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The Gun Control Debate: An Examination of Various Perspectives in American Media

One of the most memorable quotes in the Marvel comics is the one by the great Stan Lee:

“With great power, comes great responsibility”. While the bite from a spider may give the

superhero the power to climb walls and shoot webs in comic books, guns give you much more

power in real life. The power to take a life of an individual, in an instant. And that is where the

topic of great responsibility comes in. Can everyone exercise the great responsibility that comes

with the power of owning a gun? If the answer is no, then there is a necessity for gun control.

The issue of gun control has been a long-standing and divisive topic in American politics. In

recent years, several high-profile shootings have reignited the debate. While some people believe

that stricter gun control laws are necessary to reduce gun violence, others believe that this

infringes on the right to bear arms guaranteed by the Second Amendment. While a range of

perspectives regarding the issue is represented in the news, the degree to which gun control is

necessary should be considered taking into account both the safety of people and the

infringement on their constitutional rights.

The conservative article, “The Problems with Calling for Just Getting Guns out of

People’s Hands as a Solution to Gun Violence” written by Brian Doherty for Reason.com argues

against the idea of gun control as a solution to gun violence. Though not obvious at first, the

article portrays a conservative viewpoint since it sees gun control as an overreach of state power
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to restrict individual liberty. The article highlights a new study from the Marshall Project that

analyzed data and interviewed arrestees in Chicago, where the police seem to have adopted a

pattern of pretextual stops to look for any excuse to pull someone over and interact with them to

find a gun without a proper permit to own or license to carry. The appeal to logos as a rhetorical

strategy can clearly be observed here as the writer uses facts and evidence to support his

argument. The study referenced in the article also found that gun law enforcement in Chicago

overwhelmingly focuses on possession crimes, not use, leading to an increase in the mass

incarceration of nonviolent people. The article also notes that the enforcement is hugely

disproportionate racially, with Black people comprising less than a third of the city's population

but being more than 8 in 10 of those arrested for unlawful possession. The article closes with a

quote from one of the victims of gun possession arrests, who had to go to prison just because he

wanted to protect his family, which can be understood as a pathos appeal.

In contrast to the conservative perspective, the opinion article "It's Not the Ideology. It's

the Guns" by Hayes Brown on MSNBC.com emphasizes the need for stricter gun control laws.

The article is evidently left-leaning since it openly aligns with the demand of liberals for strict

gun control as a solution to gun violence. Brown suggests that the availability of firearms in the

US is the primary cause of such violence, pointing toward the evidence of how easily the recent

Nashville Shooter bought firearms legally in local gun stores. The article quotes how guns like

AR-15 make the mass shooting convenient “The AR-15 fires bullets at such a high

velocity ...that it can eviscerate multiple people in seconds”. Another indication of left-leaning

bias in the article is the rejection of the conservative argument that focuses on only individual

shooters’ mental health as the cause of the problem. The article primarily employs pathos by

using emotionally charged language to describe the damage caused by AR-15 and similar
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weapons to the human body. However, in the absence of proper research and study to support the

argument compared to the conservative article, Hayes falls short in the use of logos.

The final article, “Where Do Americans Draw Lines When It Comes to Guns and

Teens?” published in the Christian Science Monitor by Jonsonn and Robertson takes a centrist

approach since it acknowledges both conservative and liberal sides of the argument without any

bias. The article discusses the increasing number of mass shootings committed by young people,

particularly males under the age of 25, in the United States. The reasons behind this trend are

unclear, but experts suggest factors such as the adolescent mental health crisis, male despair, and

the loosening of gun laws that allow teenagers in more states to purchase weapons (Jonsonn and

Robertson). The article questions the age of the majority and whether it should be 18 for

everything or whether a higher age limit would be safer. Here, the author utilizes logos through

the use of factual evidence and the identification of potential causes for the trend in young male

mass shootings. It also offers a compromised solution in the form of increasing the legal age of

gun ownership.

Taking everything into account, the bias of the right and left can be clearly observed in

the news coverage regarding gun control as a solution to gun violence. Both conservative and

liberal perspectives, along with the centrist ones, bring equally valid arguments to the tables.

While the conservative perspective argues that the Second Amendment guarantees their right to

bear arms, the liberal perspective argues that gun control laws can reduce gun violence. Since the

gun control debate in America is a multifaceted issue that cannot be reduced to a simple right

versus wrong dichotomy, it is important to consider all viewpoints in order to arrive at a

comprehensive solution. The power of owning a gun can only be exercised by taking the

responsibility to ensure a safe and violence-free society.

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Works Cited

“A Quote by Stan Lee.” Www.goodreads.com, www.goodreads.com/quotes/235999-with-great-

power-comes-great-responsibility.

Brown, Hayes. “Opinion | It’s Not the Ideology. It’s the Guns.” MSNBC.com, 29 Mar. 2023,

www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/nashville-shooting-america-gun-problem-

rcna77017. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.

Doherty, Brian. “The Problems with Calling for Just Getting Guns out of People’s Hands as a

Solution to Gun Violence.” Reason.com, 27 Mar. 2023, reason.com/2023/03/27/the-

problems-with-just-getting-guns-out-of-peoples-hands-as-a-solution-to-gun-violence/.

Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.

Jonsonn, Patrik, and Noah Robertson. “Where Do Americans Draw Lines When It Comes to

Guns and Teens?” Christian Science Monitor, 2 Dec. 2022,

www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2022/1202/Where-do-Americans-draw-lines-when-it-

comes-to-guns-and-teens.