believe the rate of gun violence and mass shootings would be as high as it is today. The government is not taking action quickly enough, and this issue is being pushed to the side. Hogg’s view that people from all political backgrounds should converse about this issue is also something I agree with, as I do not think Congress will not listen if all the public does is argue. If everyone stops and listens to each other, they will find that they have more in common than they think, which is what Hogg tries to prove in his
Gun Control and Mass Shootings in America Gun violence is an unquestionable issue in America, with the United States ranking as one of the worst with both homicides and suicides using guns. That being said, we outnumber Mexico in gun related deaths and among first-world countries we rank far above others in the number of gun deaths, such as England and Australia. Consequently, we live in one of the only first world countries that does not have extensive gun laws and restrictions to gun access. Aside from the countless homicides and suicides by firearm in this country, one particular issue within this predicament is mass shootings, with the most recent mass shooting occurring on February 14th, 2018 at a high school in Parkland, Florida where 17 people were killed. Although, it may seem like an easy fix to just implement gun control laws into our society to eliminate gun violence, but it is important to note that Americans own nearly half of all firearms globally, which is roughly 325 million guns;
Nicholas Kristof, a writer for the New York Times, and in his op-ed article titled “Lessons From the Virginia Shooting” (Aug. 26, 2015), proposes that the lesson learned from the shooting of two journalists in Virginia should be different gun laws that should somewhat reflect the already standing laws that Americans already have in place. While Kristof gives his attempt at fixing gun violence in the United States, he fails make his point on many different levels. Kristof begins by reminding readers of the Virginia shooting follows with statistics relating to gun violence in the United States, then starts to recommend that the gun control laws should be changed to match that of other things that have safety regulations. Kristof is trying to
On December 14th, 2012, the lives of thousands, and indirectly millions changed after the shooting of twenty children and six teachers were fatally shot by the infamous Sandy Hook Elementary school shooter, Adam Lanza. This event was so dramatic and sickening the world stopped in it’s tracks waiting for what was going to happen next. In the aftermath of the tragedy, the cauldron was stirred and the underlying question resurfaced; What should we do about gun control laws? Should the people of America even have guns? After a number of shootings occurring and Sandy Hook occurring, Barrack Obama addressed the event and spoke about “reducing gun violence” and promoting “gun safety” drawing many citizens to support his cause.
Adam Lankford, a criminal justice professor at the University of Alabama, sheds new light on the issue of public mass shootings. Using quantitative data from American and international reports of 171 countries between the years 1966-2012, Lankford concluded that the rate of public mass shootings is greatly dependent on the civilian ownership rate of a country. In his study, Lankford found that the countries with the highest number of firearms per capita also happen to rank in the top fifteen countries in public mass shooters per capita. The U.S having the highest number of firearms per capita, from 1966-2012, it had a staggering 31% of public mass shooters with only 5% of the world’s population.
Lastly, these two people discuss on how the Federal Government should create more stricter laws and requirements on receiving a firearm, so that these deadly firearms will not be used for the dangerous reasons. The gun right debate What did the America’s founding fathers really mean when creating
294 days in the past year have had one specific theme in common. Each of them has been the setting for a mass shooting, on campuses or in public places that resulted in the injury or death of multiple bystanders. Through social media, the most gruesome details are often the only information to ever reach the public, causing issues such as gun-control policy and tighter security in public places to rise to the top of the list on political agendas. This has forced mass shootings to become the backdrop for constant ideological media battles. In addition, the consideration of other issues found in shootings, such as mental and social disorders, become smothered by the debate of gun control and similar measures.
As the amount of school shootings increase rapidly, the entire country is divided on the stance of the gun issue outbreak. While the number of mass shootings is still increasing throughout the country, the total number of shootings have raised to 18 in the first 45 days this year. In hopes to make a change Dick’s Sporting Good made an announcement that they’re refusing to sell assault-style rifles and revised their procedure to legally sell a firearm to a customer in hopes to start the change that this country desperately needs. While there is no evidence that these numbers will stop spontaneously, the government is being tested by the people to take a close glance at revising the second amendment. The ad “It’s Still Not Guns” by Michael Reagan unsuccessfully demonstrates gun violence but has the right intentions to obtain an arousal from parents
The AP “Gov.” class at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is familiar with the debate; before they were even born, the big money - gun debate had already been in full swing. Discussions leading to debates on the local, county, state and federal level about gun control, highlighting the influence wrought by big money had many voices, but little impact on either issue. One voice can engage the public and bring forth change; that voice is Emma Gonzalez. On a day reserved for flowers, candy, sentiments of love and affection, the actions of one person changed lives and the day forever; from those actions were born a resolve and a voice.
Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. Many believe this, but columnist Nicholas Kristof, author of “Our Blind Spot about Guns,” published in 2014 in the New York Times, disagrees. A rhetorical analysis should consist of: logos, pathos, and ethos. Kristof’s use of logos is strong due to the amount of facts and statistics he offers to his audience, but he fails to strongly use pathos and ethos, due to the lack of these elements Kristof’s argument is weakened.
I think it is clear that America’s lenient Gun Laws have no doubt been a huge factor on the staggering amount of gun violence for a long time. I do believe, however, in people’s rights to defend and arm themselves, it is part of their constitution, I just feel that it is necessary that the laws regarding the 2nd amendment need to be reinforced and should introduce some restrictions to ensure that only the people who are mentally capable of wielding a firearm, without causing harm to society, should be allowed to acquire one. I do also recognise that there are already a staggering number of guns in the possession of the general public, and I feel that the only way to tackle this issue is cultural change in America, changing the views of individuals on the idea of guns, but change is always
Gun Control Debate Jake Novak, in an article for CNBC titled, “Gun control isn’t the answer. We already know how to stop the violence,” gives his opinion regarding the controversial issue of gun control. Novak argues that gun control is not the answer to rising gun violence but that proper enforcement of the law would go a long way in reducing the cases of gun violence in America. He states, “We actually solved the issue of rising gun violence in America in the mid-1990’s and again in the early 2000’s by doing something radical. We enforced the law” (Novak 28).
The political cartoon “Blood, Sweat, Tears” by Steve Breen focuses on the controversial topic of gun control in America. In order to emphasize the seriousness of taking action, Breen uses an emotional approach. He appeals to pathos to explain how these deaths have emotionally affected Americans throughout the country, and inform of how much effort the executive branch is putting in to limit the access of guns to the mentally ill. Breen utilizes a simplistic approach towards the details to gently remind his audience of the emotional impact that the gun shootings of the past few year have had on Americans.
In today’s society, one of the most alienating issues in American politics is gun control. More specifically, the issue is whether or not guns should be banned in the United States. Some people would say that guns should be banned because it would reduce crime as a whole and keep citizens safer. These people, enthusiasts of stricter gun laws, fear being safe in their country where there are so many people who have access to guns. Opponents of this argument, however, also fear losing safety.
The use of and the owning of guns is a very hot and debated topic in society today. For many, this is a life and death debate due to the recent and numerous school shootings. These school shootings have caused an outcry for more gun control, specifically in relation to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. Despite these calls, increased gun control is not the answer. Most gun owners’ use their guns responsibly and for good purposes.
Mass Shootings have been pretty common in the U.S. In the past 30 years or so. According to the Congressional Research Service, there have been 78 mass shootings in the United States since 1983. The shootings have resulted in 547 deaths and 1,023 casualties. Mass shootings are only responsible for a very small percentage of deaths in the United States, but mass shootings are happening more often than ever, a mass shooting happens on average one time a month.