Gun control thesis statement.

[JNG]

"People want to believe gun control will reduce crime, but the truth is that gun control will never work."

This is my daughter's thesis statement for her college course. This is the teacher's reply...


"How do you know gun control will NEVER work? You can't. So that is not a factual statement, instead one for a persuasive essay."

This is her reply to the teacher...

"History has shown that gun control will never work. Hitler tried it with Germany. England has tried it, Australia has tried it, and they have all been failures."

What say you? Is it a thesis statement or an opening for a persuasive essay?

+1 to your daughter for moxie. If her teacher wants her to rewrite the thesis, try this:
"Traditional gun control measures necessarily undermine the stated goal of reducing crime, and are therefore ineffective for that purpose.

 

[Django]

+1 to your daughter for moxie. If her teacher wants her to rewrite the thesis, try this:
"Traditional gun control measures necessarily undermine the stated goal of reducing crime, and are therefore ineffective for that purpose.

+1
Something like prohibition: Guns exist, the cat's out of the bag.
All gun control can do is take them from the hands of law abiding citizens creating a larger black market for those who would have them anyways.
Then when they've stripped everything away, what's to stop illegally armed thugs? Even in departments that aren't stretched thin, police aren't omnipresent.
Jif, Smucker's, and Louisville Sluggers won't stand up to a .45
Old argument but true.
I'll never understand gun control nuts.

 

[SigSense]

The ABSOLUTE best book/study reference this subject (in my opinion) is called "More Guns Less Crime" by John Lott. The gun-grabbers hate it, because it's filled with FACTS. Here's his website: John Lott's Website

 

[rambone]

+1 to your daughter for moxie. If her teacher wants her to rewrite the thesis, try this:
"Traditional gun control measures necessarily undermine the stated goal of reducing crime, and are therefore ineffective for that purpose.

There's the right idea.

You want to avoid "I believe..." & "They think..." kinds of statements and stick with concrete evidence, not anyone's opinions or beliefs.

 

[Bill of Rights]

I think the teacher's point is that the word "never" is an absolute and therefore cannot be proven without testing every possible permutation and combination of factors. Since it is impossible to test all factors, "never" is a poor choice of words.

to your daughter from me, too, and if she's looking for backup for that topic, she would do well to check out Gun Facts - Your guide for debunking gun control myth.

Good luck to her and thanks for posting this!

Blessings,
Bill

 

[Jeremiah]

While not conclusive at all, The book Freaknomics gave me an new outlook on crime and its relationship/effect by population to cop ration, gun control or lack there of. pretty compelling as it makes a case for abortion being the leading reason for the decline in crime in the '90's and not gun control or more carry permits. I carry myself and see value in being prepared to defend myself. However I realise that Gun control doesn't help anything.

 

[Jeremiah]

It might help her to look at Japan. Japan has actually had a fair amount of success with gun control, though it's been shown that this is likely cultural and demographic rather than the result of policy. It never hurts to look at the opposition's strongest case rather than its weakest, and Japan is definitely one of the best examples of gun control "working".

Any books or links to support this, I don't doubt the validity of what you said, I'm just interested in education.