ARTICLE ANALYSIS 1 Week 1 Writing Assignment:

ARTICLE ANALYSIS 1

Week 1 Writing Assignment:

Our Blind Spot about Guns Article by Nicholas Kristof Analysis

 What is the title and author of your selected essay?

Our Blind Spot About Guns by Nicholas Kristof

 What is the topic of the essay?

Guns as people’s blind spot

 What is the author’s argument on the topic?

The author argues that guns has for long remained a major threat to human life since they are not

properly regulated. It is their uncontrolled use nature that leads to high rates of homicide cases

something that many people consider not true but in reality the society is negatively affected by

high presence of guns among members of society.

 What evidence does the author use to present their point of view?

The author provides cases of reported homicides where guns are used and compares them with

number of motor vehicle accidents. He also demonstrates how vehicles are regulated to prevent

instances of accidents by drivers having series of rules to comply with something that is not

applied when it comes to guns.

 Identify one writing strategy (rhetorical mode) the author uses to make their argument?

The author makes use of a comparing and contrasting writing strategy to show the difference in

different scenarios for people to understand how it is like and how it would be like in the case

proposed measures are put in place.

 What is your position on the topic?

Guns are important for personal and public use as they help increase levels of security. However,

there should be a lot of control measures on how and when they should be used. There should be

ARTICLE ANALYSIS 2

clear penalties for abuse of guns as this would help in reducing increasing cases of gun abuse a

reality that has been ignored for long.

 Do you agree or disagree with author? Why?

Yes I agree with the author because there have been many cases where licensed gun holders have

used guns wrongly leading to loss of life and no action has taken against them as they have been

able to argue that they felt that their safety was being threatened. It is hence important for gun

owners to be controlled so that they can stop risking lives of people who do not own guns.

 What would you do differently if you were to present this argument? (Describe specific elements)

The one thing I would do differently is demonstrating how events where guns are regulated human

life is much safer from the aspects of people who do not own guns and how the life of people in

general is at risk whenever there are weak and ineffective gun control measures.

 Describe reasons why someone might disagree with the author’s stance?

Someone might disagree with the author’s argument since there are many other causes of death and

that gun only contributes a fraction of total number of deaths. Somebody opposing might argue

that causes of death are diverse and focusing on guns only might not have any noticeable impact

and hence not much attention should be granted unto it.

 Consider audience: Who would benefit from reading this?

The government is the main target audience who would benefit from reading this since it is the

body with power to control use of guns and can take action from arguments raised.

 Now compose your thesis statement (main idea) by following this formula:

THESIS: Our blind spot about guns by Nicholas Kristof raises an important aspect on how guns

contribute to mortality rate. With valid evidence provided, it is evident a lot of homicide cases are

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made possible due to gun accessibility and hence any effective control measures can go a long way

in reducing national mortality rate.

References

Nicholas Kristof, (July 30, 2014). Our Blind Spot About Guns: retrieved from:

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/31/opinion/nicholas-kristof-our-blind-spot-about-

guns.html