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1 Social Fallacies Gun Control

ocial Fallacies: Gun Control Dayna Pryor Grand Canyon University: COM-362 September 16, 2018

Social Fallacies: Gun Control Leah Daarud Grand Canyon University: COM-362 May 3, 2020

2 Social Fallacies Gun Control

An issue today that seems to be the focus of many media outlets and social groups is gun control, or the lack thereof. Not only is gun control in America a social issue, gun control is political issue that has state leaders clamoring for attention and calling for resolution. There are many people and organizations for and against gun control in the United States. While the National Rifle Association is (NRA), perhaps, the most well-known anti-gun control organization, there are other similar groups across the United States aiming to protect the longstanding Second Amendment rights that have been offered to Americans. One of these organizations is Gun Owners of America. Gun Owners of America recently publishes an article titled “CONGRATS: NO GUN CONTROL IN COVID BILL” (Pratt, Erich). In this article logical fallacies were easy to spot. While the audience may be other anti-gun control enthusiasts, the arguments the author was trying to get across was that the democratic party would insert it’s entire gun control agenda into the COVID-19 relief bill. Some of the fallacies identified was ad hominem, or the attack on the opposition. “Some assumed that Hank Johnson’s H.R. 5717 would be snuck into the rescue package, thus implementing every draconian gun restriction that Democrats can think of. There were even calls from gun grabbers in Congress to add Red Flag gun confiscation orders in the spending bill.” (Pratt, Erich) Another fallacy in the same article can be identified as appeal to emotion, coupled with ad hominem. This sentence appeals to emotion by encouraging the audience to remain standing for their cause. To keep fighting. “But we can’t stand down because there will be even more COVID-19 bills. So stay tuned for future alerts. As for now, be glad that we’ve won. And, Pelosi, Schumer, and their gang of crazies have lost.” (Pratt, Erich) Gun Owners of America support the right to defend yourself. The organization believes that “the right to defend yourself shouldn’t stop when you cross state lines” (GOA) Another fallacy that this organization uses quite often is the bandwagon fallacy. Often while reading support for gun ownership, GOA will use the bandwagon fallacy and state things like “ hundreds of lawmakers support this, but our agenda will go nowhere if you don’t support this.” Or “your rights will be taken away if you do not act now” (GOA). The GOA, NRA, Second Amendment Foundation, National Association for Gun Rights, and many others who are in support of keeping the rights to bear arms, often use words and phrases that help identify their arguments, premises and conclusions. Sometimes, there is no identifiable premise or conclusion but the meaning of the their article on the context in which it’s written indicates the presence and stance of their arguments. Many of the organizations that advocate for gun rights use the second amendment as the basis for which their argument was born.

3 Social Fallacies Gun Control

“Gun rights advocates interpret the Second Amendment as the guarantee of a personal right to keep and bear arms. They assert that the amendment protects the general population, who were viewed as part of the general militia at the time of the amendment's drafting, as distinguished from the "select militia," which would have been controlled by the state. Colonial law required every household to possess arms and every male of military age to be ready for military emergencies, bearing his own arms. Therefore, in guaranteeing the arms of each citizen, the amendment simultaneously guaranteed arms for the militia. (Gun Control)” While it is clear that because of the second amendment Americans have the rights to bear arms, it is a naïve fantasy to think that all of the collections of firearms combined in America play any sort of meaningful role in protecting us from threats of tyranny. A blog I stumbled upon recently gave much insight to the argument of gun control. To have, or not to have guns is no longer the only question of concern in the gun control debate. David Barr states “While gun control is an important issue with serious consequences, the more fundamental danger here is the naïve view of power, freedom, and influence at play in these debates. We can argue about the benefits and dangers of guns. What should be beyond debate is the danger of thinking that we live in a world so simple that modern forms of tyranny can be met with an AR-15. If we think gun ownership is a necessary and enough defense against tyranny, how can we possibly see value in the vital, boring work of government ethics oversight, consumer protection agencies, or campaign finance legislation? The institutions, norms, and checks that hold government responsible to the people can disappear without there being a moment of confrontation in which guns could conceivably play a role.(Barr, David) The only thing that can hold off the threat of tyranny today is the only thing that ever has: informed, collective participation in transparent and accountable political institutions.

4 Social Fallacies Gun Control

References Barr, David. (2018). Gun Control and Lessons from the American Revolution. Retreived from http://www.forthesakeofarguments.com/blog/gun-control-and-the-lessons-ofthe-american-revolution.

Gun Control. (2019). In Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. Retrieved from https://link-galecom.lopes.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/PC3010999212/OVIC? u=canyonuniv&sid=OVIC&xid=3ed1a274...