The Pros And Cons Of Gun Control

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Multiple mass shootings such in Aurora, Colorado, Roseburg, Oregon and Newport, Connecticut has sparked massive gun control disagreement. The media has influenced two point of views regarding this topic. One side argues that increasing gun control decreases casualties of mass shootings, while the other side claims decreasing gun control increases self-defense. In a US News article by Susan Milligan, she argues that “although gun control does not stop criminal activity, it decreases accidental deaths and suicide”, thus saving lives. LA Times writer and social policy professor, James Wilson claims gun control does not solve gun violence and makes it harder for law-abiding citizens to defend themselves. Both authors use language to convince the …show more content…

In Wilson’s article, he argues that the American society is traditionally and culturally more violent than other nations such as England and thus cannot be compared. Wilson states a study to prove “that non-gun homicide rate in [the United States] is three time higher than the non-gun homicide rate in England”. According to Wilson, gun control is futile to reduce crime because there is an already high non-gun crime rate; thus, irrelevant to solving the nation’s criminal behavior. He then elaborates that although gun control may prevent some casualties, the answer to reduce violent crimes is not through banning the weapon. Furthermore, Wilson dismisses Europe’s safety as a result for being gun-free. According to Wilson, after England banned all personal arsenal, “number of gun crimes [rose] sharply”. Wilson compares English’s calmer lifestyle to America’s rugged lifestyle and infers that England’s crime growth would happen to a hypothetical gun-free America. Wilson questions the safety advocated from locations that claim to be gun-free and concludes gun control increases …show more content…

According to Milligan, gun control is ineffective against criminals, but it is vital to enforce for the sake of saving lives outside of crime. The article’s title, “We Need Gun Control to Stop More Than Criminals” is misleading because she acknowledges “criminals … don’t follow the law, and therefore won’t allow gun laws to hamstring their criminal behavior” (Milligan). The title’s diction suggests Milligan’s gun control proposal is to hinder criminal activity and additional preventable situations; however, she ignores criminal activity and only emphasizes on accidental deaths. She first introduces her article by reporting stories about children accidently shooting others and/or themselves. Her evidence is not parallel to her claim. Milligan uses gun irresponsibility as a way to justify gun control; however, the two topics are not directly related to one another and does not support how gun control would prevent the situation. Her flawed logic and false cause and effect statements makes her other statements less credible and creates a biased opinion against

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