So i'm on our final paper for my english comp 1 class and its a persuasive essay. I'm doing it on gun control and policies in the US but have no idea how to state my thesis. I'm not against owning guns and believe policies of owning guns should stay the same. I'm currently just working on my outline so nothing is in stone, haven't even started the rough draft yet so a lot can be tweaked still.

also for those of you against the policies or against guns in general what are some arguments for owning them? Besides the fact that they kill people?

Thanks for any help you all have to offer!
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What's your teachers name again, LOL

Just want to send him/her an email,:-)
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:-) and what might this email include?
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You might want to cite the recent SCOTUS rulings involving the DC ban on hand guns (struck down) and that the Police are not legally obligated to protect anyone. Those two rulings seem to be affirming that self defense is a personal responsibility, and the state is not obligated to help. :-)
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hmm very interesting thank you very much for that little tid bit, as helping as it is, very upsetting to hear that the police are not legally obligated to protect... wtf?
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Guns don't kill people, people kill people. I think any law abiding citizen should be allowed to carry a firearm, all the criminals carry them yet ordinary law abiding citizens have to jump through hoops (in many states, or not allowed at all in others) to carry a firearm for personal protection. Me as a law enforcement officer feel that the more guns in the hands of law abiding citizens is a good thing, the news always points to the bad things that gun owners do, but I know of plenty of stories where law abiding citizens have stopped many a crime but the news doesn't report those.

Just my opinion, and I can and will carry a firearm at all times. I always love to hear the uproar about people carrying guns on campus or in church....seems to me that's where the bad guys target, how nice it would be to have a bunch of armed citizens in those places when the wolf comes knocking!!!
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I think this thread could turn political fast so I won't post on it anymore :-)
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:-)

And here's is your thesis statement, "law abiding citizen should be allowed to carry a firearm"
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i wanna stay away from the politic scene as much as possible, i realize that can be a hard thing to do with this topic. But the reason i made this was for a school paper i have to do. I'd like to hear both sides without people going at each others throats. I do respect both sides (although i am pretty clear on where i personally stand). Thanks again to everyone who has chimed in so far!
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I was thinking about that but the problem with using that as a thesis statement is, law abiding citizens are already allowed to carry firearms. I might be able to tweak it a little to where it says something about how we shouldn't change the law that law abiding citizens are allowed to carry.
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Well, if you think about it, if they were legally obligated, then anytime they failed, wouldn't they be open to civil action? It would be a legal obligation that's impossible to fulfill.
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true, but couldn't the law state that they are obligated to at least somehow try or to make an effort? i realize that would make a ton of gray area's, and might not be worth it. i dunno i'm just blabing and putting my thoughts out there.
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I lied, i'll post again. Problem you are going to have with gun policies is that every state is different, so how are you going to do a blanket US gun policy?
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I don't think "effort" is enforceable, either, but I believe that the written decisions are available online somewhere that could explain their logic chain.
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It only has to be a 6 paragraph essay including intro conclusion and a opposition paragraph, which leaves me with 3 body paragraphs. So i'm gonna do a pretty general essay. I'll pick and choose laws and examples from different states, i guess that could be one way.
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I would love to hear your against argument :-)
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I did a college paper on this exact topic and it too was a persuasive essay. I am pro-gun ownership and am in agreement with Mike (Remo) on this topic. Law abiding citizens should continue to be allowed to own firearms without penalties against them.

The major argument always comes down to taking away guns would make the world a safer place. This isn't true if you just look at the data where they have already done this. The United Kingdom gun ban has been in effect now for more than a decade and statistics show that it is not actually a safer place to live. During the gun ban in the UK, while global crime was actually statistically decreasing, crime in the UK actually increased!

I don't know if anti-gun activists actually realize that taking away gun rights will only make matters worse. Criminals are always going to find ways to obtain guns on the black market or some other way no matter what. So then what essentially tends to happen is you find criminals being able to much easier prey on the innocent public people that would have less means to be able to protect themselves.

The paper I wrote has all the facts to back this information up. What people also don't tend to realize is that gun related deaths and gun related accidents rank very low on the lists of death or harmful related injuries. People are much more likely to die in car accidents or of a heart attack than by firearms.

If you then want to get really technical banning guns would require the banning of other things that can be used as weapons to kill too...why not ban crossbows, knives, baseball bats, etc...

The fact of the matter is that people will find a way to kill to matter what if they want to and more often than not it is the criminals that do it, not law abiding citizens. Taking guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens would only make this country more dangerous, not safer.

Enough already...I have already gotten too political so that's enough from me...

Just my :-)
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Typical arguments would include only criminals need guns ... crime will decrease ...

An interesting angle would be to look at any studies available on countries like Australia and the UK about the "decrease" in crime vs gun control.

Good luck with the paper.
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Here's a Yale Law School web site that might help:
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/default.asp
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Gun control is being able to hit your target :-)

I think that's very important. :-)

These are good points. IIRC I've written a paper on this topic before. You can also look at the number of people and how they die every year. Drowning, stabbing, straggling...to help prove that their are plenty of other viable and frequently used options besides shooting. Maybe there is something higher up on the list or very close.

There are plenty of gun carry forums with stories of law abiding citizens stopping criminals in the process of hurting someone else. Surely there is more factual and reliable sources of this as well.

But lives are saved make no mistake about that.

You can also look for statistics on how many criminals are using legally obtained guns and have permits. Most of them get their guns illegally so banning them wouldn't hinder criminals from acquiring them.
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