looking for help with english comp1 paper

[cigarmonkel]

So i'm on our final paper for my english comp 1 class and its a persuasive essay. I'm doing it on gun control and policies in the US but have no idea how to state my thesis. I'm not against owning guns and believe policies of owning guns should stay the same. I'm currently just working on my outline so nothing is in stone, haven't even started the rough draft yet so a lot can be tweaked still.

also for those of you against the policies or against guns in general what are some arguments for owning them? Besides the fact that they kill people?

Thanks for any help you all have to offer!

[Resipsa]

What's your teachers name again, LOL

Just want to send him/her an email,;)

[cigarmonkel]

What's your teachers name again, LOL

Just want to send him/her an email,;)

:r and what might this email include?

[Subvet642]

You might want to cite the recent SCOTUS rulings involving the DC ban on hand guns (struck down) and that the Police are not legally obligated to protect anyone. Those two rulings seem to be affirming that self defense is a personal responsibility, and the state is not obligated to help. :2

[cigarmonkel]

You might want to cite the recent SCOTUS rulings involving the DC ban on hand guns (struck down) and that the Police are not legally obligated to protect anyone. Those two rulings seem to be affirming that self defense is a personal responsibility, and the state is not obligated to help. :2

hmm very interesting thank you very much for that little tid bit, as helping as it is, very upsetting to hear that the police are not legally obligated to protect... wtf?

[Remo]

Guns don't kill people, people kill people. I think any law abiding citizen should be allowed to carry a firearm, all the criminals carry them yet ordinary law abiding citizens have to jump through hoops (in many states, or not allowed at all in others) to carry a firearm for personal protection. Me as a law enforcement officer feel that the more guns in the hands of law abiding citizens is a good thing, the news always points to the bad things that gun owners do, but I know of plenty of stories where law abiding citizens have stopped many a crime but the news doesn't report those.

Just my opinion, and I can and will carry a firearm at all times. I always love to hear the uproar about people carrying guns on campus or in church....seems to me that's where the bad guys target, how nice it would be to have a bunch of armed citizens in those places when the wolf comes knocking!!!

[Remo]

I think this thread could turn political fast so I won't post on it anymore :tu

[HollywoodQue]

Guns don't kill people, people kill people. I think any law abiding citizen should be allowed to carry a firearm, all the criminals carry them yet ordinary law abiding citizens have to jump through hoops (in many states, or not allowed at all in others) to carry a firearm for personal protection. Me as a law enforcement officer feel that the more guns in the hands of law abiding citizens is a good thing, the news always points to the bad things that gun owners do, but I know of plenty of stories where law abiding citizens have stopped many a crime but the news doesn't report those.

Just my opinion, and I can and will carry a firearm at all times. I always love to hear the uproar about people carrying guns on campus or in church....seems to me that's where the bad guys target, how nice it would be to have a bunch of armed citizens in those places when the wolf comes knocking!!!


:tpd:

And here's is your thesis statement, "law abiding citizen should be allowed to carry a firearm"

[cigarmonkel]

i wanna stay away from the politic scene as much as possible, i realize that can be a hard thing to do with this topic. But the reason i made this was for a school paper i have to do. I'd like to hear both sides without people going at each others throats. I do respect both sides (although i am pretty clear on where i personally stand). Thanks again to everyone who has chimed in so far!

[cigarmonkel]

:tpd:

And here's is your thesis statement, "law abiding citizen should be allowed to carry a firearm"

I was thinking about that but the problem with using that as a thesis statement is, law abiding citizens are already allowed to carry firearms. I might be able to tweak it a little to where it says something about how we shouldn't change the law that law abiding citizens are allowed to carry.

[Subvet642]

hmm very interesting thank you very much for that little tid bit, as helping as it is, very upsetting to hear that the police are not legally obligated to protect... wtf?

Well, if you think about it, if they were legally obligated, then anytime they failed, wouldn't they be open to civil action? It would be a legal obligation that's impossible to fulfill.

[cigarmonkel]

true, but couldn't the law state that they are obligated to at least somehow try or to make an effort? i realize that would make a ton of gray area's, and might not be worth it. i dunno i'm just blabing and putting my thoughts out there.

[Remo]

I lied, i'll post again. Problem you are going to have with gun policies is that every state is different, so how are you going to do a blanket US gun policy?

[Subvet642]

true, but couldn't the law state that they are obligated to at least somehow try or to make an effort? i realize that would make a ton of gray area's, and might not be worth it. i dunno i'm just blabing and putting my thoughts out there.

