Gun Violence And The NRA

Gun violence has recently become an issue of the United States as more and more tragedies have arisen with relation to gun use. United States are among the top armed nations around the world, and roughly 270 million guns are held by US civilians (Brussel). With such a mass number of guns, it could become unpredictable without proper gun control. As an example, one of the most tragic events was brought upon the nation on December 14 2012, twenty children and six staff members were killed by a single man at Sandy Hook Elementary school. New York passed the Ammunition and Firearms enforcement act of 2013 becoming the first state to respond to the tragedy in Newton, Connecticut (Rosebrugh). Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who signed it into laws now requires gun licenses to be renewed every five years and background checks on all gun sales which makes New York one of the most challenging place to obtain a gun. The recent bill passed by New York should be a model for the Federal Law because strict gun laws could protect innocent lives from being taken away by groups of people such as criminals, or those who are mentally unstable; better gun enforcement and stronger gun laws are both needed to reduce gun violence.

Over the past five years Americans have seen many horrific tragedies related to gun violence. Each of these terrible events has been accompanied with scrutinizing media coverage, and subsequently, a push on government level for increased gun control. On the surface these movements to take away guns from Americans may seem justified because of these events. In reality the federal government is encroaching upon our Second Amendment, the right to bear arms.

The NRA, National Rifle Association, is a group with ever growing interest in our society today. With the rise of gun related violence and public shootings has both promoted and hurt the reputation of the NRA. Not only has the NRA been a large talking point, but gun reform overall too. With the rise of violence with the use of guns, Gun control has been a big dilemma congress is trying to overcome. The big discussion is how far the government should go with gun control without overstepping the second amendment. Many people want large gun reform, but the NRA is the protector of the second amendment to a sense, in turn stepping up their involvement. This has turned many people against the NRA and many people believe they are a anti-safety and a narrow minded both politically and racially. Before we can evaluate who the NRA is today and what the stand for, we must first know how their public image has progressed.

Gun control continues to be a controversial issue for many, especially in the wake of so many recent, tragic mass shootings in the United States this year alone. With gun control being such a polarizing issue, it is difficult for both sides of different parties to agree to certain terms. With impactful events like the Columbine shooting of 1999, to the rising rate of lives being taken by guns, the issues surrounding gun control continue to grow.

Gun control is undoubtedly an issue that most Americans have been exposed to. In 1989, guns killed 11,832 Americans. The National Rifle Association (NRA) members believe that it is their constitutional right to own guns, stating that guns are not the root of the crime problem in the United States. Gun control activists like the members of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) argue that guns are responsible for the majority of violent crimes that take place. They wish to instill many types of bans and waiting periods on firearms, making it nearly impossible to obtain a handgun. In fact, in 1993 the Brady Bill, which mandates a waiting period on buying firearms, was passed. Their arguments range from protecting children to saying that guns are diseases, but when one looks at the facts, though, the arguments of gun control advocates seem irrelevant and it becomes clear that guns should not be controlled.

Melzer, Scott. Gun Crusaders: The NRA's Culture War. New York: New York UP, 2009. Print.

Professional champions of civil rights and civil liberties have been unwilling to defend the underlying principle of the right to arms. Even the conservative defense has been timid and often inept, tied less, one suspects, to abiding principle and more to the dynamics of contemporary Republican politics. Thus a right older than the Republic, one that the drafters of two constitutional amendments the Second and the Fourteenth intended to protect, and a right whose critical importance has been painfully revealed by twentieth-century history, is left undefended by the lawyers, writers, and scholars we routinely expect to defend other constitutional rights. Instead, the Second Amendment’s intellectual as well as political defense has been left in the unlikely hands of the National Rifle Association (NRA). And although the NRA deserves considerably better than the demonized reputation it has acquired, it should not be the sole or even principal voice in defense of a major constitutional provision.

The National Rifle Association published “Anti-gun groups…” by Jim Pate on their website. This article quite obviously presents a strongly conservative view as would be expected from the NRA on issue of tougher gun control laws. Since it is published on the National Rifle Association’s website, Pate is able to use an aggressive approach to the issue, which is effective because his audience agrees with his views against stricter gun control. Pate also incorporates strong pathos into this article through his word choice, which he uses to arouse negative emotions in the reader toward advocates of gun control. He weaves a great deal of logos into his writing as well by citing many facts and m...

Gun control has been an important issue in the last twenty years. Contrary to popular belief, there were others that had lost loved one and didn't hate guns. Darrell Scott, a man that the media never spoke of, was the father of Rachel Joy Scott. Rachel Joy Scott was one of the children who were killed at Columbine. On May 27, 1999, Mr. Scott gave this testimony before the Subcommittee on Crime of the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, DC, "In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA, because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore, I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder, I would be their strongest opponent" (Scott). There were many other stories from people in similar situations. All had lost loved ones, but many didn't blame guns for the loss.

G un ownership has been mentioned in connection with situational crime prevention for some time.' Empiric research, however, has provided rather weak and inconsistent support for increased efforts at gun control.2 One reason may be that it has focused on cross-sectional analyses in the United States3 or on evaluations over time of specific gun control measures in

The article A Senate In the Gun Lobby’s Grip, was written by Gabrielle Giffords a mass shooting survivor and politician. Gifford argues that the senators neglected to do their job correctly. The senators let their judgement be influenced by the hold that the gun lobby's money and political influence have and neglected to put into place a simple yet vital way to help prevent gun related tragedies. Clifford uses impactful word choice, her own expertise as a politician, her experience of being a mass shooting survivor to convince the reader that our political officials are not taking all the factors into equal consideration.

In this article the author Fawn Johnson gives us a brief look of what goes on during the great gun control debate. This article gives us a look at the gun control proposals, from American’s not bein...

The NRA has been around for more than 145 years and has never wavered in its beliefs and goals for society. The United States relies solely on the United States Constitution. The NRA has been defending these basic human rights since the late 1800s, but specifically the NRA has been a big part of US history with defending the important 2nd amendment, the right to bear arms. Three interesting things about the NRA is what is does for the community, their history, and NRAs stance on politics.

The National Rifle Association (NRA), recognized today as a major political force and as America's foremost defender of the Second Amendment, “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a Free State the Right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” The NRA adheres to the belief that the Second Amendment guarantees the right of individuals to bear arms. Recent U.S. Supreme Court cases have confirmed those beliefs. In spite of whether one personally adheres to these interpretations of the amendment or not, the fact is there are over two hundred million guns in this country. Moreover, there are over seventy-five million firearm owners. In addition to the NRA’s political activity for second amendment rights, it has fulfilled a service, as since its inception, it had been the premier firearms education organization in the world by providing firearms safety and training.