...What is worse, guns or people that own them? Many people are asking this question, and the answer is neither. Guns are generally used for hunting or defense and are owned by great people. Also, some bad people do happen to own guns (often illegally) and they do bad things with them. But if they did not have a gun, they would use a knife or a bat, guns are just tools. The right for people to bear arms should not be taken away because it is a second amendment right, and when respected and used properly, they are not a danger. So let us talk about who owns guns and why. As of the year 2009 there are 307 million people living in the United States, and as of 2010 300 million of them own guns 100 million of those are handguns. Based on surveys, the following are estimates of private firearm ownership in the U.S. as of 2010: | |Households With a Gun |Adults Owning a Gun |Adults Owning a Handgun | |Percentage |40-45% |30-34% |17-19% | |Number |47-53 million |70-80 million |40-45 million | In the same poll, gun owners were asked why they own guns. 67% stated that they own guns to protect against crime, 66% said target shooting, and 41% said hunting. These being the main reasons people own guns, why should they lose their rights because of a few bad people who do happen to own guns. Based on a...
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...• SUBSCRIBE • RENEW • GIVE A GIFT • DIGITAL EDITION Print | Close The Case for More Guns (And More Gun Control) HOW DO WE REDUCE GUN CRIME AND AURORA-STYLE MASS SHOOTINGS WHEN AMERICANS ALREADY OWN NEARLY 300 MILLION FIREARMS? MAYBE BY ALLOWING MORE PEOPLE TO CARRY THEM. By Jeffrey Goldberg The Century 16 Cineplex in Aurora, Colorado, stands desolate behind a temporary green fence, which was raised to protect the theater from prying eyes and mischief-makers. The parking lots that surround the multiplex are empty—weeds are pushing through the asphalt—and the only person at the theater when I visited a few weeks ago was an enervated Aurora police officer assigned to guard the site. I asked the officer whether the building, which has stood empty since the night of July 20, when a former graduate student named James E. Holmes is alleged to have killed 12 people and wounded 58 others at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises, still drew the curious. “People drive by to look,” he said, but “not too many.” The Aurora massacre is noteworthy, even in the crowded field of mass shootings, as one of the more wretched and demoralizing in the recent history of American violence, and I was surprised that the scene of the crime did not attract more attention. “I guess people move on,” he said. I walked up a slight rise that provided an imperfect view of the back of Theater 9, where the massacre took place, and tried to imagine the precise emotions the victims felt...
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...------------------------------------------------- THE CASE FOR MORE Guns (AND MORE GUN CONTROL). Language: English Authors: GOLDBERG, JEFFREY Source: Atlantic; Dec2012, Vol. 310 Issue 5, p68-78, 9p, 4 Color Photographs Document Type: Article Publication Information: Atlantic Media Company Subject Terms: GUN control -- United States CONCEALED weapons AURORA shootings, Aurora, Colo., 2012 COLUMBINE High School Massacre, Littleton, Colo., 1999 MAUSER, Tom FIREARMS -- Law & legislation -- United States SCHOOL shootings -- Prevention Geographic Terms: UNITED States Abstract: The article discusses gun control in the U.S. and argues for a connection between increased access to guns among law-abiding citizens and the prevention of gun violence. The author looks at several shootings such as the 2012 movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado and the state's 1999 Columbine High School shooting. Topics include gun control advocate Tom Mauser whose son died in the Columbine shooting, laws related to U.S. gun shows and concealed weapons, as well as university policies. Document Information: Essay last updated: 20121204 Lexile: 1310 ISSN: 10727825 Accession Number: 83811665 Database: Literary Reference Center Translate Full Text: HTML Full Text ------------------------------------------------- THE CASE FOR MORE Guns (AND MORE GUN CONTROL) ListenSelect: THE CENTURY 16 CINEPLEX in Aurora, Colorado, stands desolate behind a temporary green fence,...
