Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Semester of Degree Completion

2017

Thesis Director

Angela S. Jacobs

Abstract

Through the use of framing theory as described by Entman (1993), this thesis examines the National Rifle Association's framing of the gun violence debate as established, maintained, and shaped by their vice president, Wayne LaPierre on three separate episodes of Meet the Press, which occurred on December 23rd, 2012; March 24th, 2013; and September 22nd, 2013. This work offers a thematic analysis that investigates several themes that emerge in the three individual interviews with LaPierre that are done by David Gregory on the program. Those themes are then analyzed through the lens of the four purposes of framing that Entman offers in his work: defining problems, diagnosing causes, making moral judgments, and suggesting remedies. These purposes of framing are adapted into research questions and are then answered by using excerpts from the interviews conducted on Meet the Press. In conducting this research, I have come to the conclusion that LaPierre, on behalf of his organization, frames several entities as being the cause of gun violence: a broken government, the mentally ill, a lack of gun ownership, gun laws, law enforcement, and a "broken" mental health system.

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