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Cierra Truett

June 18th, 2019

English-111-502

Buy a dog, not a gun!

The author uses logos by trying to persuade the reader to use various forms of

protection such as a knife, hoe or dog in lieu of a gun. The lack of facts, statistics, and

expert opinions portray the article as strictly the writer’s beliefs and opinions on the

necessity of gun ownership. For anyone who does not already share the writer’s beliefs or

opinions, this article portrays a frail argument against the importance of legal and

responsible gun ownership.

The author has a lack of pathos throughout the article. For example, she does not

mention any statistics or facts to back up her argument on why gun ownership is a

negative thing. If you are a person that has a powerful belief for or against gun

ownership, this article will trigger their emotions. If you are against gun ownership, you

are going to sympathize and agree with the writer of the article. If you are pro-gun

ownership, this article will provoke an eyerolling, argumentative stance towards the

author

Molly Ivins had various careers throughout her lifetime. Molly Ivins’ influence as

a newspaper columnist, author, political commentator and humorist would allow her to

influence her many followers on her opinions and beliefs against guns as a form of safety.

As a humorist, she mentioned in her article about how if you used a knife as a sense of
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protection, you would get physically fit. She makes a good point on why it is a good idea

to use a knife because you have a more specific target, and a bullet can ricochet. She also

makes the point where she is pro-guard dog, but a dog can go astray just like a bullet. It

appears she is making a sarcastic article but is still expressing her public opinion on the

different forms of protection. The lack of credibility is once again shown through her lack

of statistics and evidence on why she is pro guard dog and knife. An example of the lack

of credibility is when she does not mention a time when a guard dog or a knife has saved

someone's life over a gun. She also has no personal evidence on why she is against guns

when there are many pros to using a gun over a dog such as a longer lifespan and better

durability.

In the fifth and sixth paragraph of the article, she talks about how automobiles are

another lethal object, just like guns but cars have not been outlawed yet. It is just as easy

to illegally drive or possess a vehicle as it is a firearm. Both items have specific laws or

restrictions that have ways of being curtailed around.

The author uses loaded language throughout the story to make her argument. As

written in the article, “Obviously, this society is full of people who haven't got enough

common sense to use an automobile properly.” In this sentence, she is using loaded

language by saying that the majority of people in society have a great lack of common

sense on how to control a motor vehicle. She also uses loaded language in several more

sections of the article. Another place this is seen is when she talks about how if everyone

used a knife as protection, we would have a great nation full of runners. In this sentence,

she is expressing her opinions for the use of knifes as protection by telling the reader how

healthy we would be if we would just use knives.

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