Handgun Rights: Making the Most of Jan/Feb

The January-February resolution is crucial for many debaters’ seasons. For some, this will be the topic they debate at their NSDA or CFL district tournament. For many others, it will be the topic they debate at the Tournament of Champions, a culmination of five months of research and practice. No matter which applies to you, or even if you just want to boost your win count in the second half of the year, it’s important that you make the most of the topic. Here are three tips for making the most of the January-February topic— 1. Make sure that you’re extra prepared on the topic’s “stock arguments.” You can tell from researching the topic that the three issues most frequently discussed are violent crime, self-defense, and constitutionality. Whether your cases are based on any of these issues or not, if you aren’t prepared to debate either side of them, you will be behind other debaters who do base their cases on these issues. Debaters skilled at debating the topic’s core controversies will not only win more debates, but also will have the background knowledge on handguns that helps them navigate more complex literature bases. That leads me to my second point: 2. Learn the topic’s details. If you’re debating the Jan-Feb topic, you should absolutely have an understanding of what guns are considered handguns. You should also know about alternative solutions besides a ban that people suggest we use to address handgun violence. Understanding what guns count as handguns (the glock, the revolver, etc.) can help you explain your cases with a lot more depth. On the aff, you’ll have a better understanding of what might make handguns oft-used in violent crimes. On the neg, you’ll have a better understanding of what might make handguns an effective tool of self-defense. Knowing about the various regulatory alternatives to a handgun ban will help you craft excellent counterplans. For your negative prep, you should probably focus on a single type of regulation to cut a lot of cards about. That way, you’ll be super ready to go when the aff reads evidence refuting the counterplan; doing lots of research on one regulation means you’ll be more knowledgeable than if you cut a few cards here and there on five or six different kinds of regulations. Of course, later in the year when you want to innovate, you can write a completely new counterplan that simply regulates handguns. That leads me to my third point: 3. Innovate, but take your time. This advice is especially important for people debating at the Tournament of Champions. Since Jan-Feb came out December 1st, and the TOC is in late April, TOC competitors will have just about five months of experience and research on this topic going into their debates. Debaters who do a lot of substantive research, and practice on it frequently, tend to do very well at the TOC. I can say from experience that the amount of evidence I had leading up to the TOC was a huge reason I made it to elimination rounds. Trying to put together too many strategies right before your first tournament on any topic is spreading yourself too thin. Having a lot of ideas is excellent, but you want to prioritize. I’d suggest going into your first tournament with one or two affs, and at least one negative strategy tailored to each of the common types of cases (e.g. policy, philosophy, kritikal). Why so few affs at the beginning? You’re realistically not going to need to break four or five different affirmatives at a single tournament. Having one or two affs at your first tournament means you’re spending less time writing a bunch of random positions, and more time writing good frontlines tailored to your specific cases. It’s later in the topic, over the course of five months, when you want to consider new affirmatives that shake things up and allow you to innovate. There’s a common theme connecting all three of these tips: effective preparation wins debates. Maintaining attainable and effectively targeted research goals will make you more productive and motivated to go out and win debates. It’ll also free up time for you to start doing more speaking drills and practice debates, both of which are a lot more use when you have topical prep to practice clear, effective reading, and topical strategies to practice winning!