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Final Research Paper

My research paper was on the topic of gun control. One of the first things I learned was that gun control is a very broad topic. Gun control is a topic which revolves around gun free zones, who is owning guns, and what type of guns are available altogether. At first I thought that people against gun control mainly wanted to defend their rights to the second amendment which is still true; however, after doing research I had found statistics from other countries that gun control actually made the crime rate increase. I have also learned that along with safety, gun control can have an impact on the economy as well.

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Thematic Link

1.) In each shop I have visited, the store was either low on stock or completely sold out of semi-automatic rifles.

In each shop I have visited, there were very few semi-automatic rifles in stock.

  2.)Guns can save people from danger which is one of the strongest reasons that people support the right to own guns.

One of the main reasons people oppose gun control is that they believe guns can save people from danger.

3.)One shop owner even said that this is the worst time to look for semi-automatic rifles ever.

One shop owner even described how this is the most unfavorable time to search for a semi-automatic rifle.

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Life Long Student

I believe that being a life long student is something that all people must do in order to succeed and in order to do that we all need to be open to learning for the rest of our lives; there are times when we may think that we know everything but in reality we are constantly learning from our mistakes and retaining new information in order to become more successful individuals; learning does not stop in school because school is only the beginning to our life full of new challenges; school develops our learning abilities to let us know what learning habits work for us and which ones don't, but further into our lives when we do something like getting a new job or starting a family, it is time for us to learn and go back to our roots as a life long student.

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Ethos and Gun Control

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines ethos as, "the distinguishing character, sentiment, moral nature, or guiding beliefs of a person, group, or institution." There are two different sides on the issue of gun control, and ethos plays a role in each of them. For example, many people who support gun control believe that guns are violent and you should not kill people with them. On the other side of the issue, people against gun control believe that we should not take away the right to bear arms and that guns are necessary for self-defense. It all comes down to the personal beliefs of the nation. Many people who strongly support gun control believe in the ethos that violence is bad. However, many people who strongly oppose gun control have the ethos that it is our right as a citizen, and also necessary for defense in case someone were to try to harm us. Each side has its own ethos, with their own support for their beliefs.

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Research Topic Questions

1. Since some people may get offended under the current practices, should airport security find other ways to inspect people?

2. Recent laws allow women to fight in combat roles in the military, but should they be allowed to fight in special forces units?

3. Should marijuana be made legal?

4. Should the drinking age be lowered to 18?

5. Should there be more restrictions on guns in the United States?

6. Is technology negatively effecting young children?

7. Should we stop cutting funds from the military in order to be able to protect our country more?

8. Should the government be allowed to watch someone without permission, if that person is considered a threat?

9. Have tensions grown to a point where there is now more reverse-racism?

10. Should contact sports be made safer because of the high rate of injuries?

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5 Thesis Statements

1.)Many criminals support stricter gun control laws because it will give them a greater advantage over their victims, putting innocent citizens at risk.

2.) The video uses pathos to appeal to the audience and scare them, so that they will agree with the video's views.

3.) The video, "Criminals for Gun Control" shows the threat of gun control, and explains how common people will be put in danger.

4.) Criminals are in favor of gun control because it will give them an advantage over their defenseless victims.

5.) The video, "Criminals for Gun Control" establishes fear in the viewer and displays what the effects of gun control would be in the eyes of a criminal.

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Introduction: Cell Phones and Cancer

The Youtube video, "Disconnect: A Film on Cell Phones and Cancer" is a video which discusses cell phones potentially causing cancer. Scientists are trying to find out if the radiation levels given off by cell phones are enough to be concerned about. Leaders of Apple and Virgin Mobile even believe that it may be possible that cell phones cause cancer. Richard Branson of Virgin Mobile even states that it could be like cigarettes because we did not know that those were harmful at first. It has not been researched very much so it is still a young topic with little information. Although cell phones may have many good uses, they may potentially cause brain cancer. 

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Assertion: Criminals are still going to find ways to get guns. Taking them away from citizens would make crimes easier for criminals.

Example: In the video, the criminal is saying that he faces, "the possibility of being shot and killed." He says he supports gun laws because it would make his life easier. He breaks the law for a living, so he would still have his own guns, but the victims would not.

Explanation:This shows that criminals are in favor of stricter gun laws because it will make it easier for them to commit serious crimes such as theft, rape, and murder. The person in the video even said that he breaks the law for a living so he is still going to have guns. With stricter gun laws, there will just be less danger for the criminals because the victims will be unarmed.

Significance: Stricter gun laws can lead to more crime, which would put more innocent people in danger because they will be unarmed against an armed criminal.

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I chose the song Pumped Up Kicks. The author of this would be the band that recorded it, Foster the People. This song focuses on the topics of school shootings and also bullying. The intended audience in this video would be young people in schools getting bullied or anyone concerned about the topics of bullying, gun violence, or school shootings. The invoked audience would be anyone else who hears the song even if they are not very concerned about the issues. The text is a story about a boy in school who has been bullied. The boy's mom is gone and his dad is away most of the day, giving him a feeling of loneliness. The boy deals with a lack of love and is also bullied. He is abused and takes a gun to his school and starts shooting the people there. Many people also connect it to the Columbine school shooting in 1999. The surrounding context in the video/song is the issue of bullying and its effect on youth. It also shows how bullying can lead to much more serious things such as killing people.

