Context Organization Response Team   Excellent Good Fair Needs Work Context Purpose: perceptive definition of central question, visual & verbal; scope is narrow, question consistent throughout X Substance Development: sufficient summary & insight; slides focused & yet fully developed; mix of verbal & visual information Sources: appropriate for topic, pertinent in placement, and accurately cited; quotations & data introduced correctly Organization Thesis: a thesis, early or late, that clearly states both sides of question & its mediation Introduction and Conclusion: overview of organization given at the beginning; conclusion sums up key points Relationship: relationship of ideas clear; coherent; visual cues guide us through presentation Style Style: clear & to-the-point text on-screen; same for data on-screen; the verbal component fits the visual Verbal performance: engaging presence, name given, neither too colloquial nor too formal; no mumbling Conventions & Correctness free from data errors free from word errors (SP, etc.) Response Team Response: Questions in class & written responses demonstrate understanding; response helps enhance presentation (rated “Excellent,” “Good,” or “Fair.”

Response to Ortiz Presentation Sarah Delhotal, Ryan Schneider, Greg Zwiers English 250 section VE Summary: Brian compared the firearms laws of New York with those of Texas trying to find a middle ground for the nation between them. Texas has the most lenient gun laws of all the states, while New York has the most strict. In Texas there is no waiting period following purchase, concealed carry is allowed, and any type of firearm can be purchased with no need for state registration. On the other hand in New York, a permit is required to buy a gun along with the waiting period for the permit, record of sale and registration of firearms is required, and only hand guns can be purchased in the state. A short part was said about the constitutional issue of changing the second amendment. Critique: All of Brian’s points were clearly presented and it was clearly based on a lot of research. There was a good balance between a conversational presentation and representing the information on the power point. His mediation basically admitted that the Systems in both places work well and should be implemented throughout the country. A potential weak point may be the open-endedness of the mediation, because Brian also said that leaving the issue up to the individual states might be the way to go. Brian did a very good job of handling the issues with the projector and gave his presentation well.

Gun Rights: Mediation between Texas and New York By: Brian Ortiz

Issue The issue with Gun Rights is that there is a wide variation of the laws that range from state to state. It becomes an issue when dealing with mediation between gun rights for a nation wide law.

Thesis The possibility of a national law to set a precedent for gun rights across America is a far-fetched theory but for one to consider an area’s population and crime rate, a possible mediation for gun rights can be met. States such as Texas and New York provided two textbook differences for state gun rights, using ideas from both, finding mediation between the two could possibly create the first national law for gun rights.

Texas Gun Rights State Requirements Rifles and Shotguns Handguns •Need Permit to purchase rifles and shotguns? No. •Need Registration of rifles and shotguns? No. •Need Licensing of owners of rifles and shotguns? No. •Need Permit to carry rifles and shotguns? No. Handguns •Need Permit to purchase handgun? No. •Need Registration of handguns? No. •Need Licensing of owners of handguns? No. •Need Permit to carry handguns? Yes.

New York Gun Rights State Requirements Handguns Rifles and Shotguns •Need Permit to purchase rifles and shotguns? No. • Need Registration of rifles and shotguns? No, except in New York City. •Need Licensing of owners of rifles and shotguns? No, except in New York City. •Need Permit to carry rifles and shotguns? No, except in New York City. Handguns •Need Permit to purchase handgun? Yes. •Need Registration of handguns? Yes. •Need Licensing of owners of handguns? Yes. •Need Permit to carry handguns? Yes.

Mediation? The possible mediation of national gun laws would have to consider both Texas, the most lenient state in regards to gun laws, and New York the most drastic. The mediation would come in with looking at the demographics of every state. Considering both Texas and New York Gun laws are made because of population and crime rate “Roughly 16,272 murders were committed in the United States during 2008. Of these, about 10,886 or 67% were committed with firearms” (Gun and Self Defense)

Mediation Cont. “Gun control advocates argue that not enough gun rights consider crime rate, they state that crime rate is an important factor when making gun rights” (NRA, Do Gun Control Crime?) These are important factors in making a mediation This mediation would either consider Texas “Style” or New York “Style” Gun rights looking at the demographics of each state. With this a possible national law could be made.

Constitutional Issue The constitutional issue that comes with the mediation that I proposed is that it directly affects the states rights to govern their own citizens “The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them, but only the state can govern its citizens in regards to the right to bear arms” -Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story of the John Marshall Court

Conclusion In conclusion, the possible mediation might far in the future but it can benefit all states The other possible solution is to leave everything alone, let the states decide how to govern their citizens instead of the federal government Gun Laws will be what ever our government, state or federal, makes them to be

Bibliography "Gun Control." Just Facts. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. <http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp>. "What Are the Gun Laws in New York?" About.com Crime / Punishment. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. <http://crime.about.com/od/gunlawsbystate/f/gunlaw_ny.htm>. "What Are the Gun Laws in Texas?" About.com Crime / Punishment. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. <http://crime.about.com/od/gunlawsbystate/a/gunlaws_tx.htm>. Reynolds, Glen H., and Don B. Kates. "THE SECOND AMENDMENT AND STATES' RIGHTS: ATHOUGHT EXPERIMENT." THE SECOND AMENDMENT AND STATES' RIGHTS: A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT. Sept. 2009. Web. 02 Apr. 2012. <http://www.guncite.com/journals/rk-exp.html>. Spitzer, Robert J. The Politics of Gun Control. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House, 1995. Print. "NRA: National Rifle Association." NRA. Web. 02 Apr. 2012. <http://home.nra.org/>.