Forensics team debates gun control

The Governors State University Forensics Team tackled the issue of gun control and gun owners' rights during a panel discussion April 4.

This event was part of the Enough is Enough Campaign to curtail societal violence.  The campaign works to create a new paradigm for peace and safety on the nation's campuses, by addressing the societal violence that has contributed to unprecedented violence in some of the very places our students should feel most safe.

The discussion, called Communicating Possibilities: Reframing the Gun Debate and Finding Common Ground, was moderated by adjunct Communications Professor Arness Krause, who is the forensics team coach.  The featured panelists were: Assistant Professor of Communications Studies Dr. David Rhea; Assistant Professor of History Dr. David Golland; Associate Professor of Political Justice Studies Dr. Donald Culverson; and Forensics Team Graduate Assistant Coach Etta Oben.

Dr. David Golland led off the discussion by giving a brief history on the evolution of guns and how they were used in North America's earliest wars, such as The Civil War. 

"The idea that you can take a single piece of machinery, with an extended magazine...with over 20 bullets and just pull your finger down and the thing can start spraying bullets, that's not what the Founders had in mind when they wrote the Second Amendment," Golland said. 

Etta Oben spoke on gun control from a communications perspective.  He referred to an article that provided ways in which people can explore other options rather than becoming deadlocked in the discussion of gun control.  The strategy is called 'socially ordered termination.'  It "is basically reaching multiple means so that all or at least most people's values are respected and honored." 

He also spoke of the AGS or Americans for Gun Safety, which is a large group of Republicans who want to see that the gun issue is resolved so that more people are speaking about the issue, that no one is actually polarized on the two sides of the issue.

Dr. David Rhea spoke about the social identity that gun owners have.  "When people have this sense of identity about themselves, you know it's based upon a sense of belonging, and so when that is challenged, one's self-esteem also feels challenged," Rhea said. "There is this continual stream of media that talks about how we really have to curb, we really have to end this madness.  It creates a polarizing effect on these people, and it makes them want to dig in even more."

He also spoke about the issue of fear.  "There are many gun owners that would say, 'I'm protecting against the worst case scenario.  What if someone's in my home, they got a gun, they're coming after my life, and the cops are 15 minutes away. What do I do?'  I don't have 15 minutes to wait for this person, but if I had a gun, I could take care of it," said Rhea.

After the panel discussion, audience members were invited to ask questions of the panel, adding their involvement to the conversation. 

One concerned female audience member wanted to know, "Why are we the ones that are being gone after? Why are we becoming the straw men instead of going after the violence that's already occurring that doesn't count for the statistics?" 

Oben answered, "There's still more that needs to be examined.  I think that it's not up to just governments; it's not just up to other people. It's up to us to actually go out and do our research to understand one, where the statistics are coming from? Two, what those statistics can be broken down so that we can understand in a larger perspective, why a certain amount of violence is occurring."

Oben added, "We as the people of the United States have to use our education to bring about a deliberate discussion so that all of us are taken into account."