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Brian Little

Professor Ivan Wolfe

ENG 309: Rhetoric for Writers

9 April 2022

For the better part of the last decade, the city of Chicago has made headlines as gun

violence has reached record levels. After many failed efforts to curb this violence, including a

lawsuit decided by the Supreme Court, city leaders have been more publicly vocal about the

incoming weapons from out of state, Indiana most notably. The flow of guns from my home state

of Indiana into nearby Chicago will be my main focus. In my research, public comments from

government officials in Indiana were harder to come by. Thus, because of the silence and

apparent recusal of responsibility from Indiana officials, I turned to their policies and the

political influence of the National Rifle Association (NRA) based on Matthew J. Lacombe’s

(2019) article in the Journal of Politics. Here I will be comparing an editorial from the Chicago

Tribune editorial board urging the governor of Indiana, Eric Holcomb, to veto a bill allowing

permitless carry of handguns with an editorial out of the Indianapolis Business Journal written by

Anne Hathaway, a political consultant based in Indianapolis and former chief of staff of the

Republican National Committee. Hathaway is supporting the city of Indianapolis in hosting the

NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits and admonishing city of Indianapolis officials, notably

Democrats, for being critics of the organization. While there are many points of agreement that I

believe could be touched upon by all stakeholders in this issue, the Republican Party’s close ties

to the NRA seem to prohibit any progress in legislation to help stop the flow of illegal weapons

onto the streets of Chicago.

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I will first look to the editorial in the Chicago Tribune, Permitless carry? Indiana’s guns

are already a big problem.” (2022) from just last month that addresses a bill that includes what is

referred to as “constitutional carry.” The idea behind this is that the second amendment of the

constitution is the only permit one would need to carry a handgun. The fact that guns are coming

into Chicago illegally from Indiana is treated as common sense in this editorial, a common

refrain throughout. The frames of the second amendment & the limits of freedom and the support

of law enforcement are key in determining the points of contention amongst stakeholders in this

issue. This editorial’s frame of the second amendment acknowledges the antithesis while making

the point that it would not, in their view, violate the constitution when they say, “Background

checks do not impinge on anyone's constitutionally protected right to bear arms. They are

common sense.” The refrain of common sense is appealing to pathos to some degree as it is

implied that is should be obvious that this is the right answer and to disagree is to be a bad

citizen, as is stated more explicitly later when they state, “Surely, no reasonable person could

support making getting a gun in Indiana even easier yet.” To appeal to logos as well as ethos in

effort to show that it isn’t just liberal urban dwellers that are against this bill, the editorial uses

many exemplars including multiple police agencies and newspapers throughout the state of

Indiana that have stated their opposition. This editorial also clearly sets the stakes for the issue at

hand here when pointing to Indiana lawmakers as they set a tone of discontent and restlessness

with the supermajority of Republicans that constitutes the state legislature when using words like

“sneaked” and “stealthy” when referring to their legislative action. While using examples from

police agencies chastising Indiana Republicans in attempt to boost their own credibility on the

issue, this tone toward Governor Holcomb and other lawmakers lays bare the political divisions

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that make this such a tough issue to try to affect change on. However, the structure of their

argument has great merit as it first addressed the issue, then appealed to ethos in their long held

support of background checks, logos in the crime statistics and pushback from police on the

legislation in question, and pathos in the mentions of “blood flowing on the streets of Chicago”

and the legislation preventing violence not just in Chicago, but also cities in Indiana in the body,

and reiterating all three of them again to close to stick in the readers mind.

To look at an opposing view on gun legislation, I looked to another editorial, NRA

members defend freedom. Let’s welcome them. (2019), by Anne Hathaway in the Indianapolis

Business Journal. While it does not touch directly on the issue of guns flowing out of the state

into Chicago and elsewhere, I wanted to look at a perspective of a prominent Indiana Republican

with regards to firearms. The tone is much lighter throughout as it is proclaiming the merits of

NRA members. Hathaway uses many clichés that are common among gun rights activism like

“…protecting basic liberties and freedoms…” and “…unapologetically defending the Second

amendment to the constitution…” to frame her support of the NRA and its values as defense of

self and defense of freedom and empowering citizens of the United States. The structure she

chose is interesting as she opens touting the type of people that this convention will bring

appealing to pathos, and ethos to an extent to align herself with the conventioneers. The attention

turns to touting the city, state, and its citizens for the hospitality and wonderful environment to

host such large conventions like the one the NRA is holding. Here, Hathaway stressed what an

economic boon that conventions like this bring to the city of Indianapolis appealing to logos by

providing these statistics and pathos by praising the city and its businesses. She then calls on

