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Introduction
A fierce and continuous debate on gun control has recently been prompted by the increasing rate of incidents of school gun massacre in the United States. In particular, the recent Newtown incident that left several children dead has prompted the need for gun control policy in the country. In her February 14 2013 article “With Guns, Killer and Victim Are Usually Same” on The New York Times, Sabrina Tavernise draws the reader to the bigger picture of firearm abuse.
In her argument, Tavernise (1) has constructed the article in form of a conventional Wall Street Journal for featured stories. In the article, the author argues that although most cases of shooting in the past have involved massive shootings, most gun victims are actually using these firearms to commit suicide. She indicates that there are many victims of suicidal shooting than the cases of massive shootings. This statement has been supported by statistics from official agencies.
With sufficient information, Tavernise’s article possesses a great deal of credibility and persuasiveness. By employing an effective use of rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos, and pathos) and tone, the author has effectively developed an argument that persuades the reader to understand the need for reducing cases of suicidal deaths by blocking the access to firearms through a gun control policy.
Rhetoric Analysis
Tavernise tries to deviate the public focus on gun debate from mass shootings to she use of guns in suicides. She unveils that the majority of gun-related deaths in America are suicides. Throughout this article, Tavernise manages to present a balanced argument, with opinions from both sides directly involved and interacted.
The author does not seem to suggest the most appropriate method of reducing the problem. However, she employs logos to persuade her readers by providing more than one suggestions, but leaves it out to them to apply logics in examining the best way to control suicidal deaths involving firearms in the United States.
One prominent characteristic of this article is its effective structure. Presented in the style of a feature story, it starts and ends with an anecdote. The tragic story of the Reichert family adds human interest and draws readers’ feelings and attention. In this anecdote, the author draws the readers to a real-life experience of Reichert family in Dayton, Wyoming.
Mr. Reichert and his wife lost their son, Kameron, through a suicidal shooting. Using ethos, the author has drawn the readers to understand the situation brought by the access of guns to the young people in the United States using the case of Kameron. Here, the author draws the reader to develop emotions by describing how Kameron, then only 17 years old, was found dead on the floor of his room. Despite the father having experience in emergency training, he could do little because the son was already dead.
In addition, the reader invokes a sense of sympathy among the readers by describing the grief that affected the family, especially the father who felt guilty for not keeping the 911 dispatcher away from his son’s reach. According to the author, Mr. Reitcher regrets “…I beat myself several times for not having kept the guns out of his reach” (Tavernise 1). Evidently, the authors instil emotions in her readers by applying the anecdote in the article.
The author seems to be effective in using logos in her article in order to make the readers embrace logical approach to the analysis of the gun problem and cases of suicide in the United States. For example, the author discusses the aspect of gun and their involvement in suicide.
She provides a discussion death related guns in 2010 alone, where she indicates that over two-thirds of those deaths were suicides. Therefore, suicidal attempt with guns should be given enough attention, besides mass shootings. The impact of the use of logos in this case is to allow the readers perceive the problem from facts. Therefore, the author is successful in applying logical approach to attract the attention of the readers and make them understand her argument.
Then the body part of this article cited data and research findings, and quoted from experts to present the argument that gun possession are related to homicidal deaths. Following this, the third part is more details about the life of Kameron Reichert to reveal the cause for his suicidal behavior.
The fourth part, involves a discussion on the general causes of suicidal attempt, which is a temporary surge of rage or despair. The author argues, therefore, that guns are lethal and people who are trying to kill themselves with guns available to them usually do not get a second chance.
This is evidenced by statistical indication that more than half of all suicide fatalities result from firearms. With the introduction of another anecdote of the death of Kyle Wells, the fourth part concludes that reducing access to the lethal weapons will make it possible to control the number of suicidal deaths. By telling the story of Kyle, the author intends to contend that suicidal person are suicidal not because of the guns, but because of themselves, as it quotes Kyle’s grandmother “It’s not the guns. It’s the person (Tavernier 1).”
Lastly, in its fifth part, the article gives more specifics about the Reicherts. It shows how family members deal with trauma and their perspectives on guns. The other striking feature about the article’ structure is that both pros and cons are balanced, in addition to being interwoven throughout. For example, after citing literature and experts that suggest the presence of guns increases homicidal death, it immediately jumps to argue against the statement.
In addition to this effective and persuasive structure pattern of argumentation, it also employs all the three rhetorical appeals, ethos, logos and pathos. This article also applied assertion, allusion, analogy, anecdote, and authority. The author makes several assertions, in the article.
For examples, she says, “The national map of suicide lights up in states with the highest gun ownership rates”. She then analyzes this assertion by providing academic evidences from the Harvard centre. With such evidences, the author is trying to convince audience by invoking the findings of an organization with the authority to deal with research.
When quoting B. J. Ayers, a suicide prevention specialist, it uses allusion when it argues that the politics put gun owners on the defensive. For example, the author says “You just bump up against that glass wall, and barriers go up and the conversations break down” (Tavernise 1). In this article, the author has used analogy in a number of instances. For example, the author tries to illustrate that reducing access to lethal weapons works to control cases of gun-related deaths.
She cites the examples of countries such as Israel, where soldiers were prohibited to take guns back home during weekends. This initiative helped reduce the suicide rate among the soldiers and the relatives by more than 40%. For another example, guns are compared to time bombs brought into a house. Rather than protecting you, there is a high possibility that the gun will harm the people in the household.
By invoking data provided by such bodies as the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, health department offices in Wyoming, North Carolina and Missouri, the author attempts to show her ability to collect information from reliable sources. In fact, this indicates her ability to apply pathos to create credibility of her argument.
In this way, the author seeks to convince the readers that her arguments are justified by the fats provided by the relevant bodies that have the authorities to conduct credible research. Moreover, she attempts to convince the readers by employing her credibility as a journalist with the capacity to outsource information and present it in a dignified manner.
The pathos used in this article is can be seen in the fact that it is a feature story. In its third part, for example, significant efforts have been contributed to the description of the environment and setting of the place where Kameron used to work. The detailed nostalgic description provokes in the hearts of readers a sense of sadness.
Moreover, the tone of the article helps in developing a more appealing and persuasive narrative. Use of certain words such as “shocked”, “heartbroken”, “her voice, breaking” tends to raise sympathetic support. In addition, when referring to the mass shooting in Sandy Hook, the word “massacre” is used. These examples are widely infiltrated throughout.
Conclusion and reflection
Overall, I find the design of the structure, arguments, rhetorical appeal, diction, and tone of this paper to be very mature, making it very interesting and convincing. The way the argumentation is derived, discussed and analyzed guides readers to reflect on the rationale for gun control. The article seems to argue that gun control will not just aim at control mass attacks, but also prevent the large number of gun-related suicides in America. In fact, the author says that the number of such deaths is close to 20,000 per year.
Works Cited
Tavernise, Sabrina. “With Guns, Killer and Victim Are Usually Same.” The New York Times, Feb. 14, 2013.
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