Rhetorical Analysis Of Gun Violence

In response to the many shootings that have transpired, Barack Obama has been discussing how to prevent them. He claims that signing an action will protect the people from gun violence. Furthermore, he believes that this action will hinder guns from getting into the hands of the men, women, and children that abuse them. In his speech, “Remarks on Signing 23 Executive Actions to Reduce Gun Violence”, Barack Obama applies pathos, logos, and biased language to lure the audience into feeling that the 23 actions are deemed necessary in order to protect those they love.

During Obama's speech, he uses pathos to trigger emotion within the audience. His use of adolescent letters causes parents to feel the need to protect their children. Through the use of their letters, he highlights the idea of protection, which is a prominent role as a parent. One of the letters states, “I’m scared for others. I have four brothers and sisters and I know I would not be able to bear the thought of losing any of them” (Julia). In other words, she

is scared for others as gun violence instills fear into the sub-conscience of their minds. This, therefore, introduces the issues of gun violence. By introducing gun violence and the harm that arises from them, the audience's concern ensures their commitment to being more protective of their loved ones and the need for guns to stay off the streets. Hinna is one of the three children who feels passionate about the issues of gun violence. She wrote, “I feel terrible for the parents who lost their children…I love my country and [I] want everybody to be happy and safe” (Hinna). Although she feels safe within her community, she is concerned for others who are at risk of being harmed by gun violence. Therefore, Obama is taking action in order to prevent it.

After introducing the audience to the emotional aspect of gun violence, Obama uses logos to elaborate on the statistics of gun violence. The use of the statistics instills fear and the need for protection through the extreme numbers that are used. This is used for introducing data into the speech. The given data looks high and for anyone that does not understand it, it can be quite overwhelming. For example, since the Sandy Hook Shooting “ more than 900 of our fellow Americans have reportedly died at the end of a gun -- 900 in the past month.” This is a big number of American’s and he feeds them this data so they will fear what will happen to their kids or them. He also states that “majority of Americans agree with us on the need for universal background checks -- including more than 70 percent of the National Rifle Association’s members.” This is used because people that own guns are emphasizing that background checks are needed to prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands. In addition, this is also used to increase fear in parents to agree with Obama. All in all, these are being utilized to aid in furthering Obama's point that the 23 actions are needed to promote safeness.

To reinforce his speech, Obama uses biased language to show that these 23 actions are necessary to protect people from gun violence.

Biased language is twisting and manipulating and Obama uses it in his speech. For example, Obama calls gun violence an “epidemic”. He argues that gun violence is a huge problem and that it is spreading like the flu. To exaggerate the problem and manipulate the minds of the audience, Obama uses the words “military-style assault weapons” to describe the weapons even if they are simple guns. Through doing this, he instills fear within the audience. His use of biased language elaborates on the fact that not all guns in shootings are military style guns. This strategy is effective if someone is not paying close attention to the words that are being read or spoken. By using biased languaging, he is futhering his point that the 23 actions are going to prevent the incedents like the sandy hook shooting and Newtown

tragedy.

In conclusion, Barack Obama's use of pathos, logos, and biased language argues that the application of the 23 actions is extremely one sided. These rhetorical devices are utilized to influence the audience to agree with Obama's views and causes those to fear for the ones they love. By placing fear into them, they were willing to pass the 23 actions. This fear was intentional on Obama's part which is why this speech was so persuasive. All in all, in order to allure the people into upholding the need for the 23 actions to protect the ones they love, Barack Obama uses pathos, logos, and bias language.