Discourse: an ongoing discussion, framework or idea about a topic held in society
"Americans own more guns than anybody else on earth, even adjusted for population. This is either a sign of the nation’s historic devotion to personal freedom or of cultural psychosis and political gridlock; the argument, as distinctively American as the gun culture itself, rages on. Measured by victories in courts and legislatures, the dominant pro-gun group, the National Rifle Association, claiming 5 million members, is on a 20-year winning streak." http://www.bloombergview.com/quicktake/americans-and-their-guns
In 1791 the 'Bill of Rights of the United States of America' was written by James Madison in response to calls from several states for greater constitutional protection for individual liberties, the Bill of Rights lists specific prohibitions on governmental power. The Bill of Rights consists of 10 Amendments, the two most well known are the first and second. The first being an individuals freedom of speech and second being an individuals right to keep and bear arms. The Second Amendment has been heatedly debated over a number of decades regarding the true meaning on the phrase "to keep and bear arms".
The full Second Amendment reads "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."
Militia: noun 1.a body of citizens enrolled for military service, and called out periodically for drill but serving full time only in emergencies. 2.a body of citizen soldiers as distinguished from professional soldiers. 3.all able-bodied males considered by law eligible for military service. 4.a body of citizens organized in a paramilitary group and typically regarding themselves as defenders of individual rights against the presumed interference of the federal government.
Breaking it down it states - there must be a well regulated Military service for the security of the country - an individual person has the right to keep and bear arms, arms being weapons The first part is very clear and is rarely discussed but the second is what fuels the debate.
When it was adopted, "arms" included muzzle-loaded muskets and pistols, swords, knives, bows with arrows, and spears.
"However, a common- law definition would be "light infantry weapons which can be carried and used, together with ammunition, by a single militiaman, functionally equivalent to those commonly used by infantrymen in land warfare." That certainly includes modern rifles and handguns, full-auto machine guns and shotguns, grenade and grenade launchers, flares, smoke, tear gas, incendiary rounds, and anti-tank weapons, but not heavy artillery, rockets, or bombs, or lethal chemical, biological or nuclear weapons." http://www.constitution.org/leglrkba.htm
We will be analyzing three different texts and exploring the values evident in each and how they reflect or challenge the values held at the time.
All in the Family, ‘Archie and the Editorial’, 1972.
Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, ‘Gun Control’, 2005.
The Daily Show, 'John Oliver investigates gun control', 2014.
1972 America: The 1960s and 70s saw a large increase in gun assaults including the assassination of J.F. Kennedy and the involvement of America in the Vietnam war. The Vietnam war was heavily protested from 1965 and continued to grow support over the following three years peaking in 1968. As causality and wounded numbers continued to grow so did the anti war movement. President John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963 and Martin Luther King Jr's assassination resulted in the Gun Control Act of 1968. This act prohibited the sale of guns to convicted felons, drug users and the mentally ill, and also required firearm dealers to obtain licenses and imposed interstate sale restrictions. The law also raised the age to legally purchase a handgun to 21.
2005 America: Late 90s saw one of the worse mass shootings in America's history, the Columbine Massacre. In 1999 Erick Harris and Dylan Klebold shot and killed 12 students, 1 teacher and injured 24 students. This brought the contentious issue back into the spotlight, while there is a huge support for gun control there is little funding compared with that of the NRA. In 2001, after a four-year spike in school shootings and other so-called rampage killings, a national gun control advocate lamented, “There just (isn’t) a whole lot of outrage....I’m worried that people are seeing this as just part of living in America.”
2014 America: 2012 saw the deadliest school shooting in America's history, 20 students and 6 adults shot in Sandy Hook elementary by Adam Lanza. Lanza had in his possession three semi automatic firearms and a large quantity of ammunition. In the wake of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in late 2012, Obama encouraged Congress to pass legislation which would increase background check protocols, ban assault weapons including high-capacity ammunition and armour-piercing bullets. It would also provide more funding for additional police officers on the street, first responder training, mental health programs and school emergency plans.