Q15 - New legislation would require

[perng.yan]

Please explain the difference between principles (A) --> what i chose and (B) --> credited response

i thought (B) was too strong.. and all we needed to do was find an answer that "most justifies" opposition?

[bbirdwell]

You need an answer that logically justifies the opposition, and for that, you need to understand the logic of the argument.

The argument says this:

1. some propose that prison records be checked before a person can buy a gun
2. some people oppose this because this would prevent as many law-abiding citizens as criminals from obtaining handguns.

Think about that second statement for a minute. This is a specific situation, and when we look for an answer, we want a general rule that validates this specific situation. In other words, we should be able to take the factual evidence from the argument and "plug it in" to the answer choice and arrive at the same conclusion.

(A) doesn't do anything for this reasoning. So what if law-abiders have more rights? This doesn't help us make a decision on whether to check prison records, which may unjustly prevent law-abiders from getting guns.

(B) applies directly to the logic of the argument. The opposition says we can't do this because it would hurt an equal number of law-abiders along with the criminals. (B) validates this perspective.

[perng.yan]

mmm.. i see how (B) validates it..

but when i was picking (A).. what went through my head was that if law-abiders have more rights, then it would be wrong to take away those rights as the new proposal would lead to.

could you clarify that a bit more? sorry to drag out this questions. thanks.

[bbirdwell]

what went through my head was that if law-abiders have more rights, then it would be wrong to take away those rights as the new proposal would lead to.

Not necessarily true. The fact that I like green more than yellow doesn't mean it would be wrong to paint my green house red.

This is a relative comparison(green v yellow, abiders v criminals), and it has no bearing on the argument. Just because they have "more" rights than another group doesn't automatically mean it would be "wrong" to take their rights away.

[perng.yan]

oh GREAT!.. thanks.. i think i do this green yellow red comparison a lot when taking the test.. this is so helpful and now hopefully i'll catch myself doing it and improve my accuracy~ hurrah!

[john.o.wray]

Interesting point you made about it being too strong.

I think a key I'm starting to discover more and more is that, yes, most strong answers are wrong. BUT, they are correct when you're trying to fill a logical gap. In this case, if that principle were established, it would make the logic sound.