So you had 8 errors in a 2000 word essay. When I took Composition (1 & 2), 8 spelling and/or grammar errors alone in a single paper would be a failing grade every time.

While she certainly may be predisposed to an anti-gun attitude, this actually doesn't sound like she's taken an irrational anti-gun position to me. Rather, it seems that she's pointing out that perhaps your argument is too broad and simplistic. She would be correct to say that there are, and ought to be, legal restrictions to the sale and possession of firearms to criminals. Perhaps she supports very strict laws that make it very difficult for anyone to lawfully own a firearm, which is an anti-gun position, but she's not flat out saying that all private ownership of firearms should be illegal. I sounds as though, in her eyes, you stated a position, but didn't adequately back it up with a detailed and persuasive argument. This would have also rightfully contributed to her reducing your grade.

Here she's telling you that your citations were done improperly. Part of any composition/rhetoric class is not just learning how to write persuasively, but also how to provide the reader with references to the source material that back up your arguments. Without it, you're writing nothing more than an editorial fluff piece. These essays are an academic exercise and properly referencing your work according to the standard your professor/department sets (MLA Style, for example) is critical. Failure to do so is clearly grounds for reducing your grade. She then states "The technical issues are also a big distraction. Overall, this is not college-level writing." Clearly she is not indicating that your position is the problem, but rather the technical presentation of it. In writing, "technical issues" is referring to spelling, grammar and punctuation. Technical writing. Poor spelling, grammar and punctuation make your work difficult to read and comprehend, and can lead to misinterpretation. When she states that this is clearly not college level writing, she means that at the college level you should know how to spell and punctuate correctly, and be able to proof your own work. While grammar is part of the coursework in a 100 level college writing class, it is reasonably expected that the student ought to have a basic high school level writing proficiency. If your posts (both this one and others) are an indication of your general proficiency with the written language, I can honestly understand where she is coming from.

The bottom line is that, just given the details you outlined, she had justified cause to fail you on the technical flaws present in your paper. What surprises me is that none of this was caught during the rough draft phase of the writing exercise. In my experience, all college writing professors/teaching assistants require at least one rough draft, and most of the time there would be time taken in class where each student's draft would be read and critiqued by another student before the final drafts were submitted for grading. How such problems escaped notice at these phases I don't know, unless they were detected but you changed the final draft significantly creating more errors. Overall, I think that you probably got the grade you deserved. If you really feel that you've been wrongfully graded, you could appeal either to the dean of the department or the campus ombudsman. However, in my experience, unless you have a obviously cut and dried case of professional bias or misconduct regarding her grading, you're likely not going to get anywhere.

Mike