An essay UO rhetoric professor David Frank wrote last year has gained new currency as the nation again debates the need for additional firearms regulations in the wake of a mass shooting.

In the 2014 article, “Facing Moloch: Barack Obama’s National Eulogies and Gun Violence,” Frank compares President Barack Obama’s comments following the 2011 shooting in Tucson, Arizona, that injured then-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and his words in the aftermath of the Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school shooting the following year. He noted a significant change in tone that may be better suited toward laying the groundwork for policy changes in the long term.

Following a mass shooting earlier this year in South Carolina and again recently in Roseburg, several media outlets contacted Frank to comment on the president’s rhetoric and the ongoing debate on guns. He has contributed comments to the news websites Politifact and The Trace and the news site of McClatchyDC.

To read the articles, see “Experts: Values can trump data in gun debate” at Politifact, “A Professor of Rhetoric Explains How Obama’s Charleston Eulogy Shows His Evolution on Guns” at The Trace and “For Obama, Charleston eulogy a moment to comfort a shocked nation” on McClatchyDC.