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This discussion has been archived.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.
If the thunder don't get you, then the lightning will.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @02:47AM
Its like you are a bot that is starting to achieve self-awareness.
But you've been examining yourself in a mirror so your self-image is 180 degrees out of phase with reality.
How appropriate you would choose to post in a thread with this subject header.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 10 2017, @03:11AM
http://www.guns.com/2016/01/18/the-birth-of-a-gun-control-nation-a-backwards-glance-at-some-of-americas-first-gun-control-laws/ [guns.com]
For example, a statute passed in 1640 in the Commonwealth of Virginia forbade non-whites from carrying guns or weapons of any kind. A rash of like “codes” were adopted in a number of colonies prior to the Revolutionary War.
Gun control has always been racially motivated, and today's gun control advocates are no different from those of yesterday. You fear the Negro.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @03:26AM
Its convenient for you to ignore the fact the last 40 years of mass incarceration of black men have created an easy proxy for gun-control laws to keep guns out of the hands of black people.
Address that head on and then we can have a talk.
Until then you are just an intellectual coward hiding behind half truths.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 10 2017, @03:45AM
WTF? I have pointed out that people are convicted with unjust laws, for the purpose of denying their rights. Gun rights, voting rights, and more, are stripped upon conviction. Marijuana prohibition was aimed directly at the black communities. More recently, laws regarding crack cocaine are targeted directly at the black communities.
You appear to be preaching to the choir here, and don't even realize it.
Gun laws are primarily aimed at black people. The fact that they also entrap some (conservative) redneck white people is a bonus. Democrats hate all of us.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @04:39AM
And your explanation for why the last 10+ years has seen expanded gun access laws not restrictions is... ?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @07:17AM
Common people with functional brains getting fed up with bullcrap "laws" which only affect them, the common law-abiding folk, and taking action to demand that their so-called representatives show some modicum of respect to the plain language of the Second Amendment.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @09:22AM
> Common people with functional brains getting fed up with bullcrap "laws" which only affect them
Didn't runaway just establish that gun-control laws have always been targeted at black people?
You won't find all that many black people advocating for more gun access.
Try again!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 10 2017, @03:10PM
Please, define "all that many" for us. If only ONE black person is denied a weapon BECAUSE HE IS BLACK, then our laws are unjust. Deny a gun to a black guy who is clearly nuts, and we're cool. Deny a gun to another black guy who is a demonstrable menace to society, we're still cool. But, when you deny a gun to a black guy BECAUSE HE IS BLACK, then you are the fascist.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @05:57PM
Way to miss the forest for the trees: laws affect the law-abiding, regardless of skin color. Racist!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 10 2017, @03:08PM
Huh, wut? You're saying that democrat controlled cities and states are voluntarily relaxing gun control laws? Or, are you attempting to credit those democrats with Supreme Court rulings that have FORCED the democrats to accept more lenient gun laws?
Which laws have been rolled back in Chicago, and Illinois, may I ask?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @04:02PM
Ok, so faced with facts that don't fit your agenda, you just go into denail mode.
Republican controlled states have been passing more and more lax guns laws for the last decade.
Expanding the areas where people can legally carry to churches, schools, parks, workplaces etc.
Texas has gone from first permitting concealed carry about 20 years ago to now permitting open carry.
Missouri recently passed a new stand your ground law and eliminated the requirement for training before getting a CCW.
Its a really long list.
When you try to deflect away from those simple facts you are agenda driven instead of fact driven.
Democrats are the real racists! -- The rallying cry of actual racists.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @05:59PM
So, logically, that makes you...?