TOW #2 New York Times Article on Navy Yard Shooting

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/us/obama-to-attend-memorial-service-for-victims-of-navy-yard-shooting.html?hp&_r=0

"Obama to Attend Memorial Service for Victims of Navy Yard Shooting"

            This article was written for the New York Times by journalist Michael D Shear. Shear is a white house correspondent for the New York Times, and has also  for the Washington Post. He this article as a response to the shooting at the Navy Yard. He announces that there will be a memorial service for the victims this coming Sunday, and that the Obamas will be attending to honor the victims. While Shear’s explicit purpose is to report the news of the memorial service, the article goes on with a more implicit purpose: a commentary on the gun law controversy in America.

             Shears is unhappy with the reoccurrence of each shooting, as well as the way they are being handled politically. Though this is a professionally written news article, and not an opinion piece, hints of impatience and frustration can be detected in Shear’s tone. “It has become an all-too-familiar role for Mr. Obama[…] At each event, the president has sought to find the right balance between the sadness of a nation and the anger of its citizens,” Shears writes, “But the memorial services have also served to provide Mr. Obama with the emotional power to fuel his gun-control efforts.” Shear’s tone implies that he feels that Obama is exploiting these tragedies in order to pass gun control legislation. However, Shears seems even further frustrated that despite Obama’s “emotion power,” no drastic change have been made in gun legislation. He writes, “there is little evidence that lawmakers’ positions on gun violence have shifted much in the past several months. And with Congress locked in a bitter fight about the debt and the budget, there appears to be little appetite on Capitol Hill for another battle over guns.”

            Shear’s frustration expressed through his tone likely resonates with many Americans, who are also disappointed with the lack of changes made to gun laws, especially in light of recent tragedies. However, Shear’s article definitely has more liberal biases, and is likely more effective to politically-left Americans. While I don’t think Shear’s article is strong enough to sway a conservative gun-advocate, (but then again it is supposed to be an unbiased news piece) it definitely portrays the frustration felt by many Americans.

A make shift memorial at the Washington Navy Yard

N.d. Photograph. The Week. The Week, 19 Sept. 2013. Web. 22 Sept. 2013. <http://theweek.com/article/index/249934/dont-try-to-make-sense-of-mass-shootings>.