Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by on Monday January 09 2017, @08:49PM   Printer-friendly
from the second-amendment dept.

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


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by bob_super on Monday January 09 2017, @10:44PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Monday January 09 2017, @10:44PM (#451697)

    > then you can try destroying them physically, but the Nazis were really the last ones to try something like that

    I hear that there are people in the Balkans, the Middle East, Rwanda, and Central and South Asia who would really love it if you grabbed a recent history book...

    > in Europe, who historically are the most violent humans

    [citation needed, unless you mean they are the best at recording themselves doing it]

    > For example, the Shia/Sunni split in the middle east is not a new fight. Just that the collapse of authority in certain countries has allowed the violence to restart.

    To be pedant, one will point out that that particular fight had mostly been on a really long hiatus, with decent cohabitation in places, and regular territorial/influence wars in others, until people had to find reasons to take sides when the shit hit the fan in places where political opposition has been tortured away. Baghdad, for example, had lots of mixed neighborhoods until 2003.
    While the US did not create the idea of the armed jihadi group, the influx of weapons and ideas to defeat the other empire in remote whogivesafuckstan is definitely the root of the recent revival ("recent" on a 1500-years timeline).

    > The USA has some specific issues

    Colonized by people who feared the locals could come express their land rights at any time.
    Landscaped by people who feared the slaves could revolt at any time.
    Formalized by people who feared the Brits could come back at any time.
    Strengthened by people who feared the Soviets could invade at any time.
    Surrounded in the South by jealous people who are feared for they're coming to steal the prosperity any time.
    Besieged by people with the wrong god who cultivate the fear that they'll retaliate for the meddling any time.

    The US people are supposed the be afraid. They have things to lose. If they don't have things to lose, they still have their freedom to lose, or their life, to all the bastards out there.
    So they need a gun.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +2  
       Insightful=1, Interesting=1, Total=2
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   4