Posted: 4/19/2005 3:58:09 PM EDT
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In my communications class for our last speech, we get to do a non standard speech about anything we want. I of course opted to do a pro-gun speech. My plan is to give them a quiz/SCHOOL them in gun laws, statistics, and reality. I plan to put up pictures of an MG, SBR, AOW, suppressed pistol, AR, and possibly AR pistol, and ask them which are legal to own. (Which of course they all are  )Then I plan to give a breakdown of the ramifications of owning each weapon and how many people each year are killed by them in relation to something simple - like car accidents or drownings or something. Some questions - am I correct in saying that no civilian has ever been killed by a civilian MG owner, just a couple cops that went psycho? Does anybody know if anyone has ever been killed with a legally owned SBR, AOW, or suppressed firearm? I am open to any suggestions or advice you have. The speech can be 10 minutes, and the quiz portion probably won't take too long. P.S. I go to Loyola Chicago, my professor is in Greenpeace, and my whole class leans ever so slightly to the left 
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more guns less crime is a good start. I would hit the big points, CCW causes violent crime to generally drop, Criminals will always get weapons prohibition showed that making something illegal just creates a black market. firearms are used 1 million times a year to prevent crimes. |
IIRC in Atlanta about 10 years or so ago a class III dealer had been broken into a couple times, no MGs were taken because of how they were kept in a safe. The guy waited and basically lived in his shop and ended up ambushing three "democrats" with his M-16. I believe 2 were killed instantly and the 3rd was captured by police later that night. YUou may need to look it up for more detail but at least this is a starting point for you. 
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+1 If I recall correctly, something like 170,000,000 people were murdered by their own government during the 20th century (in different nations of course). Each of the slaughters was preceded by gun control laws and gun confiscation. Also, you might want to mention the Warsaw uprising. 12 or 13 Jews in the Warsaw ghetto held off the SS for a couple of weeks with a few rifles and a couple of handguns. |
go to Guncite www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcfullau.html some of my essays www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=14&t=233638 www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=14&t=228008 |
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Depending on the crowd your speaking to( I assume white republicans, explain that most gun deaths occur in minoroty areas) their is no better source than the D.O.J. facts and stats don't lie. ETA: Most gun control advocates are middle class-wealthy whites. |
| Had a few that complained about the proliferation of "assault weapons" in the late eighties that caused the gov't. to step in.....pointed out that Colt was selling an AR15 variant commercially before the Beatles played on Ed Sullivan, so where was the carnage all these years? |
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You need facts, not internet rumors. If anyone questions your facts afterwards, you need to be able to provide sources. Here's an excellent fact sheet, in PDF file format: GunFacts 4.0 |
HOLY MOTHER that is an awesome site. I could teach a 3 credit hour class for a semester from that alone. Thanks a ton Skibane. |
That is a really good like, nice job. |
If you call and want info you will get it. But may I ask why you have held off joining the NRA? There are a few places you can go online, some have already been mentioned. One that hasnt is www.johnrlott.com/. John was a very strong supporter of grabbing guns and decided to do a statistical analisis to prove that guns are bad and evil. He changed his own mind and is now one of the strongest supporters of the Association. Both his books, and sadly I havent had time to read either yet, are incredable hard numbers support of owning guns. I will look up the ILAs 800 line (I think I have that on my cheet sheet at work) and post that up. Quick disclaimer, my spelling sucks. Especially before my first cup of coffee. |
My plan is to shock/awe them by showing that the most un-pc and "deadly" weapons are in fact the least dangerous in real life, and possibly to open their eyes to the fact that gun laws don't do jack. |
Great plan, I was just trying to point out that there are "good" and "bad" ways to tell people their "core" beliefs are Bu11$h!t  |
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I tried giving a T2A speech in college, and it had some problems due to the audience. Here are some hints for you: 1: Keep it simple stupid. I mean real stupid. People don't know, and don't want to know, about the specifics of the assault weapon ban. They don't want to hear technical details about flash supressors or collapsable stocks. 2: Learn to walk before you try to run. Don't bother trying to convice anyone that machine guns should be less regulated or how no one has ever been killed by a .50. To average joe college student, these are WMD's and no amount of statistics will change their minds. 3: Stick with basic, one-liner concepts, and then reinforce them through the speech. Concepts such as gun laws only affect law abiding people, and are thus meaningless. Or that the 2nd amendment is about individual rights, not state militias, etc. Y our target audience will most likely be hostile. A key point that I made in my speech, that I think did hit the audience like a ton of bricks, was the use of analogies such as 'banning guns because someone committed a crime with one would be like banning corvettes because someone drove wrecklessly'. Use simple, basic, logical arguments. don't get tied up in quotes, facts, or statistics. Oh yeah, here is a really good pro T2A website that has lots of poster-esque pics and is targeted towards non-pro-gunners. There are a lot of good basic concepts from there you can use: www.a-human-right.com/ |
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Thank you to everyone who gave me ideas. The final product wasn't as staunchly pro-gun as I would have liked it, but the professor was looking for more entertaining and introspective speeches than highly motivated political speeches. So I started it off by saying that there is a product that is both a menace/plague to American streets, gave some apalling stats (4 children died a day in 2003 as a direct result), and told them all it was CARS. and that we, as a society, need CAR CONTROL. I called for waiting periods. child safety locks, background checks/closing of the car show loophole, and possession/performance restrictions. It was actually pretty funny. Then at the end I told them that if for every time I said "car" if it were replace w/ "gun" the argument somehow becomes logical/socially acceptable. The real kicker was my last quote. I'd like to think I'm the first one to say it, but somebody probably already has it copywrighted: "Values that are held blindly and never challenged have little value at all" in reference to how people hold gun control ideas blindly. |