Writer claims essay samples illustrate gun violence problem

AP Photo/Martha Irvine

Gun violence, as it’s popularly known, touches a lot of lives. We have no problem accepting this idea because when you look at the total number of lives taken with a firearm each year, it’s not difficult to imagine at all.

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But some want to use those touched as some kind of a cudgel to beat the rest of us with.

Which is why I’m infuriated with a piece I came across seeking to do just that.

Exposure to gun violence, gun homicides, and non-fatal shootings affects millions of lives and intensifies racial inequities – a major problem that has been affecting the country for centuries. Black and Latin youth are among the minority groups that are greatly affected by youth gun violence. This is because of the policies that have led to the creation of segregated neighborhoods and underinvesting of these communities. Firearms in college have had a major impact on the mental well-being of young people. When study institutions and neighborhoods are common grounds for gun violence, many generations will be negatively impacted.

Effects of gun violence on the youth in America

You need to read free essay examples online on gun control to see how the effects extend beyond individuals who are shot. Youth gun violence statistics show that close to three million young people witness shootings every year. By reading collected gun control argumentative essays, you’ll realize that more than 3500 young people aged between 0 to 19 are killed and 15000 are wounded in a year due to gun violence. This affects how they think and behave. Some break down while others live in fear of the unknown. Accessing an argumentative essay like gun control essay and pro gun control essay will help you find some the following facts that have been unearthed by researchers:

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I’ll spare you the “findings.”

Why? Because it’s nonsense.

Look, students are tasked with writing argumentative essays every year, but we don’t know the criteria surrounding those essays. Were they specifically instructed to use their own life experiences to write an argumentative essay, or were they specifically told to write such an essay on gun violence and gun control?

Nothing at Gradesfixer seems to tell you one way or another, and that’s a huge and important point.

The purpose of an argumentative essay is to try and sway the reader one way or another. Sometimes, that means some creative fiction is more useful than personal anecdotes. So, the writer might well opt to recount a story that never happened.

It’s possible that they know enough people who have been touched they could draw on that experience, or it’s also likely they did a Google search and read the accounts already out there and consolidated those into their own “experience” for the essay.

Don’t tell me kids don’t lie about stuff. I’m a parent. I know better.

And Gradesfixer doesn’t seem to particularly care. It’s a service meant to help people write better essays, not tell the honest truth or even necessarily provide an unbiased accounting. I mean, the link in the quoted section above provides a list of gun control essays, all seeking to address gun violence, but one is about crafting a speech on the subject to deliver to Parliament.

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Um…what does that have to do with gun violence in the United States?

Oh yeah, nothing.

So yeah, I have serious doubts that anything this effort found should be taken as anything but what it is: a look at what school kids write. There’s nothing more to it.

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