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The love of guns in the United States has been well documented, as have multiple mass shootings across the country such as those in Orlando, San Bernardino, Newtown, and Virginia. The ease of access to guns in American society comes at a shocking cost.
As of September 2016, almost 11,000 people have been killed as a result of gun violence. Despite this high death toll, mass shootings in America show no sign of disappearing.
The Stateside obsession with guns can appear baffling to UK observers unfamiliar with its origins. So just how did this gun culture become so deep-rooted in the American psyche?
BBC source: Why Are Americans so Obsessed with Guns?
Wikipedia: Gun politics in the United States
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Why Are Americans So Obsessed With Guns?
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.
-- Eric Hoffer
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 09 2017, @09:45PM
I don't know anyone who was injured or killed because of a gun, but I know three people who successfully defended themselves from attackers (muggings, maybe rape, possibly murder) because they were armed. In none of those cases did they need to actually shoot the attackers. Just the ability and apparent willingness to do so was enough to cause the attackers flee.
None of them reported the incidents to the police, because they were in a city that effectively outlaws possession of weapons by law-abiding citizens, so they risked being prosecuted for defending themselves.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 09 2017, @10:06PM
Two weeks ago a couple of guys tried to rob my home. I stood them down with a baseball bat.
I didn't report it to the police either because I don't talk to cops.
Just because someone used a gun to stop a crime doesn't mean a gun was the only way to stop that crime.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 09 2017, @11:01PM
Got that drug grow op or do you just know the police to be worthless and dangerous?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 09 2017, @11:40PM
Why does it have to be both?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @02:20PM
You know, if the cops are worthless enough that he is unwilling to talk to them, then I guess it's a good idea to be carrying because crime rates must be insane there with no good cops to do anything about it.
(Score: 1) by mobydisk on Tuesday January 10 2017, @05:53PM
Why don't you talk to cops?
By not reporting crimes:
* The same criminals can commit repeat offenses.
* The police departments are staffed and budgeted by crime rates, so your area will be underfunded and underrepresented.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 11 2017, @02:16AM
uhh, because calling the cops only makes things worse? they can't do shit but take a report and that's if they're not assholes. what frequently happens is they are annoyed that you interrupted their pimping/highway robbery/sitting around getting fat and start screwing with you to teach you a lesson.
* the cops could have already caught the real criminals if they weren't so busy preying on peaceful citizens insztead b/c it's easier.
* maybe we want to be underrepresented...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @09:29PM
You are lucky you didn't bring a baseball bat to a gun fight.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Monday January 09 2017, @11:28PM
You don't always see it coming.
I knew a young guy who was shot dead years ago. Sold his car to some kid who had a bad temper, and a father with a worse temper. Supposedly the car's wheel fell off or something of that nature. Well the father and son came back to demand their money back. Seller was with his friend and heard the idiot kid was doing something stupid which broke the car (something like racing or doing doughnuts.) So he told the two to get lost as they were responsible for the damage. The father and son threaten them verbally, and wanting nothing to with that, they walk away and got into their car to leave. The friend, the witness, then said out of nowhere the father walked up to the car and shot the seller in the head. Just like that. No warning, no nothing.
I was just a kid, maybe 8 or 9, and I knew the seller as he had worked for my father a few times. I remember playing catch with him. His friend also worked for my father. I saw the friend a few weeks later, and little dumb kid me asked what happened to the seller. All he could say was, "He's dead." Me: why? Him: "I don't know what to tell you but he was shot in the head. His brains were splattered all over my face. (his voice was shaking)" I stopped asking. It was a shock. I cried. Very vivid memory.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @12:32AM
None of them reported the incidents to the police, /quote. because if they had, they would also have to have filed reports on their alien abuduction and the chem-trails. Or, these incidents never happened, except as gun-owner fantasies in the "Letters to The American Rifleman" section of the NRA's publication? Ockham's razor on this one, doubled down with Hanlon's!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @06:49AM
Believe what you want, but it won't change reality.
I was unfortunate enough to feel like I had to resort to pointing my firearm at a thug to ward him off, a would-be kidnapper who threatened people with a hatchet (yet fortunately bright enough to back off the instant I drew). That incident was not reported to "law enforcement", aka the largest criminal gang in the USA. It happened, it is part of factual history, and no amount of your disbelief will change it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @12:47AM
Few are against basic firearms to protect their home.
The problem is with either a large percent of the population carrying them around in public (inviting accidents and rage killings), and/or semi-automatic weapons that can kill many instantly.
You don't need an AR-15 to stop a robber. Robbers are rarely there to play Rambo with you. The vast majority of robbers who know you have ANY loaded weapon will leave quickly to go rob somebody else without a gun. They just want enough money to fund their next drug dose, not have a shootout.
By the way, I know a church kid who was injured because some kids got into a gun collection and were goofing around.