I don't think "effort" is enforceable, either, but I believe that the written decisions are available online somewhere that could explain their logic chain.

[cigarmonkel]

I lied, i'll post again. Problem you are going to have with gun policies is that every state is different, so how are you going to do a blanket US gun policy?

It only has to be a 6 paragraph essay including intro conclusion and a opposition paragraph, which leaves me with 3 body paragraphs. So i'm gonna do a pretty general essay. I'll pick and choose laws and examples from different states, i guess that could be one way.

[Remo]

I would love to hear your against argument :tu

[SteelCityBoy]

I did a college paper on this exact topic and it too was a persuasive essay. I am pro-gun ownership and am in agreement with Mike (Remo) on this topic. Law abiding citizens should continue to be allowed to own firearms without penalties against them.

The major argument always comes down to taking away guns would make the world a safer place. This isn't true if you just look at the data where they have already done this. The United Kingdom gun ban has been in effect now for more than a decade and statistics show that it is not actually a safer place to live. During the gun ban in the UK, while global crime was actually statistically decreasing, crime in the UK actually increased!

I don't know if anti-gun activists actually realize that taking away gun rights will only make matters worse. Criminals are always going to find ways to obtain guns on the black market or some other way no matter what. So then what essentially tends to happen is you find criminals being able to much easier prey on the innocent public people that would have less means to be able to protect themselves.

The paper I wrote has all the facts to back this information up. What people also don't tend to realize is that gun related deaths and gun related accidents rank very low on the lists of death or harmful related injuries. People are much more likely to die in car accidents or of a heart attack than by firearms.

If you then want to get really technical banning guns would require the banning of other things that can be used as weapons to kill too...why not ban crossbows, knives, baseball bats, etc...

The fact of the matter is that people will find a way to kill to matter what if they want to and more often than not it is the criminals that do it, not law abiding citizens. Taking guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens would only make this country more dangerous, not safer.

Enough already...I have already gotten too political so that's enough from me...

Just my :2

[jledou]

Typical arguments would include only criminals need guns ... crime will decrease ...

An interesting angle would be to look at any studies available on countries like Australia and the UK about the "decrease" in crime vs gun control.

Good luck with the paper.

[Subvet642]

It only has to be a 6 paragraph essay including intro conclusion and a opposition paragraph, which leaves me with 3 body paragraphs. So i'm gonna do a pretty general essay. I'll pick and choose laws and examples from different states, i guess that could be one way.

Here's a Yale Law School web site that might help:
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/default.asp

[Bill86]

Gun control is being able to hit your target :)

I think that's very important. :D


If you then want to get really technical banning guns would require the banning of other things that can be used as weapons to kill too...why not ban crossbows, knives, baseball bats, etc...

The fact of the matter is that people will find a way to kill to matter what if they want to and more often than not it is the criminals that do it, not law abiding citizens. Taking guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens would only make this country more dangerous, not safer.

These are good points. IIRC I've written a paper on this topic before. You can also look at the number of people and how they die every year. Drowning, stabbing, straggling...to help prove that their are plenty of other viable and frequently used options besides shooting. Maybe there is something higher up on the list or very close.

There are plenty of gun carry forums with stories of law abiding citizens stopping criminals in the process of hurting someone else. Surely there is more factual and reliable sources of this as well.

But lives are saved make no mistake about that.

You can also look for statistics on how many criminals are using legally obtained guns and have permits. Most of them get their guns illegally so banning them wouldn't hinder criminals from acquiring them.

[SteelCityBoy]

Here are some of the sites I used when I wrote my paper...perhaps you will find them as interesting as I did...

http://www.vcdl.org/new/kleck.htm

http://libertariananarchy.com articles/the-case-against-gun-control/

http://www.conspiracy.me/?p=28371

http://gunowners.org/fs0404.htm

http://www.saf.org/LawReviews/McDowellLoftinAndWiersema1.htm

[cigarmonkel]

IMO i think our politicians are going all the wrong ways to try to decease crime and what not involving guns. Instead of taking them away make a simple and effective class that educates people how to PROPERLY handlee and use guns. NOT a CCW class but something kinda like it. A LOT of people don't carry their guns, but that doesn't mean they know how to use and handle them safely. Think of hunters safety, you need to pass the hunters safety (both field and written test) before you can even buy any hunting permits. Why not do something like that for buying guns? You MUST pass a field and written test before you can apply for a gun permit.

yes, hunters safety is pretty much all common sense and you could sleep through it and still pass, BUT i promise you there would be more hunting accidents if we didn't have that system in place. So why not make a same class in order to buy a gun? A class most of us could sleep through but would still either prevent or educate that 10% of people (random number) from buying or misusing a gun.

