Speaking Outline (Full Text Follows)

¶ … Speaking Outline (Full text follows)

Attention Step:

One sunny day in March, at a gun store in Virginia, a young man named Cho Seung-hui walked into a gun shop. Despite having extensive documentation of mental difficulties at his college, Cho easily purchased what he desired. The end result? 33 dead on the campus of Virginia Tech.

Rapport Step:

Receipt Glock 9 mm pistol. Cho had committed no crime

Credibility Step:

According to CBS News, the gunman held eligible to buy a handgun ("More Gun Control? Don't Hold Your Breath," CBS News, 2007).

Preview Step: The time has come, after the tragedies of Virginia Tech and Columbine to create a safer society by making guns less available and more difficult to obtain in America.

Body

Describe the situation

Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistol available only to police in virtually every other country, ("America's tragedy," the Economist, 2007)

Political motive Democrats lost the House of Representatives in 1994 shortly after passing an assault-weapons ban. ("America's tragedy," the Economist, 2007)

Transition) -- but the sanctity of life, not the sanctity of political advancement must determine the laws of the land

B. Evaluate the situation as a problem

1. There are 240 million guns in America, most handguns

2. Powerful guns made killing easer ("America's tragedy," the Economist, 2007). Need for checks.

Transition) 33 people might still be alive today, if it were not for this nation's liberal background check laws, and its willingness to allow its citizens, and non-citizens with Green Cards like Cho to buy almost any kind of weapon, over the counter like a candy bar.

C. Propose a solution

1. The assault-weapons ban must renewed, Can buy the weapon for a cost at less than a month's groceries -- only $379.99 ("America's tragedy," the Economist, 2007)

2. Also, there should be a waiting period before ANYONE can purchase a weapon.

Transition) Why are Americans so afraid to take the guns out of the hands of potential madmen -- is waiting that hard to buy a rifle? Is an automatic weapon really necessary for a civilian to have in the home?

Argue for the solution

Second Amendment as a defense, but the full wording of the speech is as thus: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." The purpose of the Amendment is to allow the army to have firepower, not civilians.

III. Conclusion

A. Cowardly American Politicians

B. Review

For the sake of the Virginia Tech victims and the future safety of the nation.

C. Memorable Closing:

More than any phrase, memorable quote, or image, let me leave you with these statistics: 14,000 routine killings committed in 2005 with guns, to which must be added 16,000 suicides by firearm and 650 fatal accidents. The NRA says that 'guns don't kill, people kill.' Perhaps this is true, but guns certainly make it much, much easier ("America's tragedy," the Economist, 2007).

Full text of speech

General Subject: Gun Control

Specific Subject: Problem/Solution

General Purpose: To persuade my audience to support the strengthening of gun control laws

Specific Audience-centered Purpose: After hearing my speech, members of the audience will support the passage of gun control laws, including stricter background checks and limits upon the type of weapons that can be purchased by civilians.

I. Introduction

A. Attention Step:

One sunny day in March, at a gun store in Virginia, a young man named Cho Seung-hui walked into a gun shop. Despite having extensive documentation of mental difficulties at his college, Cho easily purchased what he desired. The end result? 33 dead on the campus of Virginia Tech.

B. Rapport Step:

After the tragedy, the police looked in the gunman's backpack, an ordinary backpack just like you or I might possess. And what did they find? A perfectly legitimate sales receipt for all of the weapons used to commit these murders, a receipt for a March purchase of a Glock 9 mm pistol. Cho had committed no crime, until he pulled the trigger that fateful day.

C. Credibility Step:

According to CBS News, the gunman held a green card, meaning he was a legal, permanent resident, federal officials said. That meant he was eligible to buy a handgun unless he had been convicted of a felony, which he was not, although that made little difference to his victims -- and their families ("More Gun Control? Don't Hold Your Breath," CBS News, 2007).