Concealed weapons have been a debate for years in the United States. Pro-gun people believe that carrying a gun is a necessary action. Anti-gun people argue that carrying weapons makes the world a more dangerous place. I am a proponent of being able to fulfill all of the rights that we are given as citizens of America. People should be able to carry concealed weapons. However, some people who are licensed to carry a weapon are being careless. Linda Hasselstrom is a great example of those who abuse the authority of their weapon; giving the pro gun people, as a whole, a bad reputation. I disagree with the manner in which Linda Hasselstrom chooses to use her weapon in a few of the scenarios in her story, A Peaceful Woman Explains Why She Carries a Gun. Linda says in her story, “I am a peace-loving woman.” Yet after she has her concealed weapon she claims, “In my car it’s within instant reach. When I enter a deserted rest stop at night, it’s in my purse, with my hand on the grip. When I walk from a dark parking lot into a motel, it’s in my hand, under a coat.” How can Linda be a peace-loving woman when she has her gun in hand most of the time? In a class that one takes to be permitted to carry a concealed weapon, they are taught that the weapon is a last resort tool. A gun is for emergency use only, like a fire extinguisher. And yet Linda Hasselstrom claims to have it in hand even when she isn’t being directly threatened. She is misusing her weapon by choosing it as a first and only option …show more content…
Then after having her pistol for a while, she felt like it gave her supremacy in dangerous situations. A gun is an incredibly powerful tool. As Uncle Ben once said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Concealed weapons are a great thing for American citizens to protect themselves, but using them responsibly is imperative. And Linda did not handle her weapon
For a long time she wanted to deny any existence of 'evils ' (a term she made for killers). When her husband died as an American sniper, she felt the need to own a gun. Her views on guns are mixed, but she is a firm believer in the second amendment (Kyle ¶1-3). "A mere 27 words in the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights somehow manage to incite some of the most heated and occasionally violent debates over two centuries after its drafting ("Right" ¶1). Gun owners cherish their freedom to guns. It is a sense of protection that the government has allowed us to have. Gun control, in no way, takes away that freedom; it simply limits certain rights for everyone 's safety ("Urbanism"
In her younger ages, she used a gun for entertainment, she loved to hunt with her father. The author was educated and taught about guns, by her father because of the unsaddling event of her grandmother and mother on highway 66 when the three men that were trying to run them off the road for the large cash amount that was used for cashing payroll checks for the miners. As she got older her gun was there for protection and security. She was more assured with it that she would be able to protect herself.
In the article “A peaceful Woman Explains Why She Carriers a Gun,” the author Linda M. Hasselstrom has a credible argument for carrying a gun. Hasselstrom has a solid ethical appeal and her argument had logic based on her many dangerous personal experiences. Although her article is credible, she uses many fallacies to make it seem that if women have a gun they can protect themselves from men.
The excerpt of “A Peaceful Woman Explains Why She Carries A Gun” is a personal account from Linda Hasselstrom on why she feels the need to carry a gun as well as, why other women should feel the need to own a gun. Hasselstrom uses rhetorical appeals in order to justify her means of security, however she fails due to her inability to provide a substantial amount of background knowledge.
In the article “Peaceful Woman Explains Why She Carries a Gun” Linda M. Hasselstrom, explains a series of events that prompt her to an important decision. It was a decision that changed her life. Hasselstrom is a respected writer who has written several books on based on personal, life experiences. In this particular article she gives examples of events that have occurred to her that forced her take a decision of carrying a gun. She explains that throughout her 10 recent years there were varies occasions where she saw herself in a dangerous situation. During those 10 years she constantly experienced situations where she saw she needed protection, and a simple self defense class wasn’t going to help. She became aware of her surroundings and eventually had experience on what to do in those types of dangerous situations. Although carrying a gun for her was something she needed when it came to protection, she also had to learn that it was a huge responsibility.
Linda M. Hasselstrom wrote the article “A Peaceful Woman Explains Why she Carries a Gun,” she has a credible argument for carrying a gun because she has experienced many dangerous sexual assaults. Hasselstrom is a journalist who has gun ownership. The audience of this article is the women who want to protect themselves. In the article, Hasselstrom describes many sexual assaults, and she shows that women are always the victims. After that, Hasselstrom explains how she can protect herself by learning kung fu and carrying a gun.
“The right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.” The Second Amendment supports conceal and carry by stating “the right to bear arms.” That statement should be exemplified as to have a gun in public. People need to have a weapon ready for use in case of emergency. Not in a car or locked up inside a house, but in reach of the certified personnel. According to the opposing side on ProCon.org, the article Should Adults Have the Right to Carry a Concealed Handgun states: “the amendment is not unlimited and should permit weapons only to citizens who can prove a ‘justifiable need’” (“Right to Carry a Concealed Handgun” 3). The article also has a women’s opinion on Conceal and carry. She stated “women need to be able to defend their home and defend themselves if they go out. It 's just a safety issue” (“Right to Carry a Concealed Handgun” 2). In order to feel safe, and have a reliable self-defense mechanism should be a justifiable reason for Conceal and Carry
U.S congress woman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head. This happened in Arizona, a state where guns are allowed in open carry meaning everyone has option to carry a gun as long as it is not concealed. When this congress woman was shot, the shooter became enraged. After shooting 3 more people his gun got jammed, this is when a civilian jumped him and stopped his irrational behavior. This brings up many different opinions on whether guns should be allowed or taken away. John Luik author of the article “The Increased Availability of Guns Reduces Crime” and Sabina Thaler the author of the article “The Claim of Increased Gun Availability Reduces Crime is Unfounded” are two examples of people having different opinions on such a debatable topic. Both authors talk about guns taking people’s lives, Thalers article focuses on guns taking innocent people’s lives, and Luiks article focuses on guns being innocent people’s protection.