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...The Right to Keep and Bear Arms: A Right to Self-Defense Against Criminals and Despots by Robert Dowlut[*] If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. -- James Madison[1] INTRODUCTION A written constitution is a reminder that governments can be unreasonable and unjust. By guaranteeing that "[a] well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed," the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution provides the citizens a means of protection against the unjust excesses of government.[2] The Framers placed this guarantee in the Bill of Rights because they considered the right to keep and bear arms peculiarly important and also uniquely vulnerable to infringement. The Amendment's command protects individuals against even popular conceptions of the public good. In addition to this protection within the United States Constitution,[3] the constitutions of forty-three states guarantee the right to keep and bear arms.[4] Despite the constitutional authority for this right, legislators and judges have consistently attempted to devalue it. Methods such as giving misleading labels to select firearms like "assault weapons"[5] or "Saturday Night Specials"[6] have been used to justify incremental disarmament.[7] American jurisprudence has deliberately devalued the right...
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...The Great Gun Debate Introduction Among the more diverse issues in an already polarized society is a national perspective of guns (Hargrove & Perdue, 2015). The gun debate in the U.S. dates back to the 18th century, when the nation’s founders were crafting the Bill of Rights—the first ten amendments to the Constitution, adopted in 1791 (Smith & Ross, 2013). All gun control debates turn on interpretations of the Second Amendment, the worst written and most bizarre part of the constitution (Eichenwald, 2015). The Second Amendment gave Americans the right to “bear arms;” however, for more than 200 years, people have disagreed over how to interpret the amendment (Smith & Ross, 2013). Heated debates over guns have created division among “we the people.” On one end of the divide are pro-gun extremists. On the opposite end of the divide are anti-gun extremists. Then, there is the rational middle—the group that is often left out of the debate. This group typically consists of average law-abiding citizens who do not believe that Americans should be stripped of their rights to bear arms, but, rather, that some laws should be tightened up to ensure that guns and deadly accessories, such as high-capacity magazines, stay out of the wrong hands. Over the years, numerous mass shootings in schools have forced lawmakers to assess and tighten gun-control laws, which has also reignited the fiery gun debate. This assessment will attempt to uncover a proper course of action via a rigorous...
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...In the text Zaroff tells Rainsford what he gives to the people who are being hunted “‘I give him a supply of food and an excellent hunting knife. I give him three hours' start’” (Connell) . Rainsford only has a limited supply of food and a hunting knife while General Zaroff has Ivan and the dogs that he uses as a last resource “ ‘One almost did win. I eventually had to use the dogs’" (Connell) General Zaroff also has all the commodities of his mansion and counts with an almost unlimited resource of food. Rainsford proves throughout the story his abilities and skills to survive with what little he has been provided, and he is able to use such abilities against his opponent, rainsford has proven t be such a good opponent to General Zaroff that he recognizes this in different places of the text an example of this is when he says “ ‘“Rainsford," called the general, "if you are within sound of my voice, as I suppose you are, let me congratulate you. Not many men know how to make a Malay mancatcher’” by saying this General Zaroff is recognizing Rainsford...
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...the substance in question. Yet it is common knowledge that using substances may be addictive and harmful. As well the sale of drugs could be considered tax evasion. These non-regulated drugs may be impure and even more damaging by way of containing harmful chemicals. The real issue is your brain gets used to operating on synthetic versions of natural chemicals or large quantities of the synthetic version. (“What drugs do to the brain”) Early prohibition of marijuana originated after the Mexican revolution. The demonization of marijuana cam with the Mexican Immigrants, even though most American citizens used cannabis in one form or another in tinctures or tonics but the name of their Mexican cannabis smoke was foreign. In an effort to control these new citizen’s, marijuana and hemp were made illegal. Even though hemp was not psychoactive and mainly used as a textile, oils,...
