Forms of appeal

Logos

In his remarks about reducing gun violence, Obama uses logos when he tries to convince his audience with the help of facts and logic. There are several examples where he tries to do this through rhetorical questions, expressing the logic behind his gun control reforms:

If you’re a law-abiding gun seller, wouldn’t you want to know you’re not selling your gun to someone who’s likely to commit a crime? (...) Shouldn’t we make it harder, not easier for somebody who is convicted of domestic abuse to get his hands on a gun? (ll. 171-176)

Logos is also employed when Obama tries to convince his audience of the importance of his proposals. For example, when he talks about limiting magazines to 10 bullets, he relies on mathematical logic that implies mass shootings will be less likely to happen:

We have to tell Con…

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Ethos

Ethos is the appeal to authority and trust, where the speaker appears trustworthy in front of the audience and qualified to talk about a particular topic.

Ethos is employed in Obama’s speech when he relies on his authority as President of the United States. By talking about himself as President and about his proposals for the Congress, Obama appeals to the audience and becomes even more trustworthy in their eyes:

Now, back in January, just a few months after the tragedy in Newtown, I announced a series of execu…

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Pathos

Pathos is employed when Obama appeals to the emotions of the audience. Initially, he creates the feelings of sadness and worry, which he directly associates with the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting:

Every family in this country was shaken. We hugged our kids more tightly. We asked what could we do, as a society, to help prevent a tragedy like that from happening again. And as a society, we decided that we have to change. We must. We must change. (ll. 38-43)

As you have seen from the above example, Obama also creates the feeling of hope and a desire for change. He encourages citizens to stand up for what they believe is right and to fight for reducing gun violence:

But if our history teaches us anything, then it’s up to us – - th…