In the event of an attack, would people rather have to fend for themselves without a weapon, or have a person with permit that would allow them to take down the attacker, and potentially save many people’s lives. It is very similar to the statement, “would you bring a knife to a gun fight?” In Atlanta, “an armed guard disarmed the shooter moments after the 1:50 p.m. shooting in a courtyard at the Price Middle School in southeast Atlanta” (Hawkins, 2013). When people like the guard are allowed to have weapons, they can save the lives of many
With gun control being one of the most substantial controversies of modern times, many influential figures have risen to support stances on the matter. On February first of 2013, a man by the name of Sam Harris wrote an article for “The WEEK” on the matter titled, “Why I own guns” in which he illustrates his beliefs as to why a rational person should own firearms. Sam Harris is a New York Times bestselling author, a gun rights activist, and possesses a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Harris believes that “rational” people should possess firearms for protection, as he states that “a person with a gun can make all the difference.” (Harris) To support
America is the most well armed nation in the world, with American citizens owning about 270 million of the world’s 875 million firearms (Marshall). Indeed, this is more than a quarter of the world’s registered firearms. The reason why Americans own so many guns is because of the Second Amendment, which states, “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.” (Rauch) This amendment guarantees U.S. citizens the right to have firearms. Since this amendment is relatively vague, it is up for interpretation, and is often used by gun advocates to argue for lenient gun laws. Hence, gun control is a frequently discussed controversial topic in American politics.
Accompanying the high margin for human error, untrained citizens can use firearms in unlawful ways. According to a violence policy center analysis of news reports, CCW (carrying a concealed weapon) permit holders have killed at least 14 law enforcement officers and 622 private citizens since May 2007 (LCPGV 1). Most if not all of those deaths could have been avoided if there was no concealed carry law. People now need to be informed of the facts, and not some old false reasoning. What holds many people back from seeing the truth is the disadvantageous annotation that comes with change. Sure, this country was built on people who rose up and overthrew the unethical government with their own weapons, but that is not what is being threatened; the right of a militia and to own firearms is written in the second amendment. What does need to change, however, is the idea that the constitution is flawless and covers all things. Although the constitution does lay very stable ground rules for a country to be governed, laws are meant to change with new inventions and ideals. New models of more and more deadly firearms are created everyday, each being deadlier that the latter. What could be called into the question is not the banning of the weapon, but the banning of the deadliness of the weapon. New guns can be specially constructed to wound a
Most criminals are deterred to do crime when they realize someone is armed. No one smart, willingly wants to put themselves in a position to be shot. Wayne quoted “39 percent did not commit specific crime for the fear that the victim was armed.” A natural fear lies with the human being, he will take precautions to make sure he is safe. When the citizen is armed and one can see that. It is a deterrent for the criminal to pursue that being. Conceal carry is on the rise, now criminals must be extra cautious of their target, for it may lead to their demise. An argument from the opposite side on the matter is that the conceal carry community is a threat to law enforcement, however 57 percent of non-law abiding citizens have a worse fear of being stopped by the averaged armed citizen then by the police force. The people are not bounded to as much regulation as an officer. The only variable for a citizen’s permission to shoot is, is his life is in danger or someone else’s life is in danger, or if property is being taken or invaded. Police have more regulation for their reasons to shoot a
“Their best defense against injury is to put no defense and give them what they want” (Kates). Critics may argue that concealed handguns are not an effective form of self defense. To the contrary, robbery and assault victims who used a gun were less likely to be attacked or suffer injury, “Neither a martial art skills nor chemical sprays provide a real option for victims faced by attackers who are stronger or armed” (Kates). People feel safer when they carry a concealed weapon because they feel that criminals will avoid attacking them. Citizens want to conceal carry a handgun because every day there are dangerous individuals who prey on the weak. In addition to that, concealed handguns are an effective non-lethal form of self defense a majority of the time. Gary Kleck from the Federal Bureau of Investigation “estimated that, 2 million to 2.5 million victims annually use handguns to repel criminal attackers” (Kates). The surprise of being armed is the advantage for the victim, which the victim has the disadvantage of knowing the time and place of being attacked. Concealed carry actually provides protection to citizens that do not carry because the criminals are not sure who is able to defend themsel...
Hasselstrom. In this essay the author, a pacifist, explains why she feels the need to carry a gun. She begins by describing her line of work as a freelance writer and the isolated area she lives in. She then goes on to recall events from the past years where she has felt threaten or unsafe. One such incident was a camping trip she took with her friend where fellow campers made them feel uncomfortable. Another event was that of a woman who had car troubles, she called for help but reached a rapist who assaulted her. The author continues to recall more personal incidents such as being followed by men who harassed her on a narrow bridge, another man with a shotgun who made her realize how isolated her ranch was, and one evening when a light was on in her home. These events prompted her to learn Kung Fu, yet she still felt unsafe and decided on carrying a gun. Despite being hesitant at first to carry a gun it has proven to be the best deterrent when faced with a threatening situation, simply showing the gun has been enough to protect