Unit 3: Gun Control

Pro #1: "Exploring the relationship between support for gun control measures and understanding of gun control"

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Analytic Notes:

• TV affects certain people more than others

• women are more likely to want stronger gun control laws

• gender, rural vs urban, southern vs non southern

• hypothesis of high level of understanding = low level of support

• average person has a moderate level of understanding gun control issues

• index range from 1.87 to 4.07

• people from rural areas tend to display a better understanding of gun control issues

• people who are in pro gun groups and own guns have a better understanding

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Pre-Writing Steps:

Audience: people wondering whether there's a correlation between supporting gun control and having an understanding of the implications of gun control

Purpose: to inform about correlations between different types of people and their understanding of gun control issues

Premise: understanding gun control issues

Powerful Quote: "caution should be used when attempting to extrapolate any results beyond the sample"

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 Pro #2: "The NRA's Strict-Scrutiny Amendments"

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Analytic Notes:

• "iron plating"

  • "judges are constitutionally obliged to evaluate gun restrictions under 'the highest standards of justification'"​

• Alabama, Louisiana, Missouri, and Iowa have adopted/followed the NRA's proposal

• "Tailor the language of their proposed"

• convicted felons don't share the right to bear arms...or do they?

• courts have rejected challenges to the 2nd Amendment

• state and local officials are limited by their states constitutions in regards to state and local gun control measures

• states must have laws that are reasonable regulations

  • constitutionally permissible

• states using their "police power to protect the health, safety and morals of the citizenry" to impose gun regulations/reasonable regulations

  • Connecticut's ban on "assault weapons"

• Louisiana prohibiting carrying concealed weapons

• courts upholding gun restrictions

• NRA's strict-scrutiny amendments cannot assure success

  • jud​ges will be scrutinizing their own "anti-gun activism"

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Pre-Writing Steps:

Audience: people who want gun rights

Purpose: to question whether strict scrutiny amendments would be beneficial to gun owners

Premise: states already have their own gun restrictions which would only further limit guns with the NRA's strict scrutiny amendments

Powerful Quote: "tailor the language of their proposed"

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Pro #3: "Seeking the Peace: Anti-Gun Violence"

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Analytic Notes:

• increasing and concerning boughs of gun violence in Pittsburgh

• lack of black empowerment in Pittsburgh

• prejudice and marginalization against Black and Native populations throughout Pittsburgh's history

• black communities more often to be shot, harmed, or killed

• shooters at 3 mass shootings in Pittsburgh were all white men 

• mass casualty incident in April of 2022

• police violence against Black individuals

• Pittsburgh governor doesn't care about the Black community

• insensitive state officials

• mentalities towards gun violence

• local political commitments to change

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Pre-Writing Steps:

Audience: People against violence and prejudice directed towards Black communities

Purpose: To inform of the grievances the black community in Pittsburgh has faced. To demonstrate the ongoing reforms regarding gun violence.

Premise: Guns are being used against innocent members of society in Pittsburgh and changes need to happen

Powerful Quote: "where there is a failure to perceive a common humanity, it is a short step toward employment of  violence" 

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Con #1: "The US Gun-Control Paradox: Gun Buyer Response to Congressional Gun-Control Initiatives"

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Analytic Notes:

• firearm deaths from 1980-2006 

  • 88 deaths daily​

• 2nd leading cause of death = guns

• increased gun ownership leads to increased firearm homicide

• guns are easily accessible and legal

  • problems in the distribution system​

• political environment revolving around guns has been increasingly divisive

• pro-gun lobbying organizations

  • NRA: national rifle association

• background checks do not regulate guns sold

• buying guns increased after the Sandy Hook Incident

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Pre-Writing Steps:

Audience: People interested in distribution or regulation of guns after the lack of regulation of firearms in the US

Purpose: to inform about the lack of regulation of firearms in the US

Premise: the distribution of firearms in the US isn't being regulated and is thus leading to further political divide

Powerful Quote: "the more advocates push for increased regulation to limit gun sales, the more guns that are sold" (Jones, Stone).

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Con #2:"Firearm ownership, Defensive Gun Usage, and Support for Gun Control: Does Knowledge Matter?"

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Analytic Notes:

• relationship between 3 types of gun knowledge

  • gun crimes, gun legislation, gun functions​

• 3 measures of gun control

  • general gun control, support of reducing gun ownership, support for keeping guns away from "at risk" people​

• US homicide rate is 7x higher than other countries

• guns used in crimes are often not fired but used for victim compliance

• people part of the NRA believe that "more restrictive gun control will do little to reduce crime or to save lives"

• US civilian gun ownership is the highest in the world

  • more than 350 million guns owned by Americans​

• gun crimes committed by people who do not meet regulations

  • age, criminal record, etc​

• belief that reducing number of guns in the market can reduce the number of guns available for crimes

• firearm availability may increase lethality of violent crimes

• most of general public want to ban manufacturing and possession of firearms such as assault rifles

