Speech 2 Outline: Gun Control
Introduction
The issue of gun control is an emotive issue that raises legal and political questions every time it is brought up. Being a sensitive issue of personal safety and security, this issue requires a sober and bipartisan approach to help come up with common sense gun control legislation that will ensure the safety of gun owners and at the same time uphold their First Amendment rights. With the recent spate of gun violence, mass shootings and gun attacks on Americans in public places, gun control debate has never been so important than it is now. Past studies reveal that there is a nexus between increased gun violence and lack of proper gun control laws that enhance background checks and seal loopholes in the existing gun control legislation.
Attention Getter: According to statistics from the Mass Shootings Tracker, Every Town for Gun Safety Research and the Gun Violence Archive, the US has the highest rates of gun deaths. Moreover, according to the US Department of Justice, 11385 people were killed every year in firearm incidents between 2001 and 2011 (BBC Online). The Brady Campaign to control gun Violence also indicates that every single day, 297 people in the US are shot, killed or assaulted and that 89 people are killed every day due to gun violence.
Psychological Orientation: The context of my speech on gun control is the US where attempts to have meaningful gun control laws have flopped amid gun-related deaths with the recent one being the Orlando shootings.
Credibility: This topic is relevant and important to the audience in that it will enlighten or inform them and possibly shape their thinking and views on the need for meaningful gun control laws to stem gun-related deaths in the US.
Logical Orientation: My main idea in this speech is that gun control laws are needed to quell gun violence and crimes. The second main idea is that for there to be effective gun control legislation, there should be a bipartisan approach that reconciles and balances the rights of Americans to bear arms and their own safety.
1st Main Point
Gun control through tighter background checks will help keep dangerous assault weapons out of the hands of religious extremists, terrorists, drug addicts and the mentally unstable people.
Sub-point
Gun control legislation will help seal loopholes that currently exist and allow those who are unfit to travel to America or board its planes to hold and own guns
Supporting Material: Research by Boylan, Kates, and Lindsey
2nd Main Point
The high firearm mortality rates are attributed to lack of effective gun control laws, policies, and guidelines
Sub-point
Gun control laws would help reduce such deaths by ensuring that all gun owners are registered in the security agencies’ databases for easy tracking.
Supporting Material: A study by Kalesan, Mobily and Keiser and Dahlberg, Ikeda and Kresnow
Conclusion
Gun control is an important issue that requires a lot more to be done to reduce gun violence deaths and injuries that have been on the increase in the recent past.
Logical Closure: The purpose of this speech is to persuade and urge the audience to understand the facts about gun control and hence actually engage their legislators on this issue
Psychological Closure: Gun control legislation with universal, comprehensive background checks will help reduce gun death rates and keep Americans safe.
Works Cited
BBC. Guns in the US: The statistics behind the violence.” BBC News. 5 Jan. 2016. Web. 30 June 2016. < http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34996604 >.
Boylan, Michael, et al. "Debate: Gun control in the United States." Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research Journal 471.12 (2013): 3934-3936. Web. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3825895/>.
Dahlberg, Linda L, Robin M Ikeda and Marcie-jo Kresnow. "Guns in the home and the risk of a violent death in the home: Findings from a national study." American Journal of Epidemiology 160.10 (2004): 929-936. Web.
Kalesan, Bindu, et al. "Firearm legislation and firearm mortality in the USA: A cross-sectional. State-Level study." The Lancet Journal 387.10030 (2016): 1847-1855. Web.
