Eric Craig
Professor King English 1a 12/06/2017 One of the most pressing issues today that American citizens hear all over the news is the issue of gun control laws and safety. Recent events all over the country consist of senseless violence and mass murders of innocent people. It’s clear that our country is unsettled and uneasy because of all of the atrocities people have committed recently in Las Vegas, Nevada and in Sutherland Springs, Texas. We as citizens are troubled and for the most part uncertain where we stand on gun control safety. There are many news stations and individuals that are trying to convey their message through articles and reports, yet they may present a biased standpoint which may sway some readers in a different direction. It is important to recognize the main points these authors present but to not succumb to the bias in which they may include in their arguments. Many people choose to represent either the liberal side (open to change), or the conservative side (generally cautious about change) and with these two opposing sides comes bias and emotionally based arguments. It is important to address both liberal and conservative ideals and to expose their bias statements in order to get the best outcome that explains the issue of gun laws and safety. Exploiting both sides of this argument will help lead us to a better and less biased answer as to how we should address gun laws. To start, the liberal side of the argument on gun control laws and safety shows a lot of bias towards this topic. The liberal side of gun law and safety is a lot harsher and more strict on their approach to exploit gun issues in the U.S. The tone of the articles on “Blue Feed, Red Feed” take a more defensive tone towards gun control. Some of the articles are trying to appeal to an emotional side of the reader to get them to side with the liberal point of view. For one of the articles it is explicitly clear in the title called “Pistols in Preschools: why schools are fighting gun advocates in this state” written by Kathi Valeii. The sub title for this article is “a proposed law would allow guns around children as young as 3 years old” (Valeii). This shows bias because the author is speaking about young innocent children and how people shouldn’t be allowed to have guns in schools especially around young preschoolers. The argument Valeii brings up is that the state congress passed a law to allow the guns in these preschools at a bad time, because there have already been three hundred and seven mass shootings in this year alone. The bias side of the article comes in later on in the fourth and fifth paragraph of the article, Valeii is describing the senator of michigan who passed the law. She is bringing up personal information such as her facebook page and the comments on it to try and scrutinize Senator Margaret O’Brien for passing the law. Valeii does however propose statistical evidence of how guns in America cause violence. The statistic mentioned is “concealed carry rates increase, the rates of violent crimes increase. On average, 93 people are killed by guns in the U.S. each day, and the U.S. gun homicide rate is 25 times the average of other high income countries” (Valeii). This is a good use of non bias in the article, however she also uses a lot of emotionally based strategies to swing the reader in their favor. Valeii’s article seems biased in the sense that she is looking for sympathy and compassion in her words to try and get people think the article is trustworthy. There is another liberal sided article on the Blue Feed Red Feed that presents a lot of bias when it talks about gun control laws and safety. In the article “Guns, God and Bullsh*t: The Real Truth About the Republican Party” written by Allen Clifton, the article talks about how the opposing conservative ideals are completely irrational when it comes to gun control. This ideology from Clifton creates a very biased article mostly targeting conservative thoughts and ideas. In the opening paragraph of the article he blatantly attacks conservatives by saying “It’s not that I want to have such a massive divide between myself and my conservative counterparts, it’s just that I can’t deal with people who are completely irrational” (Clifton). This sentence sets the stage for the argument he brings up on gun control and it seems already like it is an opinionated article. After three paragraphs of attacking conservative ideology, he gets into the topic of gun control and the liberal viewpoints that he takes a stance on. Clifton spoke about in the second amendment it states how guns need to be well regulated when sold to consumers. Which may be true, yet it is a quick jump back into his attack on conservatives. What really makes this article biased is the fact that he uses hypothetical situations and it seems to strictly be against conservative ideals instead of factual based evidence and real life scenarios. For example Clifton states a hypothetical situation by saying “If someone is armed to the teeth with a Glock holstered to their hip and an AK-47 strapped to their back, and someone with a pistol walking right behind them decides to pull out their gun and fire three rounds into the back of that AK-47 toting individual’s head, how did guns protect them?” (Clifton). His argument seems like it lacks actual evidence instead he uses bias opinions and attacks to get his point across. Next is the conservative ideals on gun control and safety which coincidentally also present biased opinions in their articles. The conservative side of the gun control argument seems to be more in favor of people having guns. The ideology seems like they want to keep and preserve the old laws in regards to guns and gun control. An example of an article that presents the conservative ideas is “Good Guys With Guns Stop Another Mass Murder” written by Robert Gehl. In the article he tells a story of two good to do people who have concealed carry licenses and he prevented a potential “mass murder”. Gehl includes the story told to him by the police chief of Rockledge, Florida: “The manager, who was a concealed weapons permit holder, came out and engaged in gunfire in the parking lot,” Rockledge Police Chief Joseph La Sata said, according to Florida Today. “The manager fled back inside the building, being chased by the gunman. Another Schlenker employee, who also had concealed weapons permit, engaged in gunfire with the suspect.” (Gehl). This story that the author included seems bias in the sense that they are making these citizens out to be heroes. Gehl does however include statistical facts that show that there are 1.5 million cases of self defence each