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“There Is No Gun Problem, There Is Only a People Problem”

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“There Is No Gun Problem, There Is Only a People Problem” “There is no gun problem, there is only a people problem” Keywords in the American gun debate and their differing usage Ella Nordberg, 36768 Pro gradu-avhandling i engelska språket och litteraturen Handledare: Brita Wårvik Fakulteten för humaniora, psykologi och teologi Åbo Akademi 2020 ÅBO AKADEMI – FAKULTETEN FÖR HUMANIORA, PSYKOLOGI OCH TEOLOGI Abstrakt för avhandling pro gradu Ämne: Engelska språket och litteraturen Författare: Ella Nordberg Arbetets titel: “There is no gun problem, there is only a people problem”: Keywords in the American gun debate and their differing usage Handledare: Brita Wårvik Handledare: Abstrakt: The gun debate in the United States has been going on for decades. Whether or not new gun legislation should be implemented in the wake of repeated mass shootings and the public outrage that follows them is constantly debated, but little progress has been made in the way of lawmaking. This thesis explores the way that differing sides of the gun debate – those for gun control and those against – use different definitions and ways to present keywords that are frequently used in the gun debate. The study is an analysis of four speeches that were given by four different speakers in the wake of a school shooting in Parkland, Florida in 2018. The four selected speeches have been given by Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg, both students at the school, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre and Republican Senator Marco Rubio. The hypothesis is that people on opposing sides of the debate will speak about and use the keywords in the text differently. Theoretical approaches used in the analysis include critical discourse analysis and strategic maneuvering. The keywords have been preselected by me and include words such as gun, Second Amendment, United States and victims. The analysis of the speeches shows that the speakers differed the most when speaking about guns, laws and the United States. Guns were presented either as objects without any agency and therefore lacking any moral implications or as direct reasons for the mass murder of innocents. Current laws were presented as either fundamental for American society or were not mentioned at all, and future legislation was either referred to as desirable change, ineffective, or as oppression of the rights of American citizens and a slippery slope towards the complete banning of firearms. On the other hand, the ways in which each speaker referred to the victims of the shooting were very similar, and the name of the gunman was not mentioned in any of the speeches. Issues that would have been more difficult to deal with by each speaker, depending on the side of the debate they represent, were frequently left out of the speeches. Hogg and Gonzalez, for example, never mention what should happen to weapons already in circulation if gun ownership is banned, nor do they bring up their thoughts about the Second Amendment. LaPierre and Rubio, on the other hand, while vocal about the harms of introducing new gun legislation, fail to mention what should be done to prohibit criminals from having continued access to firearms. It would appear that there is no clear solution to the gun debate on the horizon. The different attitudes towards gun control that predominate the discussion are recycling the same arguments in each debate, which would appear to have brought the issue to a standstill. Whether or not the number of mass shootings will lessen in the coming years can only be determined by how actively the gun control activists fight for their cause, and how strongly gun owners and the NRA will continue to resist their efforts. Nyckelord: gun debate, Second Amendment, Constitution, freedom, speeches, framing, strategic maneuvering Datum: 31.3.2020 Sidoantal: 85 Abstraktet godkänt som mognadsprov: Ella Nordberg Table of Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 2. The Gun Culture ................................................................................................... 2 2.1. The Second Amendment .............................................................................. 2 2.2. The Debate ................................................................................................... 4 2.3. Gun Control .................................................................................................. 5 2.3.1. Supporters .............................................................................................. 5 2.3.2. Opposers ................................................................................................. 6 2.3.3. The National Rifle Association .............................................................. 7 3. School Shootings in America ............................................................................... 9 3.1. The Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting .......................................... 10 4. Discourse Analysis ............................................................................................. 11 4.1. Framing ...................................................................................................... 12 4.2. Strategic Maneuvering .................................................................................... 14 5. Methods and Materials ........................................................................................... 16 5.1. Any word for firearm: gun/firearm/weapon/arms ...................................... 17 5.2. Words relating to current gun legislation: The Second Amendment, Constitution ............................................................................................................ 18 5.3. Words relating to potential gun legislation: law/control/regulation/ban/legislation ................................................................... 19 5.4. America(n), United States .......................................................................... 19 5.5. freedom/right(s) and safe(ty)/protect(ion) .................................................. 20 5.6. victims and perpetrator .............................................................................. 20 5.7. we/us and they/them .................................................................................... 21 6. Speeches.............................................................................................................. 21 6.1. Emma Gonzalez ......................................................................................... 21 6.1.1. gun/weapon/firearm/arms .................................................................... 21 6.1.2. Second Amendment, Constitution ........................................................ 22 6.1.3. law/control/regulation/ban/legislation ................................................ 23 6.1.4. America(n)/United States ..................................................................... 24 6.1.5. victims and perpetrator ........................................................................ 24 6.1.6. freedom/right(s) and safe(ty)/protect(ion)............................................ 25 6.1.7. we/us & they/them ................................................................................ 26 6.2. David Hogg ................................................................................................ 28 Ella Nordberg 6.2.1. gun/weapon/firearm/arms .................................................................... 28 6.2.2. Second Amendment, Constitution ........................................................ 29 6.2.3. law/control/regulation/ban/legislation ................................................ 29 6.2.4. America(n)/United States ..................................................................... 29 6.2.5. victims and perpetrator ........................................................................ 30 6.2.6. freedom/right(s) and safe(ty)/protect(ion)............................................ 30 6.2.7. we/us and they/them ............................................................................. 31 6.3. Wayne LaPierre .......................................................................................... 32 6.3.1. gun/weapon/firearm/arms .................................................................... 32 6.3.2. Second Amendment, Constitution ........................................................ 34 6.3.3. law/control/regulation/ban/legislation ................................................ 35 6.3.4. America(n)/United States ..................................................................... 37 6.3.5. victims and perpetrator ........................................................................ 38 6.3.6. freedom/right(s) and safe(ty)/protect(ion)............................................ 39 6.3.7. we/us and they/them ............................................................................. 41 6.4. Marco Rubio ............................................................................................... 43 6.4.1. gun/weapon/firearm/arms .................................................................... 44 6.4.2. Second Amendment, Constitution ........................................................ 45 6.4.3. law/control/regulation/ban/legislation ................................................ 45 6.4.4. America(n)/United States ..................................................................... 46 6.4.5. victims and perpetrator ........................................................................ 47 6.4.6. freedom/right(s) and safe(ty)/protect(ion)
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