Goodman 1 Mi’chaela Goodman Professor Key ENGL 1301 27 April 2022 How Does Gun Violence Impact Society Gun violence has always been a major issue within the U.S., but no one knows how much of an impact it has on one’s society or community. For example, I lost my little brother to gun violence and everyone within our community was affected by it, especially my family. It was hard to get by as days went on and I felt like I lost my other half or best friend considering that we were very close. Researching this topic is important because gun violence is the reason people are losing loved ones everywhere and everyday. I wanted to know the legal laws about guns, people it affects, and different definitions for it. I used guns, people affected by gun violence, death by guns, injured by guns, etc as some search terms. I was unsure about how many people it will affect and how many people will die by it. I started off by just looking up “how does gun violence impact society” and from there I got at least 5 to 6 sources on how, who, and where gun violence impacts society. One site in particular gave me the most accurate statistics on how many people have died by guns, whether it be suicide,murder, mass shootings, etc. Honestly, all the sites I have give different points of view for how it affects people. Also, with me having personal experience on how it affects someone considering that I lost my little brother to a gun, I feel like I don’t have any more Goodman 2 questions about this topic. Next, I started noting important points or context about who, how, and where gun violence impacts society. CWLA(Child Welfare League of America) is a strong source because it shows that they actually care and know how gun violence is affecting communities, not just a certain age group in these communities. My first impression on this source is I thought it was going to be about how gun violence affects the youth, but as I started reading more it talks about it affecting more than just children. I chose this source because they put more action into doing something about gun violence. Yes this source is as strong as I thought it would be. I believe it is trustworthy because it goes in depth about those affected by gun violence the most. Even though it does talk about others being affected, it mainly focuses on children and youth in different communities. Being that it mainly focuses on children does not make it an unreliable source because it still talks about gun violence affecting a community as a whole. This would be source # 3 on my list because it goes thoroughly into detail about the effect gun violence has on children. The value it has is bringing an insight on how people younger than me are more affected than me. I would consider “Effects of Gun Violence” to be an “ok” source because it really does not go into detail that much. My first impression of this source is it is not a very lengthy source like the others I have. I chose this source because I thought it would have more statistical insight on the effects of gun violence. No this source is not as strong as I thought it would be. Yes it is a trustworthy source because it talks about the effect on people in 2015, 2017, and 2016. The bias of this source is it focuses more black communities which does not make it an unreliable source just because the majority of black communities are affected. This source would be # 5 because it does not thoroughly go into detail. Goodman 3 Yes, “EFSGV” is a strong source because it has more of a statistical insight of how gun violence affects a community. My first impression of this source is how useful this source could be. I chose this source because of what EFSGV stands for which is Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence. I believe it is a strong source because of the percentage of who gun violence is affecting, but I wish it was more up to date. I believe this source is trustworthy because of the statistical insight over past years. I did not see any bias in this source and I would this source as # 1 on my list because it is more useful than my other sources. The value it brings is the percentage of who or how many are affected by gun violence. “League of Women Voters of the St. Petersburg Area” does not work as a strong source because it did not provide enough information. My first impression of this source is disappointment because I actually thought it would be a strong source. No it is not as strong as I thought it would be. I did not see any bias in this source. This would be source # 6 on my list because of the lack of information and it does not bring any value to my research. I believe “Mental Health America” is a strong source because it focuses on how gun violence affects people mentally. My first impression of this source is shock because I did not think how it could affect people mentally. I chose this source because it caught my attention more than the other sources have. Yes this source is as strong as I thought it would be. I believe this source is trustworthy because it talks about how gun violence has affected people to where it will lead to them having a mental illness. The bias is who becomes affected mentally by gun violence which does not make this an unreliable source because no one really knows how people take exposure to gun violence mentally. This source would be # 2 on my list because it gives more of a mental point of view. The value this source has is who becomes affected mentally. Goodman 4 “Gun Violence Archive” is an “ok” source because it does not explain anything, just shows numbers of who and how many died by gun violence. My first impression of this source is that statistically this source is very useful. I chose this source because of how accurate and up to date it is. No, it is not as strong as I thought it would be. I believe this source is trustworthy because of how up to date it is. I do not see any bias in this source whatsoever and this source would be # 4 on my list because it only has a statistical insight on gun violence. The value it brings to my research is if I wanted to put a graph or table in my research I could use the website’s graph. Works Cited Collins, Julie, and Emily Swoveland. “The Impact of Gun Violence on Children, Families, & Communities.” CWLA, CWLA https://www.cwla.org/the-impact-of-gunviolence-on-children-families-communities/, 04 May 2022 “Community Gun Violence.” The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence, The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence, 15 Oct. 2021, https://efsgv.org/learn/type-ofgun-violence/community-gun-violence/. “Effects of Gun Violence.” Brady, Brady, https://www.bradyunited.org/issue/effects-ofgun-violence, 04 May 2022 “Gun Deaths, Violence and Mental Health.” Mental Health America, Mental Health America, https://www.mhanational.org/gun-deaths-violence-and-mental-health. “Gun Violence Archive.” Gun Violence Archive, Gun Violence Archive, https:// www.gunviolencearchive.org/, 04 May 2022 Goodman 5 “Impact of Gun Violence.” LWVSPA, LWVSPA, 30 Jan. 2021, https://lwvspa.org/ impact-of-gun-violence/, 04 May 2022