  • some also want to ban handguns​

• increased screening, monitoring buyers and dealers, national firearm database, outlawing secondary "straw" market purchases

• 57% of Americans want to make gun laws stricter

  • support for background checks and limited access ​

• men, white, politically conservative, rural communities, and gun owners are less supportive of restrictions

• people familiar with firearms favor permissive forms

• minority can BIPOC communities favor less restrictive gun control measures when criminal justice system is invovled

• gun control threatens "male intimacy" and male identity

  • men are more immersed in gun culture​

• 10% of gun owners in a study had no formal or informal training

  • ill-trained gun owners more at risk of using or storing firearms unsafely​

• generally most gun owners take forms of precaution

• proportion of defensive gun usage

  • guns used to protect life, liberty, and property​

• removing guns from law abiding citizens can prevent citizens from protecting themselves

  • "viable protection mechanism"​

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Pre-Writing Steps:

Audience: people concerned about gun rights/ownership

Purpose: conduct a study about gun owners and beliefs

Premise: limiting guns can be problematic to most Americans

Powerful Quote: "more restrictive gun control will do little to reduce crime or to save lives"

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Con #3:  "The Extraordinary Ethics of Self-Defense: Embodied Vulnerability..."

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Analytic Notes:

• many people of all backgrounds use guns for defense when they are vulnerable

• "Fear motivates them to become involved in a political fight"

• safety in the presence of firearms

• vulnerability politics

• predominantly white organizations use vulnerability to justify gun rights

• racial, gendered, and minority groups use vulnerability to justify gun rights

  • serve as contemporary gun rights groups​

• white male gun owners using vulnerability only shows their desire to access deadly weaponry

• "the gun becomes what one is, not what one has"

• people of color owning guns leads to state violence

• "whiteness affords full citizenship"

• laws cannot protect queer Americans from prejudice

• Pink Pistols shooting club in Massachusetts for LGBT community

• LGBT community members feel as though guns are the only way to protect their community

• private gun ownership should be defense for minority groups

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Pre-Writing Steps:

Audience: people wondering where the limits of self defense are in regards to guns

Purpose: to inform about the importance of gun ownership to minority groups

Premise: Guns are important in regards to defending minorities and groups subject to prejudice or violent crimes

Powerful Quote: "Fear motivates them"

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Con #4: "Race-gender bias in white Americans’ preferences for gun availability"

 

Analytic Notes:

• Availability of firearms has been racialized and gendered

• Studies about the availability of firearms has only targeted White Americans

• “No study has examined how the race or gender of a firearm’s possessor shapes attitudes over availability”

• race/racial threat determines how white Americans change their preferences of firearm availability

• Experiment of how white Americans change preference if a gun owner is black or a woman

• Complicated role of identity

• Odd choices made by interest groups advocating for gun availability

• NRA’s silence following killing of Philando Castile

  • Black man legally carrying a gun

  • Shot to death by police officer during traffic stop

• “Gun culture” and “cultural cognition”

• “Pre-existing cultural commitments”

• Gun policy laws don’t target specific demographic groups but guns are often associated with white americans

  • Hinders ability to find patterns of gender or race bias

• Expected white Americans to most support white women owning guns and least support black men owning guns

• Group threat 

  • White backlash against black Americans when they “pose threats” to society

• Historical stereotypes

• Racialization of policies and gendered policies

  • Shift in white attitude towards black

• Women stereotypes make them seem as less of a threat than men

• Women owning guns reinforce female vulnerability

• Support for firearm ownership increases for women

• White women more likely to be a target of sexism than black women

• Concluded that gun policy is still deeply racial

• White respondents much less likely to support Black gun owners

• “Dynamic of race and gender”

• Policy attitudes influenced by who will be most affected

  • Support varies due to race and gender

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Pre-Writing Steps:

Audience: individuals interested in seeing whether race or gender will have an influence on gun policies

Purpose: to inform about how racialized and gendered policies will impact gun control laws

Premise: white Americans are not likely to support black gun owners

Key Quote: “race and gender primes still figure prominently into gun control attitudes” (Hayes, Fortunato, Hibbing 2021)

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Con #5: "Racial and ethnic differences in the effects of state firearm laws: a systematic review subgroup analysis"

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Analytic Notes:

• Firearm policies have continuously tried to deny Black americans firearm access

• “Racial and ethnic disparities in violent victimization and premature mortality”

• Conducted research studies to examine how Black americans would be affected by gun laws

• Black americans are more likely to face firearm violence

  • Could be more protected with gun laws

• Laws could be structured to protect white americans

  • Less benefits for black americans

• “For decades, the USA has underinvested in firearm violence and firearm policy research”

 

Pre-Writing Steps:

Audience: People wondering if firearm policies will affect minority groups

Purpose: To find the relationship between 8 determined outcomes and firearm policies

Premise: to determine whether firearm policies benefit or harm racial and ethnic groups

Key Quote: “For decades, the USA has underinvested in firearm violence and firearm policy research” (Smart 2023)

