Kanyon King

Professor Julia Ellis

CJ 1010

21 June 2017

Gun Rights vs. Gun Control

Gun rights is a hotly debated topic. On one hand, we have the gun toting Americans that

would sooner go to war than sacrifice their rights to bear arms, and on the other we have the ones

that feel guns in the hands of the public poses an enormous threat to safety. According to polls

done by the Pew Research Center, most Americans believe guns deter more violence than they

cause. A popular quote in opposition to gun control is that guns dont kill people, people kill

people. The most recent poll taken on August 26, 2016, suggests that 52% of Americans are in

favor of gun rights, and thus opposed to gun control. This poll was conducted by the Pew

Research Center, which seems to be the leading knowledge in public stance on the issue. Though

the majority of Americans are opposed to gun control, most (about 80% according to Pew

Research Center polls) agree that certain steps should be taken to limit the availability of

firearms to the public, such as wider background checks, and prohibiting sales to the mentally

disabled.

1) What are the sources of information you used to evaluate the topic?

My sources included some reputable .org websites: opensecrets.org, people-press.org, and

gun-control.procon.org as well as an article done by the Washington Post.

 2) What does your common sense, intuition, experience and education tell you about this

information?

When looking for information regarding the topic of gun control laws and gun rights, I stuck

to reputable .org websites. These websites used citation, and often referred to the findings of the

Pew Research Center. I like to cross check many websites when conducting research to make

sure that my findings are valid and accurate. The information I have gathered on the topic is

accurate and I feel the sources used were the best ones.

3) What sources can be believed?

As I said, I feel that it is best to cross check multiple websites when conducting research to

ensure accurate and up-to-date information. When researching, I feel it is best to stick to

reputable articles and websites, including those of .gov and .org domains. It is also well known

that scholarly articles on the subject are the best source of accurate and truthful information

when conducting research. On a topic such as this, I found it best to stick with information that

was covered in several different articles and seemed statistically accurate when cross examining

the different sources. Adding to that, a site such as The Washington Post, stays relevant and in

business by providing truthful and accurate information to the public.

4) What assumptions have you made (outside of the research information evaluated)?

I assumed that gun control would play an obvious role in decreasing violence and preventing

mass shootings, which is not completely accurate. I also assumed that most Americans were

opposed to gun control, and Republicans were the majority of those Americans, which stands to

be true. I thought that taking away guns from citizens would help to decrease gun violence in
America, but it is suggested that only law-abiding citizens would be left without firearms, and

the criminals would still be able to get them, leaving those law-abiding citizens defenseless. This

seemed like an obvious argument to me, in that guns should be taken away, but after reading the

articles, I can see why many Americans are afraid of losing that right.

5) Do you need to investigate more facts and data?

When I first researched the topic, it was mainly to see what all the fuss was about, and why

gun control hadnt been implemented. This involved several studies and polls. Though I was still

curious as to why something like a wider background check was not implemented in if has such

a huge approval rating. My initial research was thorough, but all my questions were not

completely answered, so I did a little more digging. I always think it is possible to gain more

information on a subject, but as of right now, I am happy with what I have learned pertaining to

the issue.

6) Does the conclusion you came to make sense?

The conclusion I have come to is that gun control is not something we will see in the near

future, especially with a republican president, but I think that it is something that is worth giving

a chance. I do think that if gun control were to be implemented, it would have to be much more

thorough than just asking people to turn over their fire arms. I do not think that America will

ever get to the point of turning over their fire arms, but I do think that we will eventually make

getting guns a bit more difficult. It surprises me that America can be so afraid of foreign threats

coming to our country, but domestic threats seem to be less concerning. We have implemented a

very difficult process for foreigners to be able to immigrate to our country, in hopes that we can
weed out the bad ones, but for some reason we arent willing to try and make it more difficult for

the bad Americans to acquire deadly fire arms.

7) Does the information researched and your assumptions support the conclusion?

The information I have researched supports my conclusion that we are not likely to see any

form of strict gun control in the near future, or maybe ever. The evidence also supports that we

are likely to see more strict purchasing rights, but it may take some time for this to be

implemented. It would seem that those voting need a bit more pressure from the American

citizens for this to happen.

8) Did you ask the right questions?

I do believe that I asked the right questions. My goal was to understand where America stood

on the matter, and what was being done, whether in favor of gun control or opposed. I wanted to

know why certain laws had not been passed, and why people felt it was so important to uphold

their right to bear arms. I also wanted to know what sort of arguments each side had, and in truth,

I am not so set on gun control as I was before conducting my research, though I still think that it

may help with gun violence.

9) Did you ask the right questions?

I dont think that you can ever ask enough questions. I think that ability to obtain knowledge

is infinite and you can only reach a point at which you are comfortable with the knowledge you

have gained. We can always ask more questions, but at the time, I am happy with what I have

learned.

10) Was there more than one possible conclusion?

 It may be possible to draw another conclusion, such as whether you are opposed to gun

control or not, or maybe one may have had a different takeaway regarding whether or not gun

control laws of any sort will be passed. I think that, with the information, my conclusion was

correct in that we will see some gun control laws implemented, but it will take some time.
 Sources

Fingerhut, Hannah. "Opinions on Gun Policy and the 2016 Campaign." Pew Research Center for

the People and the Press. N.p., 26 Aug. 2016. Web. 21 June 2017.

Gurciullo, Brianna, and Viveca Novak. "Gun Rights vs Gun Control." OpenSecrets. N.p., 01

June 2016. Web. 21 June 2017. <https://www.opensecrets.org/news/issues/guns>.

Phillips, Amber. "The Senate voted on 4 popular gun control proposals Monday. Heres why

none of them passed." The Washington Post. WP Company, 20 June 2016. Web. 21 June 2017.

"Gun Control - ProCon.org." Should More Gun Control Laws Be Enacted in the United States?

N.p., n.d. Web. 21 June 2017.

EPortfolio

http://kanyonking.weebly.com