Rhetorical Analysis on Gun Control

Rhetorical Analysis on Gun Control Student: Professor: Course title: Date: Rhetorical Analysis on Gun Control Generally, gun laws regulate the sale, use and possession of firearms and ammunition, and state laws differ significantly in their content, form and level of restriction. Gun owners are subject to gun laws of the state in which they are in, and not solely their state of residence (Sullivan, 2013). Intense debates in the United States gyrate around how strict gun regulations should be, and mass shootings, for instance the terrible shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut, always make headlines. With every new tragedy, questions always arise regarding whether those firearm victims would still be alive if the country had much stricter gun laws. This paper provides a rhetorical analysis on gun control and analytically discusses whether gun laws would prevent shooting sprees. Sullivan (2013) stated that thousands of people in the United States die each year from gunshot wounds. Since victims are inexplicably young, firearm violence is one of the chief causes of premature deaths in the United States. Other than these deaths, there are even more non-fatal violent crimes related to misuse of guns. Firearm violence in the United States is very high. The high prevalence of firearm ownership coupled with less restrictive gun laws are critical reasons as to why violent crime in the United States is so high. Federal legislation prohibits specific categories of people from possessing guns, for instance fugitives, felons, individuals convicted of a crime for domestic violence, those addicted to controlled substances or unlawful users, and those judged to be mentally incompetent. Most individuals, who engage in shooting sprees and kill innocent people, are usually found to be mentally unstable after a mental check-up is conducted on them. Mass shooting sprees are rare and make up only a small fraction of gun deaths, however, where there are more firearms, there are more homicides, unintentional deaths and even suicides. Most shooting sprees, just like many other crimes involving guns, happen because the current laws make it very easy for criminals to get their hands on guns (Sullivan, 2013). Gun prohibitions and control laws play a big role in reducing violence and saving lives. However, in situations where there are more guns in the hands of citizens, they could protect themselves from shootings in case something like what occurred in Colorado ever happens to them. This is because criminals fear an armed citizen. Although gun control laws may prevent law-abiding citizens from carrying guns, it will affect the supply of illegal firearms that could have otherwise been used in a criminal activity for instance a shooting spree. This is chiefly because stricter gun laws and tighter control over distribution of firearms drastically reduces the supply in both legal and black markets, thus, even criminals would find it a lot more difficult to get access to firearms and kill innocent people (Sullivan, 2013). Stricter and more comprehensive regulations that make it difficult to acquire a gun, are very indispensable in reducing killings of innocent people that come about as a result of firearm misuse. A gun buyer should be required to...