Predrag Kalin English 2010 Research Writing

The Hopeless Debate?

The gun debate is a hot topic in the United States. The big question being, who should be allowed to own guns? Both sides of the political spectrum have been trying to convince the American people that their side is right. But I want to ask, where is the compromise? If this really is a big issue, then why arent the politicians working together to solve it? It seems like they are more interested in making the other side look wrong. Its like trying to get two completely opposite children to play with each other. The problem doesnt end on the gun debate. The two sides dont want to agree on anything. Even earlier this year when the government was going to basically collapse they took until the last hour to agree on a deal. If it took them that long to agree on such a critical deal, who knows how long it will take for them to agree on the gun debate. By far the biggest problem in this debate is the fact that each side seems to think there is an easy solution. There really isnt, because the issue is too complex. You have to take in account all the factors. If you do decide to control who has guns, then how are you going to do it? You need to know if the person going to buy the gun is mentally stable. Youll need some way of knowing what they want to use that gun for. Youll also have to deal with the criminals and the inevitable black market for guns. The same goes for the other side of the argument. But for some reason, all these professionals seem to think there is a simple

solution to this debate. Take CNNs Fareed Zakaria for example. He says, In fact, the problem is not complex, and the solution is blindingly obvious (Zakaria). Zakaria goes on to say there are three things that are to blame for gun violence. But the only one we can fix is the ease of access to guns. He says that the government cant tell if someone is evil, and they cant really link violent entertainment to murders. He also says that trying to do either is a waste of time. He thinks the government isnt focusing on the right thing, saying, Instead, why not have government do something much simpler and that has proven successful: limit access to guns (Zakaria). While that might seem like an easy answer, its not. Zakaria wants to make the guns harder to access for everyday citizens, but what about the criminals? How would you regulate their guns? If you make them harder to get for the public you are only dealing with a fraction of the problem. Now maybe if we slowed down and tried to tackle one fraction at a time we could solve this, but everyone wants to blame a different fraction. Dr. Ignatius Piazza, founder of Front Sight Firearms Training in Nevada talks about the very same issue as Zakaria. In his blog he states that stricter gun control wont solve any issues, because the criminals will still have the guns. He says, Think about it. Would a rapist, bank robber, burglar, or murderer submit to gun control and give in his or her gun because guns are all of a sudden illegal? (Piazza). He thinks that everyone, regardless of whether or not they support gun ownership, should learn how to use one. Some groups, however, are putting the blame on a completely different fraction. The NRA has started putting the blame of mass shootings on violent video games and movies. This is one of the things that always comes up when a mass shooting happens

and its usually from gun supporters. They want to quickly turn the focus away from the actual guns and put it on something else. According to an article written by Prachi

Gupta of Salon.com, a week after the Newtown, Conn. Shootings, NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre put the blame on media. Saying The medias aim is to violate and offend every standard of civilized society by bringing an ever-more-toxic mix of reckless behavior and criminal cruelty into our homes --- every minute of every day of every month of every year (LaPierre). Instead of asking how the shooter obtained a gun so easily, LaPierre wants to say that maybe he did it because of a movie or a video game. Blaming something other than the weapon or shooter is yet another reason the gun debate may be a hopeless debate. It seems as though the only people talking about a compromise to solve this debate are the American citizens. The averages Joes who have no real power in this case. Everything from a Facebook post, to a tweet, to a blog all asking for our government to try and work together to solve this issue. A quick internet search will show just how many people are sick of the arguing. One example is a random blogger named John Buterbaugh, who says the government needs to learn to compromise. He says, in his blog, We need to take the best ideas from each party, and not just chose one partys solution (Buterbaugh). He says that each of the solutions offered by both

sides have flaws. Hes right, there isnt one solution. We need to, like he says, find the best of each one. While the average Joes are the majority of people calling for a compromise, they arent the only ones. Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic says we should try to compromise

even though he thinks it may be too late. In his article, he says, These gun control efforts, while noble, would only have a modest impact on the rate of gun violence in America. Why? Because its too late. (Goldberg). He goes on to state the number of gun owners in the United States. Saying that the number is too high to try and control. Maybe Goldberg is right, maybe we are too far in this thing to dig our way back out. Though, we probably wont ever find out if the two sides dont spot arguing and at least try. My original thesis was that we wouldnt be able to solve this debate because we cant get the two sides to stop arguing long enough. I was hoping that through research I would be proven wrong, but I wasnt. Everyone of every side seems to be pointing the blame to one fraction or another. The only people who even bring up the idea of compromise, dont have to political power to do anything with it. So we may be deadlocked until the politicians learn to play together, but who knows how long thatll be. Who knows how many more mass shootings it will take to convince them. How many more innocent people have to be killed before something is done. I have a feeling well be having this discussion for years to come.

Works Cited
Buterbaugh, John. Evaluating gun violence debate. The Buterblog. 5 Feb. 2013. Web. 7 Dec. 2013. Goldberg, Jeffrey. The case for more guns and more gun control. The Atlantic. 28 Nov. 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. Gupta, Parachi. NRA blames entertainment industry for gun violence. Salon. 12 Dec. 2012. Web. 7 Dec. 2013. Piazza, Ignatius. Gun training and gun control. Ignatius-Piazza. 31 Aug. 2010. Web. 7. Dec. 2013. Zakaria, Fareed. Gun violence gun ownership tough gun laws. The Washington Post. 19 Dec. 2012. Web. 7 Dec. 2013.