Outline
Thesis: Handguns should be outlawed with the exception of law enforcement
purposes.
I. Why Not Real Gun Control?
A. Handguns are too easily accessible to America's youth.
II. Kids: A Deadly Force.
A. Kids are killing each other all across America.
III. A Look At The Brady Bill
IV. The Economics of Crime.
A. Americans are spending too much money each year to protect themselves.
V. Charts and Figures.
A. Where Americans are spending all their money on protection.
Handgun Control in the United States
Handguns should be outlawed in the United States with the exception of law enforcement
purposes. Two weeks before Christmas Day, 1987, 17 year-old Kendall Merriweather was shot
and killed a few blocks from his high school in southeast Washington, D.C. Police arrested two
teenage students who they believe killed Merriweather while trying to steal his 'boom box' radio.
A few days earlier, in Pasadena, Texas, a 14-year-old eight grader at Deepwater Junior
High School whipped a snub-nosed .38
United States
Congress House
Congress standing to receive Wilson (LOC)out of his jacket and held the assistant principal hostage
for two hours. Police said the boy was distraught over his parents' recent separation. (Stanza 19)
These were not isolated incidents. All across America, the number of kids using- and being
harmed by-guns is rising at an alarming rate. According to the U.S. Department of Justice,
more than 27,000 youths between 12 and 15 were handgun victims in 1985, up from an average
of 16,500 for each of the previous years (Stanza 19). The increase in gun use often stems from
urban crack trade. Many crack gangs have more firepower than a small police department.
Whatever the cause, authorities are finding the use of handguns by youngsters an extremely diff-
icult trend to stop ( Stanza 19). As long as pistols are as easily accessible as...