The Truth behind the Demand for More Gun-control

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The Truth behind the Demand for More Gun-control

Tom Gresham’s editorial “Gun-control has a clear record of failure” was published in The Columbus Dispatch on January 6, 2013. In this editorial, Gresham seeks to bring to the attention of his readers that there are no new ideas being proposed regarding gun-control; in fact what is being proposed is in direct opposition to the tried and true measures that bring out gun-control. Gresham, a supporter of responsible gun ownership, compares the more popular mainstream ideas for gun-control with current law in effort to point out to readers that these suggestions, while natural and understandable, have all been tried and historically have failed.
Gresham begins his editorial by reminding the reader that since the tragedy at Sandy Hook elementary in Connecticut, there has been an increased and overwhelming demand in the United States for more gun-control laws. He then goes through a review of recycled gun-control proposals that political pundits and the mainstream media regurgitate in their talking points over and over. Gresham points out that calls for “tighter restrictions on citizens that have been found to have mental illness, making it illegal for felons to possess guns and placing a minimum age limit on gun ownership” are not fresh ideas. Gresham reveals that not only are they not new ideas they are actually current law with the additional 20,000 plus other gun-control laws that currently exist in the United States (Gresham).
Perhaps Gresham’s most worthwhile effort to dismantle the argument of those demanding further restriction on the freedoms of gun owners comes with his retelling of the history of the 1994 ban on assault weapons and semiautomatic rifles in the United ...

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...r everyday citizens because it has a proven record that it reduces violent crime and murder rates.
Gresham’s only misstep in writing this editorial is his tone. The editorial reads with a confident fact-based attitude which could be a potential turn-off for his readers who dedicated are liberals or who lean in that general direction. Gresham purposely used a simple approach to this topic so that the reader would stay on topic and take away only the factual information he wanted them to have. This allowed him to create a specifically designed editorial that allowed him to reach his target audience.

Works Cited

Gresham, Tom. "Gun Control has a clear record of failure." The Columbus Dispatch. The Dispatch Printing Company, n.d. Web. 6 Feb. 2014. .

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