Nystrom 1 Ellen Nystrom Kristen Foster CO150.403 10-28-2013 Should all people be allowed to own a gun?

Lately, there have been a lot of discussions and debates whether or not the gun laws in the US should be restricted. I have talked to people here in Colorado that have different perspectives and opinions about this issue. For example, there are people that own a gun who like the way the laws are set up right now. In addition there are people that might be worrying about their childrens safety in schools etc. and want the laws to be stricter. Although I was conscious about the second amendment and the discussion about gun control in America, I was largely unaware of how many Americans actually own guns and want to keep their firearms for their own safety. I decided that I wanted to do further research on this topic, which led me to my research question that is: Should all people be allowed to own a gun? This question deserves to be examined not only because it is a very exigent and controversial issue. I also think people deserve a chance to view the issue from all different perspectives, and know what the arguments of different stakeholders are. In Sweden, where I am from, gun control has never been an exigent issue. Firearms are only for people with a hunting license, and people accept that. When I came here to the US and Colorado, I started to hear a lot about the discussion whether or not the government should make the gun laws stricter, since there has been a lot of public shootings during the last few years.

Nystrom 2 This is something that I find very interesting, especially since it is all very new to me with people having firearms in their homes. Before I could begin my research on the different perspectives on my issue, I had to get the basic understanding of the second amendment and gun control. To get this information I searched on Wikipedia, because I knew that I could get background information on this issue. I used the key words Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and found out a lot of information that I would want to know before starting my research. According to Wikipedia the second amendment protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms from infringement (Wikipedia.org). My first thought when I read this was how different this is from my home country, and how I felt the urge to help change this here in America. Since we do not have these kinds of rights to bear firearms in Sweden, my thought when I read this was how uncomfortable I would feel if I had a gun in my house. For me, this is very surreal and I wanted to know more about the different sides of the argument but the source mostly gave historical facts of the issue and did not bring up any opinions. Next, I thought about the different perspectives on my issue. To come up with those, I had to do some research to figure out what these different perspectives was and in what context they were seen. On the first research I did, my goal was to find a reliable and recent source that would bring up the opinion and thoughts of the people who wants to keep the second amendment and their firearms. I talked to a couple of people that I knew shared that opinion. One of the people I talked to offered to bring a magazine from their home thats written for people with guns. The magazine was called American Rifleman and is published by the gun organization National Rifle Association (NRA). When I looked through it I found a political article that brought up a couple of interesting point of views. The article examines how the gun owners and

Nystrom 3 non-gun owners vote and participate differently in political areas (ILA, 120). This article got me thinking about which kind of people that the text wanted to reach out to. Also, which individuals that owns guns, and the reason for it. Furthermore, the author states that the gun right enthusiasts are more politically active than the gun control supporters. For me, this was something that really shocked me. Before I started my research I would never have guessed that this was the case. Mostly because I have some preconceptions against gun owners, but when I read this political article it got me to reconsider some of them. I would have guessed that the most people that own guns in America were gang members, which clearly is not the case. Although this article got me to review my previous thought in this issue, I still had a hard time understanding the reasons why the gun right supporters felt the need to have a firearm in their homes. Later in the article, the author stated how important it was for the people to still have their right to bear arms. He further discussed the reason for that, which was safety in their homes (ILA, 120). This source really helped me to see the issue from another perspective than my own. However, I still needed to figure out what other perspectives were, and their opinions on my problem. This got me started on researching about another perspective; the people who believe that it would be too difficult to introduce gun control in America. Before I began my research, I thought about the reason why that would be. I could not come up with an answer, the only thing I thought about was how America should take after Sweden in this question. Nevertheless, after I started my research to find a credible source that would have a different perspective, my way of understanding the issue changed. I found a article on the Academic Search Premier which persuaded exactly the opinions I was looking for. The articles name was The Right to Bear Arms: A Uniquely American Entitlement, written by James B. Jacobs. Jacobs stated that gun control in America would not make the society safer. One of his arguments got me to reconsider