year and Gehl goes on by stating “As much as they like to argue otherwise, the evidence is clear that an armed populace is the best crime deterrent.” (Gehl). This sentence is supporting the second amendment, however it is biased because it is an opinion saying that the best way to prevent crime is if everyone is armed. The conservative side of the gun control argument is upholding the traditional idea of the right to bear arms. Conservatives believe that we should all have the right to own guns to defend ourselves. Another article that represents the conservative ideology is titled “REPORT: Obama DOJ Prosecuted Less Than 1% Of Criminals Who Tried To Buy Guns Illegally” by the author Ryan Saavedra. The article is on the right wing or conservative side of the Blue Feed Red Feed page, and presents bias in the article on gun control safety and laws. This article brought up an interesting idea saying how during the Obama Administration over one-hundred-thousand convicted felons applied to purchase firearms annually between the years 2008-2015. Lying on a ATF form ,a firearm transaction record in compliance to the berau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and explosives, is punishable by a $250,000 fine and up to 10 years in a federal prison. This is interesting because one of the biggest arguments for gun control safety is to have more thorough background checks in regards to consumers purchasing firearms. These numbers show how background checks haven’t been implemented therefore many people have been able to obtain firearms illegally which poses a potential threat to the citizens in their respective communities. Despite the statistical evidence Saavedra presents there is still a hint of bias in the article referring to the faults of the Obama Administration. The author does not hesitate to place blame on Obama bringing up more statistics showing how the administration allowed these felons to purchase said firearms. Saavedra starts the article by saying “over 100,000 convicted felons attempted to illegally purchase firearms each year during President Barack Obama’s eight years in the oval office, and the Obama administration did virtually nothing about it” (Saavedra). This represents bias because Obama did try to regulate guns during his presidency and he was a lot more strict on guns and more specifically gun control regulations. Aside from the liberal and conservative agenda, there are plenty of other sources out there that demonstrate unbiased and factual articles that are great resources for information about gun laws and safety. Having a reliable source to get your information is important because reliable sources tell the truth as opposed to other sources like those of Blue Feed Red Feed. One great source to get information on gun laws is reuters. An article from the reuters website called “After Las Vegas massacre, Democrats urge gun laws; Republicans silent” written by Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan does a great job of giving information in a non biased way. The article most specifically addresses the recent mass shootings America has seen in the past couple of years and the authors inform how our leaders have acted upon gun laws because of these massacres. Reuters is able to get primary information for the articles they publish, for example “Ryan, when asked in an interview last month with the Associated Press about steps to diminish gun violence, said many mass shootings were at the hands of people with mental illnesses and said Congress needed to ensure that federal funds were available to address such illnesses.” (Cornwell, Cowan). Ryan goes on to say that congress doesn’t intend to violate our second amendment rights. In the article Ryan did mention how many mass shootings were caused by people who are mentally ill. This ties into the controversy to weather or not the government will create much more thorough background checks in order to regulate guns. However the article then goes on to say “The House, however, recently passed a massive funding bill for next year that would cut $306 million from the government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration.” (Cornwell, Cowan). This quote is saying how the funding for mental institutions will decrease which could potentially add to the problem of senseless murdering of innocent people. Cornwell and Cowan also mention the recent Las Vegas Massacre and how many gun sales went up because of people's fear of more strict gun laws. The future of gun laws is unknown and only time will tell what will happen. It is crucial to recognize the importance of reliable sources in order to get the correct information. Without factual evidence authors and articles may present biased information to the reader which gives them power over us readers. Conservative and Liberal ideals belong to those who believe in either side, however not all articles written by these people aren’t totally accurate because of the biases they may have against the opposing side. With a more neutral approach, resources such as Reuters or The Washington Post present the most accurate and trustworthy sources of information. We as people deserve to have a trustworthy source of news and information but with our technological advancements there becomes a lot of opinions out there and everyone wants to be heard. It is important to know we are getting trustworthy information because knowing is half the battle. Works Cites Clifton, Allen. “Guns, God and Bullsh*t: The Real Truth About the Republican Party.” Forward Progressives, 11 Nov. 2017, forwardprogressives.com/guns-god-bullsht-real-truth-republican-party/. Gehl, Robert, et al. “Good Guys With Guns Stop Another Mass Murder.” The Federalist Papers, 5 Dec. 2017, thefederalistpapers.org/us/good-guys-gun-stop-another-mass-murder. Jackson, Kevin. “AMAZING: Watch as THREE GUNS Commit Armed Robbery.” The Black Sphere, 30 Nov. 2017, theblacksphere.net/2017/11/video-watch-three-guns-commit-armed-robbery/. Saavedra, Ryan. “REPORT: Obama DOJ Prosecuted Less Than 1% Of Criminals Who Tried To Buy Guns Illegally.” Daily Wire, The Daily Wire, 16 Nov. 2017, www.dailywire.com/news/23642/report-obama-doj-prosecuted-less-1-criminals-who-ryan-saavedra?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=062316-news&utm_campaign=politicalinsider. Cornwell, Susan, and Richard Cowan. “After Las Vegas Massacre, Democrats Urge Gun Laws; Republicans Silent.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 2 Oct. 2017, www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-lasvegas-shooting-guncontrol/after-las-vegas-massacre-democrats-urge-gun-laws-republicans-silent-idUSKCN1C72WC. |