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Con #6: "Disparities in Policing From Theory to Practice"

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Analytic Notes:

• Police using force on POC

• Lack of trust between communities and law enforcement

• Major-minority communities

  • Higher levels of crime lead to more police encounters

  • Increases amount of fatal outcomes

  • Lower income communities more likely to experience social control

  • “Black people and Hispanic people, are more likely to be subjected to more intense law enforcement practices than white people”

• Conflict theory of law

  • Policing enforces social control

  • Only benefits those in power

  • Higher populations of POC are more likely to have larger police force due to fear by whites

• Minority threat hypothesis-group threat theory

  • Minority groups see more intense and aggressive policing because they are seen as being threatening

  • “These groups are seen as threatening the established order and power structure”

• police more likely to use force in areas that are economically disadvantaged

• black people in suburbs were 4.5x more likely to be arrested than white people

• injuries caused by sheriffs departments show to be more lethal than local police departments

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Pre-Writing Steps:

Audience: people interested about police violence against minority groups

Purpose: to conduct research about the relationship between minority groups and law enforcement

Premise: there is a long history of racism and discrimination which has negatively affected minority groups--most especially Black and Hispanic people.

Key Quote: "Multiple studies have consistently shown that racial/ethnic minorities...are more likely to be subjected to more intense law enforcement practices than White people" (Zarre 2024).

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Con #7: "Ten Years After Oak Creek: Federal Policy Recommendations to Protect Communities Targeted by Hate"

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Analytic Notes:

• attack on Sikh temple in Wisconsin

• hate against AAPI community in 2022

• mass shootings in Atlanta and Indianapolis

• anti-Sikh sentiment after 9/11

• covid-19 hate crimes act

  • lack of action by federal lawmakers​

• communities have done their part --> lawmakers need to do their part

• pushes for US government to take action against violence against minority communities

  • re-introducing domestic terrorism prevention act​

  • "current U.S. law prohibits the Department of Justice (DOJ) from prosecuting hate crimes where bias is not the sole reason for a perpetrator's actions" (Narang 2023)

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Pre-Writing Steps:

Audience: Lawmakers and politicians in government

Purpose: to push for more preventative measures in regard to the justice system on violence against minority groups

Premise: government needs to make reforms to prevent the amount of mass killings in the US

Key Quote: "Only that change of mindset will determine if the safety of religious minorities, communitites of color, and women will be prioritized, and whether our communities will be spared from having to bear further painful commemorations" (Narang 2023)

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Con #8: "Framing the Second Amendment: Gun Rights, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties"

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Analytic Notes:

• "historical relationship between race and arms"

• gun rights connected to equality and racial equality

• "Black Guns Matter"

• anti-tyranny values

• constitutional culture

• discovering the meaning behind the 2nd amendment and how different types of Americans interpret the 2nd amendment

• framing of 2nd amendment has greatly affected gun debates

• fear of governmental disarmament

• NRA believes that the 2nd amendment saves Americans from 'oblivion'

• the NRA has polarized gun control and gun rights

• NRA believe that any form of gun control threatens the 2nd amendment

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Pre-Writing Steps:

Audience: Americans concerned about the 2nd amendment and gun policies

Purpose: to discover how gun rights activists are interpreting the 2nd amendment

Premise: how the framing of the 2nd amendment influences future policies and future debates of gun control

Key Quote: "Although most gun owners accept some limits on the right to keep and bear arms, fringe groups, milities, and other uncompromising advocated have dominated the civil liberties framing of the Second Amendment"

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Con #9: "Racially Disparate Policy Responses to Mass Shootings"

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Analytic Notes:

• gun policies left to the states

• episodic changes

• victim identities heavily influencing efforts and policy responses

• NRA pushes racialized narratives

  • narratives that policies are protecting racial groups and threatening white Americans

  • forcing politicians to not intervene in gun control​

• when white communities are affected then gun control is used to protect them

• gun policy diverges from public opinion

• legislatures influenced by implicit biases

  • more likely to support gun restrictions when victims are white​

• firearm policies are responsive to mass shootings when the victims involved are white

• 10 white fatalities--> 1-1.1 more gun laws

• 10 racial/ethnic fatalities --> .6 fewer gun laws

• gun control interest groups increase lobbying when there are white fatalities

• "mass shooting fatalities of color do not significantly influence interest groups' lobbying efforts" (Markarian 2022)

• involvement of race in gun policy

• disarmament of people of color whilst still keeping guns for whites

• politicians change "who is seen as the primary beneficiaries of a policy"

• white Americans support gun restriction when they see whites as gun violence victims

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Pre-Writing Steps:

Audience: individuals concerned about how gun restrictions will affect different ethnic groups of people in America

Purpose: to inform about the racialized narratives that revolve around gun control and gun rights

Premise: white Americans are more likely to implement restrictive gun laws when white victims are involved

Key Quote: "White Americans are framed as the primary beneficiaries of gun control, leading to increased support for restrictive gun laws among co-ethnics" (Markarian 2022)

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