More Guns Less Crime Analysis

1210 Words3 Pages

Taya Kyle is the widow of the ‘American sniper’, Chris Kyle. Recently Mrs. Kyla has headlines for her vocal against President Barack Obama's proposal on heavy gun regulations. CNN, MSNBC and Fox News all did at least one piece on this particular issue and now has made national news. The event included questions from those on both sides of the gun control debate with many, like Mrs. Kyle, who had lost people close to them to gun-related crimes. The reason why these news outlets focused on Mrs. Kyle is because her beloved husband who served as a U.S.Navy SEAL from 1999 to 2009 he is currently known as the most successful sniper in American military history. The American hero who unfortunately was killed on on February 2, 2013 in Texas at a shooting In this open debate Mrs. Kyle directly spoke to president, they had a back and forth discussion specifically about background checks when purchasing a gun. Mrs. Kyle tells the President that background checks do not stop people from killing, and that new government regulation only offers a false sense of hope for the American people. Mrs. Kyle is not wrong in her argument that gun control laws do not deter crime, however gun ownership deters crime. John R. Lott, Jr., PhD, is the author of More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws. Dr. Lott in Nov. 26, 2013 conducted a study that found, between 1980 and 2009, "assault weapons bans did not significantly affect murder rates at the state level" and "states with restrictions on the carrying of concealed weapons had higher gun-related murders."(Lott). The President’s rebuttal to Mrs. Kyle’s statement is that increased gun ownership did not necessarily cause a decrease in gun related crime. “If you look at the places where the areas of the highest gun ownership the crime rate has not significantly dropped compared to areas where crime has significantly gone down due to the new gun ownership policy”(Obama). In MSNBC’s video they just showed this in the form of a video. No background, data or follow-up is added to the news piece. They did not offer a particular slant or side over this issue. Overall this is just a clip of what actually happened, whereas CNN and Fox News have much more information and depth to their news pieces. For this reason MSNBC had the least effective news outlet in conveying this

Open Document