Social Issue Analysis and Response

Gun Control

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Gun Control

Americans have experienced rising numbers and cases of gun violence. The records were inclear and hence a need to have the right numbers. Gun Violence Archive is a not for profit corporation that was established in 2013 with the aim of providing free online information about gun violence in the United States. The main aim was to ensure they provide accurate information for proper decision making when it came to legislation and policymaking. In the American society today, one of the most debated social issue is gun violence. It has been classified as a public health issue. According to the GVA database, the total willful and malicious deaths from gun violence were 15,208 in 2019. This was coupled by other unintentional deaths of 1,837. In total, the organization estimated that there were more than 37,662 shooting incidents in 2019 (Gun Violence Archive, n.d). The issue of gun violence in the United States has been characterized by increased mass shootings in schools and public places. It has become a major threat to the safety of the society and hence requires to be effectively handled to prevent such deaths in the future. One of the organizations that is bent to ensure stringent gun control laws are in place is Americans against Gun Violence. This no-profit organization was founded in 2016 consisting of people who are frustrated by the increased mass shootings that have become an epidemic in the country. This is because gun violence has been classified as a major cause of death claiming more than 90 lives in a day (Americans Against Gun Violence, n.d.). Therefore, the organization advocates for definitive gun control laws like in other countries where mass shootings are rare.

The major area of contention is between the proponents and the opponents of the Second Amendment. A constitutional clause gives the people of America the right to bear arms. However, the opponents claims that it is important to have gun control laws to prevent the killings and deaths of innocent Americans. The rising cases of gun violence across the country has led to the rise of advocacy groups including GVA that hopes that legislators can see the numbers and act on preventing these deaths. The main aim is to have the Second Amendment repealed and the country adopts stringent measures against the possession and use of guns like most of the other developed countries such as United Kingdom and Australia.

Translating American against Gun Violence Position

The people against gun violence has adopted the logical premises propagated by those against gun violence. This is because the only solution to the crisis the country is into is having strict and stringent control measures. Therefore, by considering the number of deaths resulting from gun violence, the organization argues that it is important that the safety of all Americansbe ensured. The Second Amendment cannot be used as the reason why some of the Americans are denied their right of living (Alcorn, 2017). The gun related deaths in the United States are ten times more compared to other first world countries. Therefore, the AAGV provides that it is important for all to take responsibility and to prevent the and minimize the gun-related deaths. The problem therefore, can be prevented if legislators would establish laws that prevent possession, availability, and use of the guns.

AAGV evaluates the facts given on importance of guns. First, the possession of guns does not help to fight crime but rather increases it. The NRA for many years has tried to get the states to adopt the laws that help the people who are not barred by the law to carry concealed guns. However, this has not yielded any fruits in reducing crime in the society (Newman&Hartman, 2019). The availability of these guns have affected the children alike leading to school killings. Therefore, instead of reducing crime, it has created an avenue for more crimes to be committed.

Informal Fallacies

Although the course of the organization is beneficial, there are some informal fallacies. One of them is that the second Amendment is a Fraud. This means that they undermine the rights of the people of America. The important thing is to make change and not to ignore it. The second fallacy is that supporting advocacy can create change (Gallant et al., 2021). First, advocacy cannot reduce the shootings in the streets and at homes. Therefore, we need more than advocacy to overcome the problems. The third fallacy is that law-abiding citizens should not own guns. The threat is from the non-abiding citizen and hence the change must be two-way. The organization also claims that strict legislation can overcome the problem. However, this will not curtail the black market where criminals acquire their weapons(Gallant et al., 2021). Lastly, involving the institutions is seen as the right approach to controlling gun violence. However, morals and culture play an important role in this. Therefore, with legislation and no ethics, the case would be the same.

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