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The Pros And Cons Of Gun Violence

Decent Essays

This opinion piece from The Washington Post was written by U.S. Senator Chris Murphy from Connecticut. Published days after the recent Las Vegas Shooting, Murphy tells of his past experiences with gun violence urging for stronger gun control legislation. He states that the “phenomenon of horrific mass shootings is exclusive to the United States”, so the solution should be able to be solved by Americans. He argues that our response to “regular mass shootings” has been un-American, and how can a country that has solved the greatest problems in the world, not solve a problem that puts our fellow citizens in harm. “…we choose to be an increasingly distant outlier of exceptional violence”, Murphy states. He mentions one statistic in the article, “In my state of Connecticut, which has expanded background checks and requires issued handgun permits, gun crimes have dropped by 40 percent.”. No other evidentiary support is presented to support Murphy’s argument. He is appealing on human emotion that we, as Americans, are failing to take care of each other and continually allowing others to be put in harm’s way if nothing is done. Murphy’s biases are evident from the beginning of the article when it is stated that he is a democrat, as most democrats are in favor of stronger gun control; it is a common party platform. It is later shown that Murphy has a personal connection to gun violence as he served as the congressman for Newtown, Connecticut during the Sandy Hook shooting. He does

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