Supporting Gun Control

1. What is the angle of vision and degree of advocacy of the site? How does the selection of images, links to articles, and use of “facts” and “fact sheets” indicate an angle of vision?  The article, It’s Time to Ban Guns. Yes, All of Them, written by Phoebe Maltz Bovy, a writer for the New Republic,  has a radically liberal perspective of gun control. There is only one image: a picture of police officers putting confiscated guns into their database. The complete lack of facts and fact sheets shows that this is merely just an opinionated speech.
2. Look for images of women on your site. How do they construct women differently and imply differences in women’s concerns about guns?  There are no images of women on this website, but the fact that the author is female and that she is preaching leftist ideals leads the reader to believe that some, but certainly not to include all, women are very concerned with the continued ownerships of guns for citizens.
3. What range of underlying values does the site appeal to? How do words and images create viewer awareness of these underlying values?  This site appeals to the liberal values shared by many radical democrats. The activist attitude of this article is the main force that drives the awareness of gun control.
4. How does the site use logos, ethos, and pathos to sway readers toward its point of view?  The most utilized persuasion technique used in this article is pathos by means of distracting the attention of the reader on anti-gun legislation to such things as the statement that anti-abortion legislators weren’t convinced through the Roe v. Wade case, or that the NRA doesn’t care about “concerns of small-town whites, as well as deeply committed to fighting police brutality against blacks nationwide,” as Bovy claims. Such accusations are meant to divert from the subject to make it seem like guns cause even more trouble than expected.

Reference: <https://newrepublic.com/article/125498/its-time-ban-guns-yes-them>

Against Gun Control

1. What is the angle of vision and degree of advocacy of the site? How does the selection of images, links to articles, and use of “facts” and “fact sheets” indicate an angle of vision?  The NRA article, Gun Control Supporters Unhinged: New Republic Says “Ban Guns – All of Them”, alternatively has a radically conservative stance on gun control. A single image of a pistol being confined by chains and an old lock, possibly to note that the movement to increase gun control is not effective and easy to remove. In this article too, there is not much more data than its counterpart in the other article.
2. Look for images of women on your site. How do they construct women differently and imply differences in women’s concerns about guns?  There is no hint of the woman’s concerns about gun rights, most likely because the NRA is an organization that extends to both men and women.
3. What range of underlying values does the site appeal to? How do words and images create viewer awareness of these underlying values?  The NRA appeals to anyone who wants to keep their 2nd Amendment rights as just that, a right, instead of a privilege. This article is not much more mature and data-proven than the other site, so the NRA’s beliefs about further restriction of guns grabs the attention of the reader to embrace the same opinions.
4. How does the site use logos, ethos, and pathos to sway readers toward its point of view?  Again, pathos is the driving force of the NRA’s argument as well. They focus quite a lot on Hillary Clinton and her constant battle with the NRA over gun restrictions. Although at the end of the article the NRA said that there are roughly one million gun owners in the country who have the opportunity to unite and defeat the proposed legislation, there wasn’t enough empirical data to prove why gun ownership will make homes safer and give people a sense of security. Instead, they respond to the other article with the same, almost juvenile taunts. These two articles, therefore, are used only to persuade the reader instead of finding the best solution to this nation-wide problem.

Reference: <https://www.nraila.org/articles/20151211/gun-control-supporters-unhinged-new-republic-says-ban-guns-all-of-them>