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...In my opinion computers and technology is the wave of the future. Other people want everything simple. Computers solve complex problems. Computers also connect us though the internet and connect us world wide We use computers in our everyday life. My first point is Supercomputers have become a critical tool for analyzing Complex problems like climate change. And Counting: to solve mathematic problems - Navigation and astronomy Weather prediction. The computer was created to perform mathematical computations automatically and was Intended to be useful in a number of areas. It wasn't invented to solve any specific problem, but was conceived a a tool that could be developed to be useful in a number of areas. The original computers were slower than Humans at performing calculations, but the fact that something could now do them automatically was a Breakthrough in itself. Through time, the speed of computers has increased dramatically and their size has diminished. My second point is This is how the internet works The first thing your browser has to do is to establish a network connection to the machine where the document lives. To do that, it first has to find the network location of the host www.tldp.org (‘host’ is short for ‘host machine’ or ‘network host'; www.tldp.org is a typical hostname). The corresponding location is actually a number called an IP address To do this, your browser queries a program called a name server. The name server may live on your machine, but...
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...11 Position Papers I f you like to argue, you will enjoy writing position papers and argument essays. The purpose of a position paper or argument essay is to explain both sides of a controversy and then argue for one side over the other. This two-sided approach is what makes position papers and argument essays different from commentaries (Chapter 10). A commentary usually only expresses the author’s personal opinion about a current issue or event. A position paper or argument essay explains both sides and discusses why one is stronger or better than the other. Your goal is to fairly explain your side and your opponents’ side of the issue, while highlighting the differences between these opposing views. You need to use solid reasoning and factual evidence to persuade your readers that your view is more valid or advantageous than your opponents’ view. In college, your professors will ask you to write position papers and argument essays to show that you understand both sides of an issue and can support one side or the other. In the workplace, corporate position papers are used to argue for or against business strategies or alternatives. The ability to argue effectively is a useful skill that will help you throughout your life. 221 CHAPTER AT–A–GLANCE Position Papers This diagram shows two basic organizations for a position paper, but other arrangements of these sections will work too. In the pattern on the left, the opponents’ position is described up front with its...
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...light armored cars, these vehicles required at least crude roads, had other terrain limitations, and were vulnerable to land mines. The advent of the helicopter and its application in counter-insurgency began with the British in Malaya on 1 April 1950, with the formation of the Far East Casualty Air Evacuation Flight at Seletar with strength of three Westland S-51 Dragonfly helicopters. During the Malayan Emergency the British used their helicopters primarily for casualty evacuation and later for airlifting troops. Question that looms ahead for the future, no matter what the outcome in Jammu and Kashmir, and North Eastern States, is how the army aviation succeeds against fierce insurgency in strategy and capabilities. The Taliban’s resurgence, tenacious resistance against NATO forces in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda’s ability to elude United States forces, and the trouble Israel has had in trying to subdue violence in tiny Southern Lebanon (Hezbollah) and tinier Gaza (Hamas) deepen concern that even world’s finest militaries have problems against any kind of insurgent movement. Historical Background. The history of the use of airpower against irregulars’ dates back to 9 March 1916, Francisco "Pancho" Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico, and killed 17 Americans. The government of United States ordered General John "Black Jack" Pershing to organise a force of 15,000 troops to pursue Villa into Mexico and "take him dead or alive." Six days...
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...The representation of interests is the third-largest source of employment in Washington D.C., providing work for around 40,000 active lobbyists (Twyman, 1). Groups are also organized in state capitals, especially in Sacramento, CA and Austin, TX. This impressive presence, in comparison to other countries, stems at least partly from the structural weakness of other parts of the American political system. The framers of the Constitution fragmented the state into competing institutions, thus providing plenty of leverage points for interest groups; those which do not get satisfaction in the one branch of government can pursue it in another (Debbie, 4). In addition the main political parties are ill-disciplined and weak; legislators who vote against the party line are rarely sanctioned for doing so, and indeed it is fully 2 expected by party leaders that this will occur when constituency pressure demands it. Finally there are weak ideological and class differences among the American people, providing the opportunity for conflicting groups to spring up on a wider range of issues then the many European countries. It has been argued that the interest...
