From the Cederblom, J./D. W. Paulsen (2001) Critical Reasoning, 5^th ed., Wadsworth, pp. 187 f.)

The following passages contain informal fallacies that we have looked at. Spot them. There may be more than one in each passage.

1                    Is gun control legislation justified? Yes. The argument by those who oppose it seems to be that it is a great inconvenience to register guns. But this inconvenience is incidental when you consider the stakes. Either we pass an even stronger gun control bill or we can watch the violence in our cities continue. Gun control cannot be seen as unconstitutional in these modern times, for the reason that the so-called right to bear arms is completely out of date.

2                    Anyone who serves as president of this organization has a duty to promote its interests – that’s written in the charter. Supporting equality of the sexes goes against the interests of this organization. A duty is, by definition, a moral obligation. So as president of this organization, I have a moral obligation to oppose equality of the sexes. Actually, this is an obligation I am happy to fulfil, because I firmly believe that sexual equality is a dangerous idea. You can predict the kind of behaviour it will produce in women generally if you look at the angry, hysterical, man-hating females who are leaders of this movement. I would argue that the gentle ladylike demeanour that is befitting of womankind will all but disappear if the feminists succeed in promoting their cause.

3                    Rudi says that the government should provide more jobs for people. He should know. He couldn’t get a job on his own if he had to. I had to look for months before I found work. My family even ran low on food. It was humiliating to plead with employers for a job. But I stuck it out and found work, and people like Rudi can do the same.

4                    The idea of promoting the general welfare is firmly planted in our Constitution. How, then, can you oppose welfare programs and claim to uphold our Constitution? If we cut back on welfare programs, people will be put out of jobs, and the poor will not be getting services they need. Resentment toward the system will build up again, and we’ll have the same kind of rioting we did in the 1960s.