A Criminologist's Perspective on Gun Laws and Gun Violence in America

This essay analyzes Jacob Davidson's article, "A Criminologist's Case Against Gun Control," which examines the relationship between gun laws and gun violence in the United States. The essay begins with an introduction that highlights the increasing rates of gun violence and the debate over whether more gun laws can reduce gun crimes. It then summarizes Davidson's article, which argues that stricter gun laws are not the solution and that the focus should be on law enforcement and individuals likely to commit gun crimes. The essay further explores the rhetorical situation, including the intended audience, purpose, and the author's stance. It also discusses the persuasive techniques used, such as ethos, logos, and pathos. Finally, the essay concludes by summarizing the main points and reiterating the article's central argument, emphasizing the need for a shift in focus towards addressing the root causes of gun violence rather than solely relying on gun control measures.

Running head: A CRIMINOLOGIST ON GUN LAWS BY JACOB DAVIDSON
A CRIMINOLOGIST ON GUN LAWS BY JACOB DAVIDSON
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1A CRIMINOLOGIST ON GUN LAWS BY JACOB DAVIDSON
Introduction:
With the increase in the rates of gun violence across United States it is becoming more
and more important to address the elephant in the room, which is, “can more gun laws help to
reduce the rates of gun violence across America?”
This essay would present the argument on the gun laws and gun crimes occurring in
America.The question that arises is whether more gun law will be able to reduce the rising gun
crimes (Vittes, Vernick& Webster, 2013). The essay aims to discuss America’s gun culture
concerning the article that was written by Jacob Davidson ‘A Criminologist's Case against Gun
Control’.
Summary of the article:
The main idea of the article was highlighting a criminologist’s perspective on increasing
gun crimes. The article focuses the relationship between gun laws and gun crimes.According to
James Jacob, there are various misunderstandings about gun control such as an increase in
firearms every year, more suicides with a gun than murders. People willing to change the laws
are in believe that most weapon assaults are as dangerous. However, banning assault weapon is
not the solution. The article talks about strict laws against gun violence as well as the
effectiveness of using strict rules. Another related issue was the keeping guns away from the
mentally ill people and groups. Since they are not mentally stable, it is a question whether they
are reliable enough of carrying gun. The article concludes stating the most useful thing the US
can do to reduce gun violence. The prime focus should be on law enforcement and on people
who are likely to commit gun violence and gun crimes. The US should be stricter towards the
persons committing gun crimes (Davidson, 2015).

2A CRIMINOLOGIST ON GUN LAWS BY JACOB DAVIDSON
Rhetorical situation:
The knowledge for the essay have been gathered from secondary literature through which
the topic statement has been analyzed, to understand whether “increasing gun laws can reduce
gun crimes”. The study uses the style of “simile” in which similar situations and instances have
been assessed to ascertain if they can hold true for the given context.
The analysis is under the genre of essay and the purpose of writing this essay is to
analyze the article and understand the effectiveness. The stance in the essay is supporting the
writer’s perspective of seeing the situation of gun crimes. The subject of the article is to prove if
gun control can stop the gun crime. The issue of gun crimes has seen a rise in past decades
(World Health Organization, 2014). The intention of the writer is to bring forth the reasons that
can actually help reducing the gun crimes.This essay is written to argue in favor of the article, it
is the people’s thinking and behavioral change that is required to reduce the gun crime not the
gun laws.People are continuously working on bringing change on gun laws (Dube,
Dube&García-Ponce, 2013).
The audience who would be most interested in the article and my essay would be the
supporter as well as the defenders of having stricter gun laws in the state. People involved in the
legislative activities would be interested too. It is understood since the article is written involving
the criminologist’s perspective.
Persuasive techniques used:
Ethos and Logos are modes of persuasion. Authors use it to convince audiences. With an
argumentative tone, the author has used ethos by using the perspective of a criminologist who is
certainly an expert and a reliable source of information. The usage of pathos is done by the

3A CRIMINOLOGIST ON GUN LAWS BY JACOB DAVIDSON
author by presentingthe consequences that can occur. The logos in the article are the facts that he
presented such as statistics and data on the deaths caused by gun laws. He maintained the
credibility though straight and concrete points regarding his subject.
Conclusion
Recently past few days have witnessed open discussion and argument regarding the gun
control in the US. The article helps in understanding the solution to the problem. It helps the
audience figure out the required changes for eliminating and reducing gun crimes.

4A CRIMINOLOGIST ON GUN LAWS BY JACOB DAVIDSON
References:
Davidson, J. (2015, December 01). A Criminologist's Case Against Gun Control. Retrieved from
http://time.com/4100408/a-criminologists-case-against-gun-control/
Dube, A., Dube, O., &García-Ponce, O. (2013). Cross-border spillover: US gun laws and
violence in Mexico. American Political Science Review, 107(3), 397-417.
Vittes, K. A., Vernick, J. S., & Webster, D. W. (2013). Legal status and source of offenders'
firearms in states with the least stringent criteria for gun ownership. Injury
Prevention, 19(1), 26-31.
World Health Organization. (2014). Injuries and violence: the facts 2014. World Health
Organization.