Date :

LISTENING COMPREHENSION 
LOOPHOLES IN THE GUN LAW
Student A/B

 Before you Watch :

 You are going to study a video entitled: Loopholes in th e Gun Law
Look at the picture and choose the best equivalent for the title of the video :

a- Pro-gun activists have found ways to legally sell guns in spite of the law. 
 Explain the link between the title and the picture ? There must be
“loopholes” in the gun laws that have been passed . There must be mistakes in
the law ; consequently some people have managed to find a way not to do
what the law is supposed to make them do.
 Imagine you make a TV report on the topic.
b- Who would you interview? Pro-gun activists and anti-gun supporters ( gun
control supporters / Brady supporters)
c- What would their arguments be ?
Pro-gun activists  The 2nd Amendment states that the right to bear arms
should not be infringed etc…. / we have the right to protect ourselves etc….
anti-gun supporters  we need to regulate the sale and possession of
guns/ there are too many mass shootings in our country etc…
d- Now make a list of 10 words you may expect to hear in the recording.

Amendment / second / constitution / guns /fire arms/ bear / carry / law/

loopholes/ Brady / support /protect / sell
 Student A
 Now Watch .
 GLOBAL COMPREHENSION  Watch the whole document once and take notes .

Nature of document ? a news report 

Source / origin : Sky News
How many speakers? 5

Who are they ( their role) ? a journalist / a reporter / a customer / a shopkeeper / Tom Mauls =
father of a young victim
Topic ? A new law has been voted in Colorado to regulate the sale and possession of guns.

 DETAILED COMPREHENSION  Listen carefully to the heavily stressed words and take
notes . Note down words you understand and fill in the chart below.
The Situation in Colorado The laws
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…
…………….
The inhabitants = as “cowboys” = an old tradition They ‘ve passed a new gun-control law = it
Their values = the Wild West. requires background checks
a purple state: a state where half the people are  a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines
Conservative and the other half is Liberal. and tighter background checks.
 People are no longer allowed to buy high-
capacity ammunition magazines + there are strict
checks of people’s identities before they can buy
a gun.

law is striking Colorado has a long Wild West

tradition
 Pro-gun arguments Anti-gun arguments
Daniel’s father = anti-gun activist

problem = the person not the tool.  It is not

His son died at Columbine/was killed in the
the gun that kills. It is the person who pulls the
Columbine massacre.
trigger
 was killed with the gun that was purchased
through one of those loopholes.
There’s plenty of ways to create violence other
than firearm
He campaigns to “close the loopholes in the
law”.
“Our Constitution’s Second Amendment”
guarantees that we have a right to have guns.

If the State government has managed to pass a

People can have a bomb if they want it. If they
ban law in this state which is half liberal, half
pay the taxes, then they have a right to have
conservative, there is no reason why such a law
one
could not be passed in the whole nation.
are going to protest against the new law

Student b

 Now Watch .  GLOBAL COMPREHENSION  Watch the whole document once and take
notes

Nature of document ? a news report 

Source / origin : Sky News
How many speakers? 5

Who are they ( their role) ? a journalist / a reporter / a customer / a shopkeeper / Tom Mauls =
father of a young victim
Topic ? A new law has been voted in Colorado to regulate the sale and possession of guns.

 DETAILED COMPREHENSION

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…
…………….  Focus on PART 1  ( 00:00 – 00: 37)
a- What places is this TV report set in ?
 State : Colorado
City: Denver
Exact location : outside the state Capital
b- Considering the picture, say how the inhabitants in this state are
represented and what their values are.
The inhabitants in this state are represented as “cowboys” / as being conservative.
Their values are the values of the Wild West.
c- What laws have just been passed ? Pick out the missing words :
 A ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines and tighter background checks.
d- Rephrase the content of this law in your own words.
People are no longer allowed to buy high-capacity ammunition magazines. And
there are strict checks of people’s identities before they can buy a gun.
e- Pick out the adjective used by the journalist to qualify this new law.
 Striking
f- Considering your answer to Question b , explain why he uses this adjective
 The new law is striking because Colorado has a long Wild West tradition, in
which guns are sacred.

 Focus on PART 2 :  (00:38 - 1:37)

g- Are the two men in favour or against the new law ?

 They are pro-gun; so they are against the new law.

h- Listen to the first man again and complete this sentence.
 The problem is the person not the tool.

i- Rephrase the content of this law in your own words.

