Gun violence in America can come in many different forms, including homicide, suicide, unintentional, etc., but it all has one thing in common and that is, its negative effects on every victim’s life. Gun control reforms have been a working progress for a really long time. It may seem to some Americans that gun violence’s effects are decreasing but authors like John Allen, suggest the opposite and aim to cause an action into improving gun control laws.  

In the year 2019, one of the most popular issues is gun violence in the form of mass shootings. The Parkland school shooting in February 14, 2018 sparked a youth movement and grabbed the attention of many Americans including an adult national correspondent to TIME Magazine, Charlotte Alter. In her article, “The Young and the Relentless” she writes about the student movement and its effects in an optimistic tone. Alter states that, “Gun politics have vexed adult organizers for decades, but so far the Parkland teens have had striking success” (29) she does this to inform her adult readers of their failures in the past and give credits to the Parkland teens who now have shown success in taking a stand in gun politics. TIME Magazine is a very popular source of national top news, its viewers are mainly adults aged 45 in average (according to TIME Media Kit U.S Audience). Despite this fact, Alter didn’t hesitate to make them feel bad for not making as much change as the teenagers did in 2018. By doing so, Alter attracts the adults who were supposed to be responsible, to finally ask “How can I help?”. Alter chooses non-fiction as her writing genre where she includes real statistics and scenarios, she informs the audience that, “The U.S has only 4.4% of the world’s population (in 2007)…and roughly 31% of the world’s mass shooters are American, according to a University of Alabama study” (Alter 26). She also reminds the audience of real example of a shooting in December 2012 where “congress failed” (27). This is to prove her belief that gun violence is a real serious issue occurring in America and reminds the adults of their failure in the past and to awaken them again to support the teens who are now making improvements. In addition to factual evidence, Alter includes personal statements from some of the students in Parkland, “It’s so overwhelming having all these people around when we’re trying to go back to normal. I don’t think that there is a normal anymore, because 17 people died here” (Carly Novell 28), “You don’t know what it is like unless you go through it. The fear of not knowing how many shooters there are, where they are, if your friends are dead— it changes you.” (Jose Iglesias 30). Relaying their life stories in her article does not only provide a voice for the victims of the shooting but it also is an effective way to make the issue more personal to the readers which effectively influences their emotions, eventually motivating them to take an action. As a married woman (twitter), Alter shows interest in contributing to fixing gun violence in America because it might affect herself or her family in the future. With this as her background, adult audience will find Alter more credible and understandable than the youth speakers who might be ridiculed due to their lack of experience and different way of speaking, even though they have the same purpose.  

Similar to Alter’s purpose in proposing a change in the way adults view gun violence is John R. Allen’s more personal approach in demanding action in Americans to create a safer America. In his blog post, “Gun Violence in America: A true national security threat”. John also uses words such as “national” and “we” to impose unity and common ground with the rest of the Americans, who might be neglecting this issue. He does this to impose that every American has the same chance of experiencing the horrors that he experienced caused by gun violence unless it’s stopped. The use of “national threat” instead of just “threat” ignites a patriotic action by American citizens which Allen tries to accomplish. Similar to Alter, Allen uses his personal interaction with the issue: 

 “I was in my command post in Al Anbar Province, the most violent region in Iraq during the most violent year in the war. In a phone call from the U.S., I had just been assured that my daughter at Virginia Tech was alive and unharmed, but that one of her close friends was killed and several of her friends were fighting for their lives in emergency surgery.” (Allen).  

He does this, to affect his audience in an emotional level which usually stays with the reader’s mind for a longer time than providing factual evidence. In the blog post he is introduced as a former marine, despite this, he started his blog post implying his vulnerability in the effects of gun violence, this is to attract the audience to listen more and realize the seriousness of the issue that even a United States Marine Corps 4-star general (Brookings Expert) is affected. Allen uses words such as “gut-wrenching” which was mostly popular in 1970 (Wikipedia) to be more relatable and understandable by his adult audiences. He compares the gun violence in America to Iraq war, he includes, “That day 32 people were murdered on a college campus, vastly outnumbering our combined casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan on the very same day” and  “No individual needs to own an assault weapon that I use in Iraq” (John Allen). This comparison to Iraq, a horrific image already built in Americans minds will cause an alert that can trigger an action to the citizens of America to help solve ad understands the severity of gun violence in America.  

In contrast to Alter’s optimistic view of the new generation’s ability to fix the problem in gun violence, Paul Helmke states explicitly in his article, “Targeting Gun Violence” that America is far from being a safe country and that there is “no easy answer to the problem of gun violence the United States” (552). Unlike the previous authors, Helmke uses the most formal language which lacks emotional appeal on the audience. He only provides statistics and explanations on every cause of gun violence listed in bullet points. He does this to be appropriate to his audience who mainly seeks a “professional journal..that serves academics, practitioners and students interested in the public sector and public sector management.. articles [that] identify and analyze current trends, provide a factual basis for decision-making, stimulate discussion and make the leading literature in the field available in an easily accessible format” (Public Administration Review).  Paul Helmke as a former president and chief executive officer of the Brady Center/Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence (Public Administration Review), would have a better understanding of the causes of growing gun violence in America which he tries to simplify in his article. He uses bullet points that includes a short phrase to vaguely describe a cause of gun violence and statistical evidence to support his claim to maintain his audience’s trust and achieve the producer’s purpose to have articles in an “easily accessible format” (Public Administration Review). He uses “if” sentence structure to emphasize hypothetical situations with positive descriptions of the world as “safer”, “reduce risks” if these problems were solved. Even if this article does not include personal statements affecting the audience’s emotions, it still achieves its purpose to effectively inform his audience about the issue in gun violence.  

Another effective way to reach a U.S citizen is through newspaper articles which is easily accessible by adults. In a newspaper article, “Everyday Toll of gun violence in America” by The New York Times, the author provides general information about the “national threat” (Allen) in a short paragraph structure. Composing a short article is easily understandable by readers, especially busy adults who might not have the time to sit and read scholarly articles about every nation’s issues, or have time to surf social media and look for problems in the society but have the power to impose a change in the society. This is an effective way than an author uses to grab a busy adult’s attention and effectively informing them about a situation that might affect their lives. The author of the article uses language such as “horrific”, “shatter” and “violate” in each sentence in a paragraph, which sends a negative tone to the audience emphasizing the horrors caused by gun violence. The author uses quotations, “’You can’t get people excited about gun control because there’s a domestic homicide, an isolated case somewhere in America…You can’t even get them excited because there are 45 of them a day.” (James Alan Fox) to enable the readers to explore the story in detail for a better understanding of the topic. This strategy can later cause an interest in a more in depth research and action on how to help solve gun violence.  

Gun violence in America affects everyone’s lives in a negative way regardless of their gender, age, social status and background and according to the statistics this issue is only getting worse. Authors use different rhetorical strategies to effectively and appropriately send similar messages to each of their intended audience and influence them into taking actions in making a safer America. An America where guns do not exist in the hands of the wrong people taking innocents’ lives, but is only used to battle the evils of the society.