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The video starts out with the image of a brutal hit put on NFL Wide Receiver Desean Jackson, it shows both him and the defensive player that hit him laying in agonizing pain. The video continues to show the shocking footage of brutal hits that have occurred in football and other sports like hockey. The video continues to flash words in the middle of these clips to show you the effects these concussions not only have on player but on family members and friends of these athletes. This video really hit me because as an athlete I know how hard it is to sit out a game because of injury. People say ” well just sit out of the game, its whats good for you”, but it’s not that easy as an athlete. As a player you have a ton of pride in what you do on the field and when you sit out a game you feel like it makes you look weak in the eyes of not only you teammates but also everyone who watched you sit out that game. So you take the risk and most of the time you play it off like everything is fine so you can stay on the field. Like the young man in the clip tells us, it’s not OK, most of the time when you stay out there, the injury worsens and all of the sudden you are dealing with something even more serious than before. Now i’m not saying it is all on these professional sports organizations to make the game safer, cause some of it is held on the athletes shoulders. These sports organizations do need to make strides in keeping players safer from concussions because right now the current regulations are not cutting. Now I won’t go into depth about what they need to change because i will leave that for a later time but what I will is that if they want the players to be safe after their careers are over, they need to make drastic changes.

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I agree with your belief to make sports safer. I have been an athlete as well, and I know that it is a pain to have to sit out a game. It is a terrible feeling to know that you have practiced so hard just to have it go to waste because of an injury. Last semester I did a big project on sports injuries, and it went into much further depth on football concussions. What I remember discovering is that a lot of the pads which are supposed to help safety more, are actually a part of the problem. Things such as helmets are so upgraded now that they give players the confidence that they can do whatever they want. This is leading to a lot of players using the helmets more as weapons, rather than protection. I believe we need to make sports safer, but I do not believe that it is all due to the equipment.Another thing I remember hearing about is rule changes. Different rule changes are being put into effect in order to try to increase safety. I believe that if you change some of the rules and change some of the equipment, then maybe the sports will be safer and the number of injuries will decrease.

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I thought this was a very interesting and informative video which shows the effects of gun control. This is a video from Australia which is talking about the effects of government gun control, shortly after the guns are taken away from the citizens. This shows video of guns being cut down and destroyed. It also shows videos of police cars with sirens on to hint that crime will increase because of gun control. In the video, you also hear of people's different stories and personal experiences. Some people were hesitant to turn in their guns for multiple reasons, such as being collectors, or just the fact that they wanted to be able to defend themselves. It also appeals emotionally because it has images of dead bodies, along with images of a man who was tied up in his own house while his home was being invaded. Some of the other images it showed were statistics. These statistics showed that armed robberies increased 69% , assaults with guns increased 28%, gun murders increased 19%, and home invasions increased 21%. I believe that these statistics help prove that gun control is a mistake. Bad people are still going to find ways to get illegal guns, parts, etc. so i do not see the point in taking them away from responsible citizens when it comes down to an issue of self defense and home security. After watching and listening to the interviews, it appears that most of the citizens were against gun control. They talk about wanting to be able to defend themselves if they would ever need to. They also talked about how they would not be able to defend themselves with legal guns. The guns that were still legal have to be locked up and unloaded. Doesn't this seem pretty pointless? If someone came into your house, possibly armed, you would want something quick and ready that you could grab rather than something that would take too long to get ready before you could even use it. Overall, I believe that this video is a foreshadow to what is starting to happen now. At the end of the video, they talk about this happening in America, and the Australian citizens strongly urged that we should fight gun control because it is a mistake.

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Gun Control

Although someone else has already posted about gun control, it is a topic that I have an interest in as well. I believe that trying to make stricter gun control laws is a mistake. The second amendment of the Constitution grants us the right to bear arms. That right was given to us so that we would be able to protect ourselves, if necessary. If the government makes stricter gun policies, it would be taking away part of our basic human rights. Something that I believe the government needs to know are that criminals are still going to find ways to get high powered rifles. After all they are criminals, aren't they? I believe that these stricter laws will only take high powered rifles out of the hands of the good, while the bad people will still find ways to get them, along with other illegal equipment such as high capacity magazines. Places like Chicago and Detroit have some of the most strict gun laws in the country, and these are places that are also high in crime. With the recent mass killings of innocent people in schools, it is easy to believe that no guns would mean no violence. However, the same damage could be gun with a legal pistol and even other weapons such as knives, because of the fact that the attack was so unexpected. I believe the issue boils down to the sanity of the person using the gun. People who can purchase guns should be mentally stable, and should have the guns locked up. People who are mentally insane should not have access to guns, which was the case in the Connecticut shooting.  Basically the point I am trying to make is that bad people are still going to find ways to get high powered guns, so taking them out of the hands of responsible citizens is going to useless.