Nystrom 4 my previous thought about America taking after Sweden. The author claimed that the society would not be safer by decreasing the amounts of firearms, or by getting every gun owner to register their guns (Jacobs). The part that made me rethink my judgments was the consequences of gun control, if people would not register but instead hide their guns from the government. In the worst case scenario, the consequences could be worse than how the gun markets look today. This made me overlook my values in this issue, and I realized that making America more like Sweden was too late. I started to think about the reason for that, and it got me thinking that it was possibly because the gun supporters would fear that the record keeping would lead to confiscation of their firearms. This source improved my knowledge about the topic as well as got me visioning the issue from a whole other perspective than my own. I know this article will help me with my arguments in my next paper, the argument paper. However, I still needed information and opinions from several perspectives. This led me into my next research: to find a source that represented the thoughts of the people that believed that the gun laws should be a bit stricter, as well as registration of firearms. I continued my research and found a source that I felt I could use in my papers. I found the article on the Academic Search Premier. After reading it through, I felt that the author Lawrence O. Gostin had some very interesting ideas on gun control. The part I remembered the most was his suggestion on making different laws depending on the cities. The reason for that was, according to Gostin, that people in the cities would not have a use for their firearms while people that live in the suburbs might use them for hunting. This point that the author brought up was to me very attention grabbing, since it was something that I had not thought about. I started to think about how many different solutions this issue could be solved by. Further in the article, the author discussed some of the different ways that can solve the gun issue, and how it could

Nystrom 5 look like in the future. This article helped me with my research because it gave me ideas on how my research question could be answered. The next step for me in my research was to examine several ideas and thoughts from another perspective: the people that want all firearms to be limited to people. I began my last research on the different perspectives, and found a reliable and recent oped article from the Academic Search Premier. The author had chosen to focus the article on how the childrens safety gets harmed because of the second amendment in America. The writer gave different examples of statistics that showed how the guns in US kill more children than diseases like cancer, heart disease and infectious diseases (Isaacs). This article really touched my emotional side, which I believe was the authors intention. My thoughts after I read the article was that how smart it were of him to use children as a focus, since it really gets to peoples emotional side. Depending on my answer to my research question, this article can help me reach my audiences emotional side by using ethos. When I was done and had covered all my perspectives by using different sources for each one, I needed a little more information about the ideas and opinions of the people that are for and against it. During my meeting with the writing studio, I got a helpful advice to visit a website that is called CQ Researcher. On that website they had a lot of topics where they had different well-educated people debating against each other. I read both the pro and con articles, and decided to include both of them in my research (Cook, Ludwig; Kleck). They gave two very contrasting opinions that I felt would help me writing my next paper. I thought that the two sides really helped me get a broader vision of my issue. Besides from the different perspectives and the sources I found for them, I thought these two articles would give me a deeper understanding about my topic.

Nystrom 6 After reading about the gun control issue, and collecting some different sources that represents several perspectives, my thoughts on the issue have changed. Before I started my research I was positively sure what my answer to my research question would be. I believed that no one should be allowed to own a gun, and that the second amendment should be removed from the US laws. After I did my research my thoughts on the topic changes bit by bit. From being absolutely sure that the gun control should be inputted in the US, I am now not so sure about my previous thoughts and opinions were that accurate and well thought through. The research I did has made my understanding of the issue deeper. By getting more information of how the US is using the firearms, and especially understanding the arguments of the gun supporters has made me rethink my ideas. As I continue my research, I have to figure out what thesis I will use for my final paper. Another thought that I have is if I might need to specify my research a bit more. I still feel as if the topic might be to broad to find very relevant sources to use. The question I still need to figure out is if I should write my final project on only the firearms in America, or if I should include the rest of the world as well. I hope to discover my answer to my research question and also explore this topic further, before writing my last paper.

Nystrom 7 Work cited Cook, Philip J, Jens Ludwig. Gun Right Debates, Should Restrictions on Firearms be Relaxed? CQ Researcher. (2013). Web. Oct. 27 2013 "David Isaacs (writer)." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 16 Mar. 2013. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. Dupuy, Tina. "Trust Me: You Believe in Gun Control." Humanist 72.4 (2012): 10-11. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. Gostin, Lawrence O. "The Right to Bear Arms: A Uniquely American Entitlement." JAMA: Journal of The American Medical Association 304.13 (2010): 1485-1486. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. Institute for Legislative Action (ILA). Poll Finds Pro-Gunners More Politically Involved. American Rifleman. (2013): 120. Print. 21 Oct. 2013. Isaacs, David. "Children and Guns: A Call to Disarm." Journal of Pediatrics & Child Health 49.9 (2013): 699-700. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. Jacobs, James B. "'Right to Bear Arms' Decision Would Improve Gun Control." USA Today n.d.: (2002) Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. Kleck, Gary. Gun Right Debates, Should Restrictions on Firearms be Relaxed? CQ Researcher. (2013). Web. Oct. 27 2013 "Lawrence O. Gostin." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 13 Aug. 2012. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.

Nystrom 8 "Second Amendment to the United States Constitution." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 21 Oct. 2013. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.