The text “Why I picked up a gun” is written by Tiffany Hyatt in May 13, 2003. In the year 2001 Tiffany Hyatt drove past a beautiful little house. The house was surrounded by crime scene tape. This made Tiffany think about how she was raped and beaten by men who are commissioned police officers. In the text she talks about how every woman should be able to carry a gun. When Tiffany was younger she had a gun for sport, but after her assault she thought that it was important that everyone learns how to use it. It often takes a traumatic event to make most women consider carrying a gun. This is often because, women are taught that they are protected by others, as men and police officers. This means that women don’t think that they need a gun. She thinks that if you should have a gun you need to be educated, trained and ready to defend your whole family. She wrote “I would make sure that little girls were taught self-defense before sex education in school”. That is how important she thinks self-defense is. However she thinks that women should not only have a gun. They should carry a mace, learn physical self-defense skills, and always be aware of their surroundings, like other everyday items can be used as weapons and so on. Her motto is “it is better to have a gun and never need it, than to need a gun and not have it”. 2)
In “why I picked up a gun” Tiffany argues that every woman should have a gun, because then families can prevent stories like hers. She is not arguing for her case by using claims and data, but she is mainly referring back to her own story about how she was raped. Her story is not described down to every detail but you still get the idea that it was horrible. In the beginning of the story she claims that she didn’t worry about the crime because nothing really bad ever happened in that part of town. Here she has a claim, data and a warrant. Claim: She didn’t worry too much about the crime.
Data: Nothing “really bad” ever happened in that part of town. Warrant: Because nothing really bad ever happened she didn’t have to worry.
Tiffany claims that “Owning a gun can give you advantage over assailant” but her argumentation is reasoned arguments because she doesn’t have data to her claims. Most of her claims refers back to “if you don’t have a gun, your children/husband/friends will get beaten up or get raped”. A lot in her text is just information because there is a claim but often no data, for example: “We as women are often taught that there will always be someone there to protect us, but it is far from reality.” Or She claims that “it often takes a traumatic event to make most women even consider carrying a handgun” and again she doesn’t have any data to her claim. She is appealing to family’s emotions by using pathos for example when she is implying to a situation where children are in a dangers environment and how it is our duty to take care of children.
“I say WAKE UP LADIES! Arming yourself is your constitutional right” When she is using capital letters, it makes you believe that she is strong and knows what she is talking about. She sounds like she has authority. When she uses pronouns as, we and you, it feels like she is talking to a lot of people and you get the sense that she is speaking directly to you and it could easily be a part of someone’s election speech. She uses logos to argue for her case for example when she explains that she worked in two hospitals it makes her seem clever and trustworthy. 3)
In the text tiffany claims that if you want a gun you should get educated in how to use a gun. I disagree on that you should have a gun at home unless that it is for sport, but I think that if you really need to have a gun you should learn how to use it properly. I like that she doesn’t think that guns are the only way to protect yourselves but she gives other examples like learn how to use self-defense or carry a mace. She is implying that it often takes a traumatic event to make people want guns. When someone experiences a family member or friend exposed for an assault, more and more people get a gun. When a big amount of people get a gun, other people get scared because they don’t have and gun and can’t protect themselves. This means that more and more people get guns because they are scared. This is a big problem in America and I would prefer that you didn’t have a gun at all. She says in the text that women are often taught that there will always be someone to protect them. I disagree on that, I think that in this modern community women are taking care of themselves. My parents are separated, but both of them still taught me to be independent and to take care of myself. Men and women are equal. We protect our family at home, at work and out in the world.
