Topic: Gun Laws

Thesis Statement: 

El Paso, Texas, 22 people killed in a Walmart, August 3, 2019. Las Vegas, Nevada, 58 people killed in Mandalay Bay Casino and Resort, October 1, 2017. Orlando, Florida, 49 people killed in a gay nightclub called Pulse, June 12, 2016. Newton, Connecticut, 27 adults and children killed in Sandy Hook Elementary School, December 14, 2012. The only thing these massacres have in common is that they were all caused by gun violence. And these were just the ones that went mainstream. Everyday people are affected by gun violence and there must be something done to gun laws to help prevent it.  

Background and Evidence:

Sources:

1. Stating the mass shooting facts in the thesis statement. 

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/19/us/mass-shootings-fast-facts/index.html

2. Definition of Gun Control 

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/smart-facts/what-gun-control-n858071

3. Trump saying he was going to create stricter gun laws then falling through with the plan. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-quietly-abandons-proposing-ideas-to-curb-gun-violence-after-saying-he-would-following-mass-shootings/2019/10/31/8bca030c-fa6e-11e9-9534-e0dbcc9f5683_story.html

4. Arguments against gun laws

View at Medium.com

Sources I haven’t found but would like to:

1. Violence statistics in other countries due to guns
2. Gun laws in other countries and compare these to the crime rates giving an explanation on how stricter gun laws would be effective. 
3. The gun laws in America that we have today and why they need to be stricter. 
4. Why you don’t need high equipped guns to protect your home. (Give other solutions as well to protect ones home)

Counter arguments I need to refute:

1. It is going against the second amendment 
2. Guns aren’t the issue, people are. (refute with again stricter gun laws to make it harder to obtain one, if someone is diagnosed with a mental illness they shouldn’t be able to obtain one. It’s not discrimination.)
3. If we take guns away, people are just going to find other things. For example knives, bats, explosives ect. (It’s not about taking guns away completely, it’s about making more restrictions on what guns are considered “legal” and “sellable” and how to obtain one.)
4. It simply won’t be effective (refute with statistics showing other countries gun rates/ crime rates that have stricter gun laws.) 
5. People will still find a way to get them (refute with making restrictions that will make the process of obtaining one harder instead of just selling them in stores Ex: Walmart in Texas).