Ben Sorensen

Guns Don’t Kill, People Do

        

English 1A MWF 9-9:50

           

The debate on gun control is a big issue in our nation and it’s even worse here in California. The majority of California’s population is liberal, and liberals tend to be in favor of gun control. I am very one-sided when it comes to this topic, and I feel that gun control should be very limited and relaxed. I have created a 3D object to convey my view that guns aren’t the problem; it’s the people behind the weapon that are the issue.

            My object that I have constructed is a pyramid made out of foam poster board. I like to call it the, “Pyramid of Reality” as is written on the flag at the top of it. When one thinks of a pyramid, they think that the majority of the object is at the bottom or the base, and it tapers off as you go up. You may be asking yourself what a pyramid has to do with gun control; well the main point that I am making is that guns don’t kill; people kill. Stats show that in 2011, drunk drivers killed twelve thousand people. This is the bottom level, or base level of the pyramid considering that it has the most casualties. Knives killed six hundred and fifty people in 2011, and that is the level directly above the drunk driving. Blunt objects such as a hammer killed four hundred and ninety six people; this belongs directly above the knife. To top the pyramid, assault rifles killed only three hundred and twenty three people. This goes on the top because it takes up the smallest amount of the pyramid, meaning that it has the lowest number of deaths among the rest of the objects.

            I understand that I couldn’t just write in “drunk driving” or “knives” directly on the poster board as the would only display mediocre and lazy work. I also understood that a three dimensional pyramid has 4 different faces to it. It would look tacky to leave one of those faces blank so each of them had to contribute to the goal of conveying my message. The first face has a three dimensional representation of each object. For instance at the top, I have created a play dough version of an AR 15 and used black play dough to make it look more realistic. I then created the hammer out of the play dough as well. The hammer has and orange handle with a black head. Then for the knife, I cut two knife shapes out of a tin can; one of them is a dagger and the other is more of a chefs knife.  The bottom of the pyramid displays the drunk driving category. I have carefully constructed a car out of red and yellow play dough mixed up. I also used black play dough for the tires of the car. Then I used green play dough to make a beer bottle and mounted that next to the car.    

The second face of the pyramid has the number of deaths that each instance has caused. These numbers are written in the corresponding positions as the first face. The third face has each of the names written in for the cause of death. This also is written in the corresponding positions on the pyramid. The fourth and final face has the words “Guns don’t kill, People do” written on it. These words will be written in big black writing. To divide the levels of the pyramid, I will draw red and blue lines around it. The red and blue demonstrates patriotism and trust in our country. These are two staples that this nation was built upon and it would be senseless to strip people of their rights to protect themselves with firearms.

            My object should be displayed everywhere across America, especially in areas of high liberal concentration. Liberals are definitely my target audience, as I want to try and persuade them that law-abiding citizens need firearms. My goal is to inform pro gun control individuals that when we prohibit the use of firearms, we are only stripping them form trustworthy citizens. Just because they are made illegal doesn’t mean that a criminal will go to all costs to illegally obtain one. If a criminal has intent to kill, then he or she will do so. I don’t think that they would be worried about breaking the rule of obtaining a firearm.

            Our last assignment was focused on different genres of text. We had to analyze an academic journal, a visual text, and then a third genre of our choice. The artifact that I have created can easily relate to any of those three genres. For instance each of those texts had one purpose, and that was to get a point across. I believe that my three-dimensional object most certainly gets a specific point across; that point being that gun control should be limited. Each of the texts from the last assignment had a target audience. My three-dimensional object also has a target audience; being liberals.

            This assignment was very difficult and time consuming, yet fun, interesting and challenging. I was forced to go outside of my comfort zone and get artistic with something. I believe that I gave full effort in constructing this piece not only to get a good grade, but because it deals with a topic that I am very passionate about. I wanted to creatively get my point across, as well as inform others about the reality of the topic.