[cigarmonkel]

some of the arguments i have so far for my opposition paragraph are: too many guns in the streets, guns in the hands of the wrong people, and the always argued more guns, more crimes.

remember this is an opposition paragraph i will be arguing these and the point of these are to "one up the opposition".

[cigarmonkel]

Here are some of the sites I used when I wrote my paper...perhaps you will find them as interesting as I did...

http://www.vcdl.org/new/kleck.htm

http://libertariananarchy.com articles/the-case-against-gun-control/

http://www.conspiracy.me/?p=28371

http://gunowners.org/fs0404.htm

http://www.saf.org/LawReviews/McDowellLoftinAndWiersema1.htm

Awesome thank you guys soo much for all your help and links! This thread will definitely make my paper that much more easy to write now! Thank you thank you all!

[massphatness]

Once you guys are done helping with the English Comp paper, I have a topline report due to one of my clients next week. If someone could jump on that I'd appreciate it greatly.

:tu

[cigarmonkel]

I've gotcha Vin! :r. might not wanna trust mine though it would be be a picture book.

[Subvet642]

Once you guys are done helping with the English Comp paper, I have a topline report due to one of my clients next week. If someone could jump on that I'd appreciate it greatly.:tu

http://cdn3.sbnation.com/imported_assets/608474/tpsreports.jpg

[cigarmonkel]

i believe you have my stapler

[Remo]

Just put a cover sheet with the TPS report :lr

[Subvet642]

http://idaho.startupweekend.org/sites/default/files/uploads/TPS%20report.jpg

[kaisersozei]

Why not form a persuasive argument for/against concealed carry permits? Lots to choose from on both sides there. The second amendment kind of obviates the need to argue the Right to bear arms. But I guess you can always find a college professor willing to entertain that option ;)

[jledou]

Once you guys are done helping with the English Comp paper, I have a topline report due to one of my clients next week. If someone could jump on that I'd appreciate it greatly.

:tu

Topline
____________________

____________________
Bottom Line

Report Done!

[mariogolbee]

I'll make just a few points. I am mostly listing a few points against AND for. These points are meant for reference NOT for my own debate purposes. Good luck with the paper, you'll do fine.

If you are going to use any websites for information be sure they end in .edu or .gov rather than .com or .org. This way you are less likely to get biased sources. Sticking to .edu sites is best as some countries and/or agencies with .gov sites can be biased as well.

Guns don't kill people, people kill people, but people can easily kill other people with guns.

If there is a low rate of gun related deaths in this country, then why do people feel the need to protect themselves with guns from other people with guns?

A law abiding citizen who breaks the law is a criminal and a criminal was a law abiding citizen until they broke the law.

Although the right to bear arms was established for citizens to protect themselves from government, which SHOULD not be necessary in this era, the perceived threat of terrorist attacks is a good reason to be allowed arms.

MOST responsible firearm owners use them safely and only for recreational use.

Although I believed at one point that illegal firearms are mostly obtained through theft of legal firearms I have since found out this is not the case. However, there is still a good portion of illegal guns on the street that were stolen from their legal owners.

Guns are cool.

[poker]

So far this thread has gone well. Kudos to you all for keeping politics out of it thus far. We are however keeping our eyes open on this one.

[bobarian]

http://youtu.be/k7K4jH7NqUw

[GreekGodX]

How many cigars do I get for writing the paper? :ss

[cigarmonkel]

How many cigars do I get for writing the paper? :ss

:r if i could get away with it i would send you some nice sticks to smoke while you wrote it! But our teacher claims that he knows our "style" of writing and i'd rather not call him on that bluff (if it is one) on our last and biggest paper.

[cigarmonkel]

So far this thread has gone well. Kudos to you all for keeping politics out of it thus far. We are however keeping our eyes open on this one.

Thank you and noted!! NO ONE MESS THIS UP!!!!:sl

[mariogolbee]

:r if i could get away with it i would send you some nice sticks to smoke while you wrote it! But our teacher claims that he knows our "style" of writing and i'd rather not call him on that bluff (if it is one) on our last and biggest paper.
I'm sure he does. Everyone has a distinct style of writing.