Problem:

Consider the following argument:

Obama's plans for gun control are useless. To try to ban assault rifles or to do background checks for people before they can buy a gun is not going to reduce crime in any way. First of all, those who want to ban guns outright are obviously going against the Second Amendment, which gives Americans 'the right to bear arms.' And although assault rifles are indeed quite deadly weapons, they only account for roughly 5% of all gun-related crime. Most gun related deaths are due to handguns. Background checks might work in keeping certified mental cases from buying a gun, but then again, 90% of the crimes committed with guns are committed by people with no previous records of mental instability. There are further arguments for why banning guns is not a good idea. Aside from the already mentioned Second Amendment, it's people who kill, and not guns. Responsibility and education are what is needed. No banning of anything has ever worked. Remember the Prohibition of the 1920s? Didn't work either. Banning doesn't work, because a criminal has no intention to obey the law anyway. So if you ban guns, is a criminal now going to say:"well okay then I am not going to commit a crime, now that I know it's against the law"?? So in the end, gun control is just not going to do what it is supposed to do.

Question 1: In your own words, describe what the final conclusion of this argument is, and what the reasons supporting it are. Remember, it is not always the case that the final conclusion is explicitly written down in the passage itself.

Question 2: Analyze the passage critically in your own words. Explain what the strong points are of this argument, and what its weak points are.

Question 3: You can choose to agree or disagree with the final conclusion or the argument. Based on your decision, try to defend and strengthen (if you agree) or attack and weaken (if you disagree) the argument with your own reasons.

Additional Information:

The argument belongs to Law and it is about the ban of guns in America by Obama. In the wake of recent gun fire incidents, it is known that Obama has been contemplating to put a ban on guns. And the argument goes against this because guns are only a medium of committing crimes and ban of guns wouldn't help reduce crimes. Three questions about review of this statement have been answered in detail in the solution.

Total Word Limit: 951 Words