SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Why Are Americans So Obsessed With Guns?
|
Log In/Create an Account
| Top
| 324 comments
| Search Discussion
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, it is against the law to open a soda bottle without
the supervision of a licensed engineer.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 09 2017, @11:57PM
I have a number of RKBA types/NRA members as well as a number strongly opposed to gun ownership on my facebook friends list.
The number of gun related posts from those opposed massively outweighs the number from even the most pro gun types.
Obviously, this is just anecdotal and heavily biased by the composition of my FB friends list.
This stands to reason. As the anti-establishment by definition needs to raise a fuss and the status quo doesn't. They are the status quo and win by default.
The anti-carbon environmentalists are much louder than the pro-carbon group because most of society doesn't see carbon emission as a problem. 9/11 "truthers" are more vocal as most of society doesn't think there was a substantial conspiracy in the US government for that terrorist attack. Etc.
It's not 100%, but usually the side which is the default winners from no-change are quieter than the ones who are the default losers. This has nothing to do with their obsessiveness and everything to do with what they are trying to achieve.
Gun-owning advocates aren't ecstatic with the current laws, but they can live with them and so don't need to agitate for change. Gun-control advocates are trying to affect change, so they need to be more vocal.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday January 10 2017, @03:31PM
That and there are *seeds* for the vocal pro-change group's posts to social media in the newspapers. Is it 7 mass (4+-victim) shootings already this year in the US? A reduction in the number of those seeds would be followed by a reduction in the number of posts, I'm sure.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves