Gun Control May or May Not Reduce the Cost of Gun Violence

Gun Control May or May Not Reduce the

Cost of Gun Violence
Bridget O'Sullivan
March 14, 2016
Professor Sheila Fielding
WRTC 103

Gun Control May or May Not Reduce the Cost of Gun Violence
Abstract: The question raised is will increasing gun control reduce the cost of gun violence and
the evidence given through various sources shows that it should. Gun violence is a serious issue
in the United States, there are too many mass shootings and countless deaths every year
associated with guns. The topic of gun violence should be important to all United States citizens
because not only is the right to bear arms a constitutional right but it is also a concern for
personal safety.

Causing 33,000 deaths in the United States per year we need to be more

aware and take action to end gun violence by creating more gun control laws. The prosed
question is if creating more gun restrictions will reduce the cost of gun violence and evidence
shows that it might. Reduction in the number of guns usually mean a low number of death by
guns. There are various ways to reduce gun violence and many people believe an effective way
to do so is to regulate who can have access to a gun and who cannot; for example, in most states
people need to pass background checks to obtain a permit in order to own a gun while some
states. Gun control means that the government regulates of how many guns are distributed, who
can sell guns, and most importantly who can buy guns. However, the government cannot create
too many regulations and restrictions because it is within a citizen constitutional right to bear
arms. The topic of gun control should be important to all because it is a concern for safety and
concern for your rights as a United States citizen.
The article Increased Civilian Gun Ownership Will Not Reduce Crime by Seitz-Wald is
about his view of gun control. Seitz-Wald explains how he believes that guns are violent and that
an increase in guns would not decrease crime and that there should be more gun control. He
evaluates other sources and opinions, including an article written by Jeffery Goldberg, and states
how he agrees and disagrees with them. Seitz-Wald also explains in his article the amount of
mass shootings in the United States and what he believes should be done to reduce and end it.

Gun Control May or May Not Reduce the Cost of Gun Violence
Ultimately, Seitz-Wald makes his stance on gun control and gun ownership clear, (Seitz-Wald, A,
2015).
The article Sandy hook families file lawsuit against gun manufacturer; adam lanza killed
20 children, six staff members at newtown, conn., elementary school by De Alvia is about the
Newtown shooting. The story of the elementary school is truly heartbreaking and shows how
dangerous guns can truly be. This tragedy has open so many debates about what should be done
to avoid these situations again. The article interviews various people asking them if there should
be restriction on gun ownership and many believe that there should be restrictions. Overall,
Newtown was major upset for the country and has made it clear there needs to be action taken in
gun control, (De Alvia, J., 2014).
In the interview Barack Obama introduces executive action to stop gun violence by
Michael Vincent about what Obama thinks should be done about gun violence. Obama recently
shared his pro-gun control views in one of his speeches and stated his view that it should be
required for a person to pass a background check to purchase a gun. Some people disagreed with
Obama - for example, Jeb Bush - and think that it would be too much government involvement.
Bush, who has right-wing views, claims that people with left views believe that they want to
restrict the right of gun ownership as much as possible and that it is hurting law abiding citizens,
(Bush, 2016). He goes on to explain how these tragedies like Newtown are still going to happen
with the restrictions and that it does not seem fair for the president to make gun ownership more
difficult for law abiding citizens to have gun ownership, (Bush, 2016). Overall, gun violence is a
serious problem in the U.S. and different people have different opinions on how it should be
handled, (M. Vincent 2016).

Gun Control May or May Not Reduce the Cost of Gun Violence

Seitz-Walds article is very much formatted to show the strengths of his opinion of gun
control. His opinion of gun control is somewhat parallel to some of the citizens of Newtown,
Connecticut and President Barack Obama. The Newtown article states, Ms. Soto's sister said her
family wanted to be a part of this lawsuit because they believed that civilians shouldn't be
allowed to own the rifle used in the shooting, (De Alivia, J., 2013). Seitz-Wald explains in his
article how more guns would not correlate to a decrease in gun violence Ms. Soto of Newtown
seems to agree because she claimed how citizens should not have access to some of these lethal
guns. In conclusion, Seitz-Wald and Ms. Soto seem to have similar views.
The news article about Newtown, Connecticut does not offer an opinion making it
difficult for it to provide an agreement between the other articles; however, the article shows how
this event was a tragedy and both Seitz-Wald and Bush can agree that an event like Newtown
should have never have happened and something needs to be done to ensure that it wont. The
people of Newtown for the most part seem that the state of Connecticut should take action by
creating more restrictions on gun ownership. Although, Lawrence Keane a man interviewed has
similar view to Jeb Bushs; he stated, Millions of people own them and do use them every day
for lawful purposes, he said, (Keane, L. and De Alvia, J 2014). Keane is referring to law
abiding citizens who have firearms and use them appropriately. Overall, the article shows
similarities to the other articles.
Although Jeb Bush does not agree with Seitz-Wald he does agree with Lawrence Keane
on how creating more restrictions would not be fair for law abiding citizens. Bush specifically
states, Its not going to solve any problems by having the so-called gun show loophole be

Gun Control May or May Not Reduce the Cost of Gun Violence
taken, (Bush, J., 2016). Jeb Bush is in favor of protecting the second amendment right to bear
arms and does not believe that there is a gun show loophole and Keane agrees on Bushs
stance that we should not restrict the rights or law-abiding citizens. Overall, gun control should
be done in away where law-abiding citizens are not punished or restricted too much.
Seitz-Wald and Bush disagree and nearly everything. Seitz-Wald in his article explains
how there should be less guns to reduce gun violence and Bush does not believe that it will hurt
law abiding citizens and that there isnt a correlation between number of guns and deaths by
guns. Seitz-Wald has very strong liberal views on and increase in gun control while Jeb has a
very right perspective and that the government should not violate the citizens of the United
States second amendment rights.
The interview from Michael Vincent provides a disagreement with Seitz-Walds stance
about gun control. While Seitz-Wald has, as what Jeb Bush may say, left views on gun control
and Jeb Bush does not believe that this is the most effective way to decrease gun violence. Bush
states, I think the impulse of the left is always to create more restrictions on law abiding gun
owners and that doesnt solve the problems, the tragedies of these well publicized cases that have
taken place where we see the violence and the press focuses on it,(Bush, J., 2016). Jeb does
make an interesting point of how people with left views have a desire to create more restrictions
and that he does not believe that is seems to be working; although, Jeb does not see to offer and
effective either to end gun violence. Jeb Bushs views and Seitz-Walds views appear to be quite
opposite but both sides of this issue need to be looked at thought through.
Seitz-Walds article is very strongly opinionated in favor or strong gun control and less
guns. Some of the strengths of his piece is that he incorporates a lot of sources in his article

Gun Control May or May Not Reduce the Cost of Gun Violence
making the article very credible and he critiques the article as well. Also, his strong opinion and
passion for gun control appeals to the reader more because it helps the reader form an opinion on
the topic and to show that this topic should be as important to themselves as it is to Seitz-Wald.
However, his strong opinion also acts as a weakness; it makes him one-sided and he does not
refute himself. Lack of seeing some reasoning from the other side can make him seem not very
credible or not very reliable; acknowledging a flaw in ones own argument can make the author
seem more reliable and reasonable in the eyes of the reader. All in all, Seitz-Walds article was
very eye opening and passionate.
De Alivias article on Newtown was an informative article of the tragedy of what
happened in 201 and what people of the city believe about gun ownership restrictions. The
strengths of this article was that is informative and not opinionated from the authors perspective
making it unbiased and more reliable compared to Seitz-Walds article. However, the article
could have benefitted more if there was an opinion of the shooting and gun ownership from De
Alivia included; whether it would be a brief paragraph to conclude the article, it would make the
article more personable. Ultimately, the informative article of Newtown was very effective in
providing information about gun violence but not as effective if the author formed an opinion.
Gun control and violence are very controversial topics but I believe both sides of the
argument can agree that something needs to be done to put an end to gun violence. I can
understand both sides of the argument but I favor the pro-gun control more. After researching
this topic, my opinion has change a little bit. I understand the other side a little more and that it
would not be effective to have a lot of government involvement in gun control. I agree with
Barack Obama and that there needs to be background checks and more safety precautions but too

Gun Control May or May Not Reduce the Cost of Gun Violence
many restrictions may cause problems as well. My current stance on this issue is that every
person wishing to obtain a gun license should have to do a background check which includes
criminal record and mental health but there should not be too much of a decrease on gun
production because the number of guns does not correlate to deaths by guns. It would be
interesting to do a study of fellow college students of their idea of open carry on campus to get a
better understand of peoples opinion of gun control. Ultimately, there are very strong arguments
on both sides of this issue but due to history of violence when there are less guns there is less gun
violence so I believe creating stronger gun control laws will reduce the cost associated with gun
violence.

Gun Control May or May Not Reduce the Cost of Gun Violence
Bridget OSullivan
Professor Fielding
March 14th 2014
WRTC 103 0040
Works Cited Page
1.)

De Avila, J. (2014, Dec 16). Sandy hook families file lawsuit against gun manufacturer;
lanza killed 20 children, six staff members at newtown, conn., elementary
school. Wall Street Journal (Online) Retrieved from

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2.) Healy, J. (2015, February 7). Gun Debate Is Revived in Colorado, Two Years After
Theater Shooting. New York Times, p. A10(L). Retrieved from
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3.) Gun Violence Research. (2015). Congressional Digest, 94(9), 10.
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Seitz-Wald, A. (2015). Increased Civilian Gun Ownership Will Not Reduce Crime. In N.
Merino (Ed.), At Issue. Guns and Crime. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven
Press. (Reprinted from The Answer Is Not More Guns, Salon, 2012)
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Vincent, M. Barack Obama introduces executive action to stop gun violence. (n.d) World
Today. The
(ABC). http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-06/barack-obama-introducesexecutive-action-to-stop/7070854