Indianapolis mayor Joe Hogsett and other city officials, some of the only prominent Democratic

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politicians in the entire state, to point out their criticisms of the NRA and implore them to

support the conventioneers while the underlying implication is that their unwelcoming attitude

for one group may turn away other groups that are interested in holding events in downtown

Indianapolis. While perhaps true, the audience for this particular editorial is comprised of the

Indianapolis business community, the targeting of Mayor Hogsett and city officials falls

somewhat flat when considering the supermajority of Republicans in the statehouse as was

mentioned in the Chicago Tribune editorial. Appeals to logos with valid claims of firearms and

gun-safety training follow as, according to Lacombe (2019), “More recently, it has become the

primary— and often the only—source for (often legally required) concealed carry training

(Carlson 2015, 64).” Hathaway closes with appeals to logos and pathos by reiterating the

economic benefits of hosting a large event like the NRA is holding and the “important work done

every day by the NRA to keep us safe and protect our freedoms.” This structure achieves its aim

and only mentions dissenting opinion in the middle of the article while not even bothering to

mention what specific quote she was reacting to. Surrounding this opposing view with positive

exemplars of the NRA is an effective way of framing her claims. While Hathaway lays out a

compelling argument to avoid alienating future economic growth for the city, her calls on

Indianapolis officials is ironic as we’ve established that Republicans, who align with NRA-

backed policies, are largely in charge of the state government housed in that very city. This frame

is useful for her ultimate goal of making Indianapolis business-friendly and touting the NRA’s

best qualities, however it ultimately limits the full scope of the stakes of the debate surrounding

firearms.

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These editorials converged in a couple of interesting ways. First they both made appeals

to politicians on its nose, however rhetorically they were really appeals to other groups. The

Chicago Tribune editorial is appealing to Governor Holcomb, yes, but is really appealing to the

public in both Illinois and Indiana to pressure state officials and Holcomb to veto the bill in

question. Hathaway’s editorial is appealing to Mayor Hogsett and other city officials to openly

welcome the NRA to town so that they can prove a welcome host for all, while it is really

appealing for business owners in Indianapolis to pressure the mayor to tone down his rhetoric so

they do not interrupt a prosperous economic driver. Both of these editorials used emotional

appeals to pressure politicians into their desired outcomes. Additionally, they both made valid

appeals to their support of law enforcement. The Chicago Tribune editorial used pushback from

police agencies in Indiana as exemplars for support of vetoing the bill and to show the cause and

effect of enacting such a law. Hathaway makes valid claims with regards to some of the good

work that the NRA does in gun-safety and firearms training, but the politicization of the

organization and its members has led to a set of laws, in at least one state, that had the

unintended consequence of harming some of our neighbors to the west. The hyperbole and

catchphrases used by gun lobbyists and activists like “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a

gun, is a good guy with a gun” and “defenders” of the second amendment or of freedom fall flat

when issues with the severity of Chicago’s are caused by policies proliferated by this

organization. While I’ve focused largely on political talking points, the issue continues to go on

without much resistance and hundreds of lives have been lost in the process. Exploring solutions

for such a problem would usually call for politicians to legislate. With the political climate such

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as it is today, however, it seems that these solutions are rather hard to come by with a liberal hub

in Illinois sharing a border with a conservative hub in Indiana.



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Works Cited

Hathaway, Anne. "NRA Members Defend Freedom. Let's Welcome them." Indianapolis Business

Journal, vol. 40, no. 9, 2019. ProQuest, http://login.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/login?url=https://

www.proquest.com/trade-journals/nra-members-defend-freedom-lets-welcome-them/docview/

2235640936/se-2?accountid=4485.

Lacombe, Matthew J. “The Political Weaponization of Gun Owners: The National Rifle

Association’s Cultivation, Dissemination, and Use of a Group Social Identity.” Journal of

Politics, vol. 81, no. 4, Oct. 2019, pp. 1342 - 56. EBSCOhost, https://doi-

org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/10.1086/704329.

"Permitless Carry? Indiana's Guns are Already a Big Problem." Chicago Tribune, Mar 22, 2022,

pp. 7. ProQuest, http://login.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-

com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/newspapers/permitless-carry-indianas-guns-are-already-big/docview/

2641337622/se-2?accountid=4485.