Priscilla Malone Instructor Brittmon ENG 1010-1225 25 October 2012 Reader Response Essay “A Peaceful Woman Explains Why She Carries a Gun” In the essay “A Peaceful Woman Explains Why She Carries a Gun”, Hasselstrom talks about the events that led her to carry a gun for protection. The author starts off by giving the reader a brief background of her lifestyle. She is a freelance writer that lives by herself in a secluded area in South Dakota and does a lot of traveling. Considers herself as a peace-loving person and followed all the precautions of traveling alone as a woman; nevertheless, Hasselstrom experienced events over the lasts 10 years that changed her mindset of carrying a gun. She relives certain events that put her in a position of inequality toward the opposite sex.
She used all the three techniques of the persuasions very successfully. She uses ethos when she again and again says that as a teacher I feel like this or as a parent I have decided this. She knows that the credibility of her as a teacher and a mother is enough to make her audience believe in what she says. As a teacher she could have used her credibility to convince the people to think of some other ways of keeping the children safe. She also uses the logos when she describes that the statistics has shown that the gun keeping do not guarantee your normal death rather it contributes to the more risk of death by shooting.
My summary of Linda M. Hasselstrom’s “A Peaceful Woman Explains Why She Carries a Gun” In our nation, society’s points of view about rights to carrying a firearm are different for each individual. In the past decade there have been shootings and brutality piercing headline news across America. In Linda M. Hasselstrom’s article, “A Peaceful Woman Explains Why She Carries a Gun” she describes her experiences, fears, and how her having a gun can change the “balance of power” (357). Her past history with potential threatening situations are her reasons for carrying a gun. She states that self-defense classes are not enough to keep her safe (356).
No one ever really stops and thinks what am I really by having this gun? Most think its saying I need protection and I want to be able to protect myself from harmful things in this world such as robbers, rapist, wild animals, etc. Others think why would I have such a thing that causes so much harm in the world today and is the reason there are robbers, and rapist? In this essay Linda Hasselstrom tries to explain in a very detailed way on why she needs a gun given her own experiences. In my case I really can’t agree guns go against a majority of the things I believe in today.
By having a gun you can accidentally hurt the people you care and love and even though it might have been an accident you can still get in a lot of trouble that can change your life forever. Owning a gun can be protective and dangerous at the same time. Like if someone were in a situation that someone else was threatening their lives they could use
With a handgun they are at least able to have a fighting chance at their attacker. Women who train to have a handgun are less likely to become victims of a violent crime. John Lott says, “by far the safest course of action is to have a gun. A woman who behaves passively is 2.5 times likely to end up being seriously injured as a woman who has a gun.” Now pacifist might say that very gun you pull out on your attacker can be used against you. That is a very true statement, but if the woman is trained properly the chances are very minimal.
Not enough children get this education as it is entirely up to parents to enroll them into hunting courses or firearms training courses. Learning safe handling techniques and respect for guns as a course in a school environment is the most effective way to equip children with this knowledge. Guns are tools that have a purpose and must be respected as such. Classes such as woodworking, auto mechanics and machine shop have inherently dangerous aspects to them as well yet are taught to children in our schools without complaint or objection from parents. Parents want their children to learn the safe use and handling of mechanical equipment should the need arise
The overall question that summarizes the topic may be seen as this – Is the right to bear arms more important than the safety of the general public? Gun rights advocates believe that under the constitution, they should have the right to possess and carry guns. As long as we keep the dangerous people in check, then the safety of the general public will not be a problem. However, gun control advocates are strong supporters of the idea that guns are responsible for the large-scale massacres. They believe that if we can eliminate guns from the big picture, we can eradicate the murders as well.
However, controlling the distribution and sales of registered guns and owners is necessary because of the criminals that use for them for violence and the homicide rates we have in this nation today. The purchasing and owning of guns and the purpose they are used for should be under control to prevent crimes of passion, reduce accidental deaths that involve handguns, and minimize gun related suicide. There are many sound reasons firearms should be controlled in the United States (Gun Control Facts 2013) Benefits of Gun Control One of the more important reasons guns should be controlled in the United States would be to reduce the number of crimes of passion. A crime of passion usually involves last minutes hasty decisions involving gun fire. Many people are shot following or in the result of verbal confrontations.
If there were not any background checks before owning a gun, it is possible for a terrorist or criminal to acquire a gun, like they can right now. Gun violence is a far greater issue than an invasion of privacy. Background checks will help make sure that guns don’t end up in the wrong