Response to Kristof's "Do We Have the Courage"

Ally Ferrell

Werry Section 27

August 27, 2014

What do you think are Kristof's main claims?

Kristof claims that more gun control is vital in the United States to ensure that there are less gun related deaths in the country, especially in schools. He also claims that the politicians that have the power to fix the national shooting problem could easily do so, but are too fearful of the National Rifle Association to actually change anything. Kristof states that guns should be just as regulated as any other things that cause extreme amounts of deaths, such as cars and ladders.

List the main types of evidence you saw in the text. 

Kristof uses facts, personal experiences and examples as his evidence. The evidence Kristof uses to support his claims includes statistics related to gun control in the United States, gun control in different countries, and control of things other than guns in the United States. He states that 30,000 people in the United States get killed due to guns annually. He also talks about the different strategies that Australia and Canada have taken to lower the shooting rates and how these countries were successful with this goal. More evidence he uses is comparing the control of real guns with the control of toy guns, ladders, and cars.

Identify a strategy Kristof uses to persuade his audience (see page 7 of the reader). Do you think this is effective? Why/why not?

Kristof uses the strategy of identifying and refuting opposing views. He quotes a person saying that it is harder to adopt a pet than it is to purchase a gun. He refutes this by using a personal experience of how easy it was for him to get a gun as a child as evidence. I think this is a very effective strategy because the opposing view that he is refuting is usually a wide held belief or opinion. If the reader had this belief before reading the article, Kristof explains why they are wrong and can open his or her mind to new opinions.