This topic first peaked my interest about a year ago when an individual open fired at a church in my home town of Mt. Pleasant. I know where the church was located and I had visited there a few times over my life and to see something this tragic occur so close to my home was eye opening. I value the freedom to own firearms and the ability to use them to defend my own property as well as keep me and my family safe from any dangers that may come by. If guns are banned from America, I am losing the ability to do so. Currently, I live on a college campus, so I am unable to keep firearms with me. However, I come from a family who has owned firearms for many generations and I personally feel that it is a freedom that Americans have and that should be allowed to express. I have followed many debates and news article surrounding the topic as well as researched many articles and papers pertaining to the debate of gun regulations

The "Educators Guide: The Battle Over Gun Control" is an informative article that states that Gun control in America is a controversial topic. While some states with stricter gun regulations do see reduced gun-related crimes, other states with similar regulations have not seen any signifigant changes in their crime rates. There is not a particular arguement being made in the article, it is an informative article. Information, statistics, and arguements from both sides of gun control debate are presented in the article, informing the reader of both sides of the arguement. Because of this, the article does not have stakes or an interest to support one side of the debate over the other. The article was written by two teachers who researched the debate and has very little bias, since it is presented as an informative article.

"A List of the Reasons Cited Against Gun Control and an Effort to Think Them Through" is an article that is based around the saying, "guns don't kill people, people kill people". If guns are taken away, people will use some other form of weapon to inflict hurt on other people. The target shouldn't be the weapons, but the possible emotional and mental abnormalities of the people using those weapons. The writer is a supporter of gun freedom, so she has stakes and interests in ensuring gun freedom. She values the freedom to own firearms and would not be able to exercise it if firearms were banned. Because of this, the article has some bias towards gun freedom and focuses very little on the opposing side and their arguement.

Finally, the article "Gun-Control Dishonesty" was written in response to a politicians call to have background checks on participants in private firearms transactions. The author claims that this will not reduce the number of mass shootings in America. He references several mass shootings in which the firearms used were purchased legally and the buyer passed all background checks. They also claim that a shooter is either going to follow the law to the letter, or break it completely, so it is irrelevant to have background checks on those individuals because they will get a gun one way or another. The writer does not seem to have any stakes in the debate because of the fact that he is not supporting gun freedom in the article, but simply pointing out the flaws that this law would have. For this same reason, he is not biased towards one side of the arguement over the other. The author points out several mass shootings with specific dates and details as well as quotes several public government speeches, so he is well informed on the topic.

This whole debate is arguable due to people's different opinions on how much they value gun freedom. Is it a right, is it a privilege, will banning them reduce crimes, etc. There are not any disagreements between these articles, but the last two do seem to support gun freedom. The different perspectives on the articles have not changed my perspective on the topic, but I am now more informed about the side I support as well as the arguments made by those on the opposing side. Since gun control is such a broad topic to cover for the entire US, I have decided to focus specifically on gun control in the south since this is where I was raised and where I am more familiar with the culture and opinions of the people who live there.
