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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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Could I have a drug overdose?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 09 2017, @09:24PM
Second is distrust of the government or governments. It's seen as an insurance policy against some unspecified tyranny or takeover.
While I think that most gun-nuts wouldn't even notice when they would have to take up their arms.
Third, hunting is seen as an alternative food source if apocalyptic conditions arise. Evangelicals are especially worried about such because they are often taught that the end times are near, based on their interpretation of scripture.
A good government should prevent these conditions from rising.. however those governments are scarce. In those conditions you will run out of bullets at some point and IMHO growing food is a more sustainable way to overcome those conditions than hunting (is there even enough wildlife in the USA to support the whole population for more than a week?).
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday January 09 2017, @09:33PM
" . . . to support the whole population for more than a week?)."
By definition, the whold population doesn't survive an apocalyptic event. My only concern for the bulk of the population that didn't survive, is "where did they store their ammunition?"
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday January 10 2017, @12:30PM
I would think medicine would be the more valuable find. You can make your own ammunition or even fall back on primitive weapons, but it's pretty tough to make modern medications without clean, laboratory conditions. You could do OK with minor complaints if you knew the natural pharmacopeia the Indians did, but if you have diabetes or heart issues, you're SOL.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 10 2017, @02:54PM
Yes, but. Pharmaceuticals have a limited shelf life, under the best conditions. Post-apocalypse conditions aren't likely to be the best. Nothing wrong with your thinking. The limited stocks of properly stored drugs will be as valuable as anything that might be salvaged from the old civilization. But, ammunition has a pretty long shelf life even in bad conditions. You can count on finding good ammo for a lot longer than you can count on finding good drugs. Depending on how bad things got, people might have to rely on alcohol and/or cannabis as an anesthetic, a disinfectant, headache remedy, and whatever else.
(Score: 2) by lgw on Tuesday January 10 2017, @12:15AM
While I think that most gun-nuts wouldn't even notice when they would have to take up their arms.
It will be quite obvious: when the Brown Shirts come to pull your neighbors out of their house and take them away or shoot them on the street. Tyranny doesn't start with a totalitarian government, it starts with assholes using violence to enforce their belief system, while the government openly tolerates that violence. It takes only a very small percentage of the population (1-2%) willing to go into harms way when that happens to outnumber and outgun the Brown Shirts.
In those conditions you will run out of bullets at some point
America will never run out of bullets. There are certainly more than 10 rounds per person in the US, probably in the range of 30-100, in private hands, and more in government armories. If those ever run out, you just need to be friends with a reloader. Cartridges aren't high tech (except some special fancy ammo), and really only primer is hard to make.
(Score: 2) by tathra on Tuesday January 10 2017, @01:28PM
unless those neighbors are black, mexican, muslim, homosexual, transgender, jewish, catholic, hipsters, liberals...
no, they wont start acting until its their personal door being kicked in, else they would've started acting decades ago.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @06:30PM
None of which is happening outside of the illegal Second Prohibition. Lie detected; try again?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @12:36AM
While perhaps true, their behavior is based on what they BELIEVE they are capable of, not what they actually are capable of.