Week 8: Pro & Anti Gun Control Websites

ANTI GUN CONTROL
http://www.keepandbeararms.com/
'Keep and Bear Arms' is an anti gun control website, set up by people of the United States. Their main aim is to help '...lawful people maintain their abilities to protect themselves and the people they love effectively from anyone who would do them harm - through legal, private ownership and use of guns.' From this it is clear that the main belief that this anti gun website holds is that guns are a way of protecting family and friends through self defence. Furthermore, the Keep and Bear Arms website offers people the chance to become a member, which allows regular members to post on chat rooms. This enables them to have free speech on the issue of gun control, which in turn supports the website as a whole. The Keep and Bear Arms movement makes many references to the amendment of the Bill of rights, and in particular the notion of freedom, which is the obvious foundation on which they rest their views. In addition to this, the organisation have many interesting beliefs, one being that the media is biased against firearms and it is up to them to take 'appropriate action'. Whilst exploring the website, I also found the the word 'educate' came up a lot. For example, '...educate you about current problems facing our liberties and exactly what you CAN do about it.' However, the use of 'educate' could merely be a way for the website to feed people information about their views, rather than actually 'educating' people about what is really happening in the USA, on the issue of gun control. I also found the wording on the website quite patronising, in a way that subtly passes their views onto the reader, regardless of what their view on gun ownership maybe. 'If you've been sitting on the sidelines passively watching our Second Amendment being eroded away, it's okay. You're here now...' It is true to say that their loyalty towards 'freedom' and the right to own guns undoubtedly goes unnoticed.
PRO GUN CONTROL
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~zj5j-gttl/guns.htm
This website titled 'A Case for Gun Control' is a clear representative for pro gun control. In comparison to the previous website, it makes a lot of references to the second amendment of the Bill of Rights. However, what I found interesting on this website was that it held views that some of the amendments were not 'absolute', for example '...even though the 1st Amendment guarantees me the right to free speech, the right is limited.' I found this very surprising for obvious reasons, such as the fact that the Bill of Rights is held in such high esteem for the American people, and yet these individuals are willing to criticise it. However, this is indeed a valid point which many Americans would agree with. The website also draws heavily on the view that guns are used for self-defense, and offers sufficient evidence to show how this is not always the case, 'Dr. Roth argues that "Self-defense is commonly cited as a reason to own a gun. This is the explanation given by 20 percent of all gun owners...But research has shown that a gun kept in the home is 43 times more likely to kill a member of the household, or friend, than an intruder.' By offering this as a piece of evidence, I believe that it strengthens this argument as it has been applied to actual society rather than the beliefs of a few.

Overall, I consider the pro gun control website to be more convincing for many reasons, but primarily because it hold views and beliefs to that of my own. In addition to this, I found that the way the 'Keep and Bear Arms' website spoke to the audience was too abrupt, as if it were trying to impose its views which I found off putting. However, a significant point to make is that the importance of America's freedom cannot go unrecognised. The fact that 'Keep and Bear Arms' stands up for what it believes in is a significant factor within the arguments for pro and anti gun control.