Gun Control

Firstly I will explore the anti-gun control website http://www.goal.org/. GOAL stands for Gun Owner’s Action League and it is the official state firearms association in Massachusetts. On the website it says that its main aim is to protect 'the basic right of firearms ownership for competition, recreation and self-protection'. This shows that they feel that they have a right to own guns and that without this they would be disadvantaged not only in terms of their safety but in terms of leisure as well; this suggests that guns are a part of their everyday lives. It backs this point up by saying, 'GOAL works hard to defend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights against those in Massachusetts who wish to infringe upon the freedoms guaranteed by our forefathers'. Therefore they don't just think it's their right but they feel that denying them of guns is going against the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the forefathers and freedom; as we've seen many times before it shows their longing for the past and the idea that America is losing it's freedom and all what makes it great.

GOAL is quite convincing because it does say that it's sponsered by sportsmen and law enforcers (however it doesn't state who) and the organisation does do education programs which teach 'young people firearms safety, discipline and responsibility' because 'we don't want our children to think of guns as toys, or worse yet, as a way to solve arguments'. As well as this, on their website they have detailed case studies, legislature and statistics to back up their point.

For the pro-gun control website I found http://www.csgv.org/. CSGV stands for Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and it is made up of 48 very diverse national organisations (religious, public health, socail justice and child advocates). As the name suggests, they believe that increasing gun control is important for people's saftey. They also back up their opinions with case studies and statistics. One part of the website give startling statistics including:

• Criminals can buy guns without a background check in 33 states and 40% of gun sales nationwide take place without background checks
• the gun lobby (mainly the NRA) has given over $21 million to Congress since 1990, 86% of it to Republicans. The CSGV suggests that 'the gun industry has an ulterior motive to push for less gun control' and that the NRA are trying to convince America that more guns equals more freedom
• Every 17 minutes a person dies because of gun violence. The CSGV suggest that 'people kill people, but without easy access to guns it would be a lot harder'.

These statistics are alarming and certainly makes it hard to see why people are anti-gun control: people's safety are at risk. Guns may be used for self-protection but you are less likely to need this if gun control is increased.

What makes this website more convincing is the fact that they give a more detailed argument including presenting why anti-gun control supporters are wrong. This is especially clear in the Guns, Democracy and Freedom section of Issues and Campaigns. They suggest that the gun enthusiasts who talk about their freedom are specifically meaning freedom from government oppression: 'They argue that the only way to keep centralized authority in check is to ensure that individual citizens retain the capability to confront the government with force of arms'. Therefore the CSGV believe that the right to possess a gun isn't integral to our freedom as a whole and that the view that guns equal freedom 'degrades the democratic values and institutions that protect all of the freedoms we enjoy as Americans'. They also say that 'Gun lobby extremists have been perfectly willing to trample on any freedom that gets in the way of their pursuit of unrestricted private access to firearms...this toxic mix of ideology and firepower has moved beyond rhetoric and resulted in real violence in our country'. Another reason why I feel that the CSGV have a more convincing argument is because of the diversity and amount of organisations that the CSGV involves.