Question

On this topic, using America as one example, pick another country with proportional representation. Then look at a single issue (e.g. health care, guns, immigration) and explain how the type of representation used affects the way these issues are debated. Cite evidence.

Answer 1

The gun usage comparison of US and UK is considered here. The representation of data from ustoday, CNN, and BBC are compared. Data from ustoday comparing the US and UK gun usage.

1. Cited: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/06/16/gun-violence-united-kingdom-united-states/85994716/

According to the Geneva Declaration of Armed Violence and Development, a multinational organization based in Switzerland, the gun homicide rate in England and Wales is about one for every 1 million people while considering the total population of 56 million, the annual gun killing will be about 50 to 60 gun killings.

According to the latest FBI figures, the gun homicides in 2014 was 8,124.It is 160 times more and about 6times larger in the population.

After an incident of mass shooting at a school in 1996 in the UK, the government pursued legislative bans on assault rifles and handguns and tightened background checks for other types of firearms. Military-style weapons and most handguns were banned reported by the Washington Post.

The figure of gun ownership in the U.K. is far lower than in the U.S. as well. Gun ownership ratio of UK to the US is 6.5: 101.

More political leaders were the gunshot in the US than the UK.

2. Cited: https://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/03/americas/us-gun-statistics/index.html

CNN considers the US as a country of most mass shootings in the world alongside it as a home to liberty, the pursuit of happiness. It also leads light into the constitutional right to use a gun by Us citizens.

Around 310 million firearms available to American civilians, according to a 2009 National Institute of Justice (NIJ) report. CNN compares India to the US as the second-largest civilian firearm stockpile, estimated at 46 million.

48% Americans grew up in a house with guns. Americans own the most guns per person in the world. A majority (66%) of US gun owners have more than one firearms.

Gun massacres rates in the US is also huge when compared with other countries. America outnumbers others in public mass shootings also.

CNN calculations based on OECD data from 2010 show that Americans are 51 prone to be killed by gunfire than people in the United Kingdom.

Australia hasn't had a mass shooting since they have passed gun stricter laws.

As per WHO data the US has one of the highest rates of death by firearm in the developed world.

3. BBC has given a statistical report on US gun usage. They use the Mass shooting and school shooting data separately. Gives a graphical representation of the data too.

Cited: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34996604

In 2015 there were 372 mass shootings in the US, killing 475 people and wounding 1,870, according to the Mass Shooting Tracker.

In 2015 the school shootings were 64 according to a dedicated campaign group set up in the wake of the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre in Connecticut in 2012.

The number of gun murders per capita in the US in 2012 was nearly 30 times that in the UK, at 2.9 per 100,000 compared with just 0.1.

Out of all the murders in the US in 2012, 60% were by firearm compared with 31% in Canada, 18.2% in Australia, and just 10% in the UK.

According to the US Department of Justice and the Council on Foreign Affairs,

11,385 people died on average annually in firearm incidents in the US between 2001 and 2011.

These three reports give an insight into the firearm-related mishaps in the US in comparison with the UK. These data can be used in the debate a. But the factors behind the mishaps are not considered here. The representation of data in figures and charts gives a better understanding and reach than the other forms.

Traditional data analytics are used in these reports. The data may change time by time so always use recent data for debating. Relevance is more important than the size of data. Ethical issues and privacy should be kept in mind while using information in the debate. Debaters using these data may point out the numerical data more often than the background of the problem.