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...! ! ! Ziyao “Ryan” Li FWIS 194, Final Paper Dr. Ben Wright The End Of The World As I See It When I started to form tiny fractions of memories, China’s booming economy, its open-door policy, and big social reforms began taking places as it leaped into the 2000 millennial. All these changes lead to a more vivid and intermixing culture where novel lifestyle, alternative thoughts, and "non-traditional" religions like Christianity can thrive. I was lucky to be standing at the crossroad where China started to embrace different cultures and various religions. Thanks to the opened-up culture atmosphere, I was exposed to the clash of cultures between western ideology and traditional Confucianism thoughts. The word “apocalypse” was not even in my dictionary previously until Hollywood introduced it to me in the most dramatic ways I could possibly imagine, and ever since my speculation of the Apocalypse never stopped evolving. From more unrealistic predictions involving in zombies, Godzilla, and DNA-modified prehistoric killer dinosaurs, to more practical speculations like nuclear war and ozone depletion, I was constantly updating my Apocalypse view. With my increasing understanding of the mechanism of how the world functions as a whole, I realized that a global hot war is imminently possible since politics can exert a strong influence on the global situation. In a sense, the transformation China experienced was a direct result from the power of politics. In this essay, I will establish...
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...interest are the root cause of global peace, conflict & refugee crisis.” The above statement is our debate topic & we are supporting the statement. Before we present our arguments to support it, the following questions should be answered: • Who are global powers? • What is balance of power? • What is their (global power’s) interest? • What is global peace, conflict & refugee crisis? The answers to above terms will provide us clear view on the esteemed statement. The terms are discussed as follows: Global Power: There are 10 powerful countries, the 10 great powers that can rock the world. They have been ranked by their fire power & ability to shape both their regional environments and the international system as a whole; among all the world’s countries these are the ones with the most ability to affect global politics by their choices. The global power rankings are revised every year. Until 2016, the top 10 global powers are as follows: 1. United States of America 2. United Kingdom 3. Germany 4. China 5. Japan 6. Russia 7. India 8. Turkey 9. Iran 10. South Korea Balance of Power: In international relations, the posture and policy of a nation or group of nations protecting itself against another nation or group of nations by matching its power against the power of the other side. States can pursue a policy of balance of power in two ways: by increasing their own power, as when engaging in an armaments race or in the competitive...
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...Violent Media and Violent Behavior Paula M. Méndez, Megan Roy Miosotis Nieves University of Phoenix BCOM/275 July 23, 2013 Javier Maury-Ortiz Pros and supporting evidence There have been studies to prove that violent movies, games, and television shows can influence violent behavior. Multiple cases have shown that individuals playing video games, especially violent ones, can lead to aggression. Children who tend to play these types of games lose control rather easily, they tend to kick the controller against the floor or throw other various objects when enraged. They also show their frustration by using profanity or lashing out towards others playing the game with them or towards the game itself. Dr. Jordan Grafman at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke conducted a study which showed adolescent boys that were exposed to violent games over a long period of time tended to show aggressive behavior, desensitization, and loss of empathy. Twenty-two boys were chosen to view short clips that show different range of violent from low, mild, and moderate. The ones who were expose to more violent movies, videos, or television shows were the one who were had less empathy. Dr. Grafman concluded that those who were more desensitization were the most likely to have violent behavior and less empathy. There was another study done from 130 research reports on more than 130,000 subjects worldwide which was done by Craig Anderson a professor of psychology at Iowa...
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...Active School Shooter Introduction The intention of this paper is to look at and present some issues and strategies that members of a school community think about when trying to create safer schools. Particularly when addressing an active shooter in a school setting. A major issue to consider when trying to keep all schools safe, is the simple fact that no two schools are the same. Understanding this can lead us to the conclusion that it is impossible to have one global plan or program that can be 100% effective in all schools. “Violence prevention programs work best when they incorporate multiple strategies and address the full range of possible acts of violence in schools. For any set of policies to work, it must be established and implemented with the full participation and support of school board members, administrators, parents, students, community members, emergency response personnel, and law enforcement.” (Kramen, 2008.) If these responsibilities were not shared, the success rate for safe school policies would be very low. Parents send their children to school and think that during that time they are studying and doing other productive, educational things. The last thing parents expect is something terrible happening to their child while at school. School violence is happening more frequently than it should and something needs to be done to stop it. Not only does an act of school violence, especially a school shooting, affect the individual student it reflects poorly...
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