Writing a argumentation essay for college, need some resources.

[masakarijoe]

I am writing a college paper on the effects of gun control, and how anti-gun legislation only hurts law abiding citizens. I would appreciate if y'all can provide me with some useful links aiding my argument. I am perfectly capable to do my own research, but I figured that you all would already have some useful documents ready. I am in need of official, citable material ONLY.
Here is my outline:

Gun Control: Is Your Logic Really Logical?

Paragraphs:
1- Meaning of Second Amendment
2- Criminals steal, lack of prosecution
3- Mental illness, lack of reporting
4- Rifles, pistols, and magazine capacity
5- Failure of 1st AWB of 1994, 20,000 current ineffective laws
6- Defensive use of firearms, declining crime rates

Conclusion: emotions are blind and stifle logic.

[donm]

The Philadelphia Inquirer has published several articles in recent years highlighting the city's abysmal conviction record for violent crimes in general and gun laws in particular. You can start here:
http://articles.philly.com/2009-12-1...ence-gun-crime
http://articles.philly.com/2009-12-1...entencing-laws
http://articles.philly.com/2009-12-1...ime-conviction
http://burneylawfirm.com/blog/2009/1...-rates-matter/
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-20...-PgS3635-2.htm
http://withintheblackcommunity.blogs...rime-rate.html
http://crimevictimsmediareport.com/?p=2157
http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0022084/nobles_m.pdf
They don't enforce the laws on the books, so obviously the solution is more laws.

[rahliE]

Here's an outstanding chart showing how our murder/violent crime rate has been steadily decreasing since 2006 (think of how much responsible gun ownership has increased since 2006!).. Also note that in 2011, our violent crime rate is the lowest it's been since 1978 and our murder rate is the lowest it's been since 1968!!!

http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm

Good luck with your essay!

[rahliE]

Here's another chart that breaks down the murders in 2011.. It shows how rifles, in general (and we all know modern sporting rifles are just a small portion of the rifle category), were the cause of only 323 deaths out of the 8,583 caused by firearms.. There were more murders committed with knives, blunt objects, and even "personal weapons" such as hands/fists/feet.. AMAZING!!! Banning a certain type of rifle by its looks will SURELY be an effective measure to take to try and bring down our murder/violent crime rate, right???

[donm]

Here's an outstanding chart showing how our murder/violent crime rate has been steadily decreasing since 2006 (think of how much responsible gun ownership has increased since 2006!).. Also note that in 2011, our violent crime rate is the lowest it's been since 1978 and our murder rate is the lowest it's been since 1968!!!

The antis like to point out that the violent crime rate dropped during the assault weapons ban, which is true. What they don't tell you is that it was dropping before the ban and continued to drop after it expired.

[rahliE]

The antis like to point out that the violent crime rate dropped during the assault weapons ban, which is true. What they don't tell you is that it was dropping before the ban and continued to drop after it expired.

This is true, we must look at all angles when debating these people.. There's not many, in fact I'd say about 98% of the anti's don't use facts at all, because they can't.. But in some instances, like you stated here, we can use their own facts against them

[Brick]

A summry explanation of the Heller Decision.
http://gunfacts.info/pdfs/misc/Helle...-%20public.pdf

Here's a federal government source that might be of interest to you:
https://ncjrs.gov/
You will want to read the reports Enforcemnet of the Brady Act 2010
and Federal Firearms Cases FY2008.

There's also a slew of information in the FBI Uniform Crime Reports. Start with Crime in the US 2011 and work backwards.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr...-the-u.s.-2011

Defensive use of firearms, see the Kleck study:
http://www.gunsandcrime.org/dgufreq.html

[BadAtScreennames]

Here's a shitload of stats and peer-reviewed academic studies.

You'd better get an A on this paper:

Homicide trends 1980-2008: http://bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf

Death data: 2008: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr59/nvsr59_10.pdf

Homicide in metropolitan areas: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwR/pdf/wk/mm6018.pdf

Guns and suicides: http://journals.lww.com/epidem/Abstr...ates_in.6.aspx

Deaths, suicides, and crime: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.108...21101990282127

Gun control and suicide: http://www.healthpolicyjrnl.com/arti...299-X/abstract

Threat assessment (its a book, but I think it's free online): http://www.healthpolicyjrnl.com/arti...299-X/abstract

Gun markets and gun law messaging: http://rd.springer.com/article/10.10...LI=true#page-1

Guns and crime: http://www.policeforum.org/library/c...nsandCrime.pdf

Impact of 1994 law: http://www.urban.org/publications/406797.html

Impact of assault weapons ban: http://rd.springer.com/article/10.10...431219?LI=true

Criminals and ammo: http://www.rand.org/pubs/reprints/RP1243.html

Cops sociology and guns: http://www.rand.org/publications/ran...l2003/gun.html

Small arms survey: http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/publi...rvey-2007.html

Mental health and guns (not a study but I think it's peer-reviewed):
http://www.rand.org/commentary/2013/01/17/RAND.html

[masakarijoe]

You guys are awesome. I have not had a chance to go through all of this just yet, but come the weekend I will dive in and let you all know how it goes. in fact, if y'all want, I can just post the paper up right here, I don't mind.
Thanks again!

[mikelets456]

Doing some research I came across this awesome report. Please use and study this for debates and when you plan to use in local council, state and federal proposals. This seemed like really good info as 1874 prisoners were questioned in 1983. Also, couple this with crime dropping every year since 1992 to the lowest levels in 45 years in 2012. Also, in 1987 only 10 states granted the right to carry and now 41 states grant these rights. I conclude that it's in direct correlation to lower crimes. See the missing link below to tie it all together

http://twg2a.wordpress.com/2011/11/0...t-be-a-victim/