Angela Flores

Frida Cruz

Angel Rodriguez

Cristin Longhurst

English 1010

October 31, 2022

Rhetorical Analysis: “New Gun Control Laws Can Save Lives, but So Can Enforcing

Old Gun.."

The article “ New Gun Control Laws Can Save Lives, But So Can Enforcing Old Gun..”

was written by USA today which is a daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcast

company. This newspaper delivers current national and local news, sports, entertainment,

finance, technology and more through award winning journalism and photos. USA Today is a

credible publisher. They publish accurate facts that are up to date and have the latest news on

nationwide political issues.

The article targets a specific audience that is towards those who own a gun or want to

own a gun. The beginning of the article starts with a personal experience of a man who lied

about his criminal past and successfully passed a background check to purchase a gun. This

person had murdered his girlfriend with a kitchen knife and beat her with a baseball bat. The

federal system that is supposed to protect and help build a better country failed again.

Though the U.S. has established stricter gun laws, citizens will not give up their guns or

respect the laws. During the publication of this article the nation has seen a vigorous amount of

mass shootings, and will keep increasing in future years if they laws are not vigorously applied.
The publisher gives exact data of how many Americans are in favor of having background

checks for these “So-called gun show loophole”. At these gun shows, Americans are not

obligated to have a background check and can easily purchase any firearm at the age of 18.

The publishers purpose of this is to show that background checks aren’t as reliable as

they should be and are intended for the general audience. But this is still a problem since the late

90’s because people lie about their background checks, massive shootings are continuing till this

day. The publisher has built a strong argument on why background checks should be vigorously

applied to each individual who intends to buy a firearm. The publisher provides details, data and

valid evidence to support their argument.

In the article logos are thoroughly applied. The publisher uses data of how many people

have been denied firearms under the system. Though said in the article, “But unlawful purchases

still occur because agencies fail to provide NICS with necessary records or dont follow up when

mistakes are made”. USA today provides valid evidence on the gun control issue happening

throughout the 21st century.

About one million people have been denied firearms and the rest get away with it. Out of

8,000 people that they have in record with their illegal weapons only ten were arrested, that is a

substantial number. In the article it informs that there is a big number of people trying to buy

legal weapons, The other half that gets away with it, why do we still continue to get massive

shootings, and what is the reason behind it.

They informed the military, air forces to do a better job of reporting criminal background

reports and the requirements have not been made. This document shows proof that nothing has

been made, and the only action they have inquired is sending a letter to the mail, hoping that the

criminal gives up their illegal weapon. Sellers are so good at giving up legal weapons to the
wrong hands not knowing the consequences behind it, it is not fair that innocent people are dying

due to careless action for example in the article it said “Reinking later used one of them to

allegedly murder four random people at a waffle house near Nashville”.

It is devastating knowing that there can be more done. The innocent people, to the innocent

family loss, knowing that they will never to get their family member back that being a dad, mom,

kids, uncles, take a toll to their loss, knowing that all they can do is arrest a previous criminal for

a couple of years then getting their freedom back and doing it all over again, while someone loss

knowing that they will never come back no matter how many tears and prayers they put into it

nothing will be the same.

The government cannot control illegal weapons getting into to the wrong hands, and can only

catch so little out of the millions of people that do have it, but can right away control immigrants,

immigrants living, right away reporting them where they came from, they would thousands of

people starve them, treat them like animals, but can only catch one half of felons.

In the article it establishes ethos by saying “ by requiring universal background checks,

an idea favored by 85 percent of Americans…”. This should always be required no matter who

you are or if you've been in the military. Since the Brady law of 1993 at least 1.5 million

Americans have been denied because of their background.

In 2017 there were 112,000 people that lied about their backgrounds to purchase a gun.

Only 12 out of the 112,000 people were prosecuted. There were also people like Marin who had

their gun license revoked. Only 10 people got arrested and 8000 kept their illegal guns. There has

been little progress made to get better gun control laws. The federal record submissions

increased by 400 percent in 20217. Some military branches had to meet a high percentage of

reporting criminal backgrounds but still haven’t gotten there, especially the Air Force.
 Overall USA Today shows us that the U.S still needs to improve on how good their

background checks work. Even though background checks are required to purchase a firearm

people continue to lie about their past criminal records. Also how gun control laws haven’t

improved on getting better and people are still arguing that we should ease gun control even

though the government hasn’t done much about it.

Work cited

"New Gun Control Laws Can Save Lives, but So Can Enforcing Old Gun.." USA Today

(Online), 03/07 2019. ProQuest; SIRS Issues Researcher,

https://libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=https://explore.proquest.com/sirsissuesresearcher/docum