It is not the gun that kills. It is the person who pulls the trigger / who holds the
gun / who shoots.
j- Listen to the second man . Considering the words you recognize , explain what
his arguments are .

 – “Our Constitution’s Second Amendment” guarantees that we have a right to

have guns.
 – People can have a bomb if they want it. If they pay the taxes, then they
have a right to have one
 k- Considering the flyers you saw on the video, explain what they intend to do?

 They are going to protest against the new law. Maybe demonstrate against it or
vote against it.

 Focus on PART 3 :  (1:38 – 2:11 :)

l- Who does this man represent ?

 He is an anti-gun activist.
e- Pick out details about his son (name, place, what happened to him)
Daniel died at Columbine/was killed in the Columbine massacre.

n- Complete his sentence :

 And then he was killed with the gun that was purchased through one of those
loopholes.

o- Considering your answers above, explain what he campaigns for today and why.
 He campaigns to “close the loopholes in the law”.

 Focus on PART 4 :  (2:12- 2:35)

p- Pick out the 3 colours and the 2 political parties mentioned. ?

 Colours : three colours : purple, half red, half blue;

 Parties : – two parties: conservative, liberal.

q- Explain the image used by the journalist

– a red state: when the majority is Conservative;
– a blue state: when the majority is Liberal;
– a purple state: a state where half the people are Conservative and the other half
is Liberal.
 If the State government has managed to pass a ban law in this state which is
half liberal, half conservative, there is no reason why such a law could not be
passed in the whole nation.
Transcription

If Colorado’s politicians need any reminder that this was the Wild
West, it stands outside their state capitol. People here hold on
tightly to that right to bear arms. So the new gun control laws
they’ve passed here are striking, and a sign that maybe America is
changing.
In the oldest gun store in Denver, they’re digesting that ban on high capacity
ammunition magazines and tighter background checks.
2 There’s plenty of ways to create violence and inflict harm on other
people, other than firearms and I think that the emotion of a firearm
is... they’re not addressing the problem. The problem is the person,
not the tool.
By the door, cards for customers to send to politicians to remind
them how costly voting against the gun lobby can be.
Our constitution says Second Amendment will not be infringed.
That means it’s not limited. Yeah, people say, “Oh does that mean
people can have a bomb if they want it?” Yeah, it does. If they can
afford it, if they can pay the taxes and everything that go with it,
why not?
3 But what about the victims? Tom Mauls carries his son’s trainers
with him when he’s campaigning for gun control. Daniel died at
Columbine, like Aurora, a massacre that scarred Colorado
Two weeks before he was killed, he said to me one evening at table,
Dad did you know there are loopholes in the Brady Bill, the law that
requires background checks?
And then he was killed with the gun that was purchased through
one of those loopholes. That’s what’s driven me. I wanted to close
those loopholes. For him. And for the sake of others.
4
What makes Colorado all the more interesting is that it’s what they
call a “purple state”: half red, half blue, half conservative, half
liberal.
So what they can do here may be a very good indicator as to what
politicians nationwide can do.
 Your reading TASK : Fill in the recap with the missing information.

Loopholes in the gun law recap

A new ……………… has been voted in ……………… in order to ……………… the sale and
…………………..…… of guns. This law bans …………………………… ammunition ………………
and …………….…… stricter background ……………..…… for all ……….…………’ sales.

The ………………… people interviewed in the video say that ……………… are not the only
form of ……………… and that it is possible to ……………… someone without ……………… a
gun. For one of them, the ……………… is not the ……………… but the ……………… using
it. Another person says that this law is ……………… the …………………… ( = unconstitutional)
and that the politicians who ……………… this law are traitors since the Second …………………
explicitly says that the ……………… to ……………… arms shall not be ………….……… .

The last man who is …………….………, on the other ……………… , ……….………… gun
control ……………… . He ……………… his son in the columbine ……………… in 1999.
Since then he has been ………….……… for more regulation in order to fill the …………………
in the existing ……………… .

The ……………… in Colorado is particularly…………………… because Colorado is a

……………… State, a State where the ……………… and the ………………… have similar
levels of support by ……………… . Therefore, this ……………… can set an ……………… for
the rest of the ……………… .

The 2013 Colorado bill requires universal background checks for anyone who wants
to buy a firearm; it prohibits the sale, transfer, or possession of large-capacity
ammunition magazines. And it requires identification markings on all large-capacity
magazines manufactured in Colorado.