An American Pleasure: Exploring Guns

Hypothesis: Guns are a big topic in our nation today. With all of the recent events that have happened the government believes that taking guns out of the hands of everyone is the answer. I know that goes against our rights protected by the constitution’s second amendment. I hope by giving a survey I made I will be able to see how people feel about guns and how they feel they can be kept safer. I hope to find this out b asking questions that ask how many guns they have, how they keep them, and how they believe they can be safer. I believe that the way people keep their guns is the big problem. I think that if guns are sold with gun locks and they are mandated to be kept on the gun when the gun is not in use. I believe this will cut some of the violence that we have today. Context: My target audience is everyday Americans because they are the ones that are affected the most by guns in America. I believed that these people would be best to survey because many Americans have or have been effected by guns and they have a lot to say about guns and how they feel. I discovered that most of the people surveyed believe that if gun locks are sold with the gun and mandated to be kept on them when not in use, it would help with gun violence by limiting access. Also they feel that background checks should be ran at gun shows because that is where most illegal guns come in and are bought. I believe that my results are valid because I did survey everyday Americans and found out how they feel about guns. I do not believe that I gave any biased or skewed questions to lead them to an answer. Results Question Analysis How do you feel about guns? 5 people were against them or did not like them 12 people like them, are for them or believe they are ok with proper training 3 people have relatively no opinion about them I believe people responded the way they did because of past experiences or how they were raised. Do you like to shoot recreationally? 8 people say yes 11 people say no 1 person did not answer This question was only somewhat important. This gave me an idea about how people really think about guns. If they answer yes then I knew they liked them but answering no let me know that they were more of a they don’t mind guns but they don’t like them. Check all that apply: I have _____ guns at home 12 people said they had 0-1 6 people said they had 2-3 2 people said they had 4-5 3 people said they had 6-7 1 person said they had 6+ This question gave me a good idea of how many guns people have. Knowing this will give me a better idea of what people know about guns and how they feel about them On a range of 1 to 10, one being least and ten being greatest, how important is gun control to you? Most people believe that gun control is a 7 or 8 on the importance scale. This tells me that not everyone believes that taking guns away from people there will be a big problem. People realize that something needs to be done but they don’t want them taken away. Do you think guns would be safer if they were required to be kept in a gun safe or with a gun lock on them? 15 people said yes 5 people said no I believe that people think if we limit the access to guns it will limit gun violence in the since that people cannot get their hands on it as easy. But the people that said no think it will limit how well people can defend them self and their property. Guns should be kept A. out in the open B. in a non-locking container or cabinet C. in a locking container or cabinet D. in a gun safe 2 people said out in the open 0 people said in a container ( non-locking ) 4 people said in a container ( locking ) 14 people said in a gun safe I think that the 2 people that said out in the open either were not taking this survey seriously or they believe that the presents of a gun is enough to scare people not to mess with them. The other people believe that again limiting access to a gun will limit the violence. Guns should be kept A. loaded B. un loaded C. loaded with a lock D. unloaded with a lock This question gave me an idea of how people felt that guns should be kept. I learned that most people believe that there should be a lock kept on them. They differ in if they believe they believe they should be kept loaded or not. Should stricter back ground checks be mandated for gun buyers? I believe that this question gave me some incite to how people feel about back ground checks and how effective they are. Do you believe gun shows should be required to run back ground checks? I believe that this question gave me incite to how people feel about buying guns. It is a little known fact that back ground checks are not ran at gun shows so anyone, even convicted felons, can buy guns. I believe that the 17 people that answered yes believe that if back ground checks are ran then access will again be limited. Data Analysis My first finding is that most people think that if we limit the access to guns then gun violence will be cut down. Most people think that just the access to a gun will give someone the courage to use it, but if you limit the access to a gun people will be less willing to use a gun. My second finding is people either approve or disapprove of guns. Most people aren’t on the fence about guns; they have formed their opinion and are sticking with it. I had one person tell me that they did not like it and one person tell me that we should arm everyone. My third finding is most people believe that a stricter background would help, and running back ground checks at gun shows would also limit gun access which intern will limit violence. Conclusion I was correct in my hypothesis. I thought that people would think that if we limit the access to guns then it would help with the violence. I expected everyone to take the topic serious since it is a big topic in our nation but there were a couple that answered very immature, for example I got a response that we should “arm the children”. Based on my data people believe that limiting the access to guns will limit the violence caused by the people using them Follow Up I would like to stay in the same line. My research is based off of peoples feeling and what they think. Logically it would be the why question, why do people use guns to kill people. I have not changed my questions because I feel that they are the best questions possible