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Why Are Americans So Obsessed With Guns?

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

mrpg writes:

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

 
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  • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday January 10 2017, @06:52PM

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Tuesday January 10 2017, @06:52PM (#452176) Journal

    Okay, let's try an analogy. A car analogy, since I'm told these were popular 'round these parts:

    Suppose you have a guy who drives drunk a lot. Now he's driving really late at night, say 2 AM, and there aren't too many people on that road at that time. Not even cops, usually. Is his driving drunk still morally permissible? Why, or why not? What sanctions should there be for this?

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @07:58PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @07:58PM (#452209)

    Okay, let's try an analogy. [...] Suppose you have a [person] who [does something stupid] a lot.

    Let's analyze your analogy. There are multiple levels of sanctions, primarily split between public (law) and private (freedom of dis/association). What sanctions should there be for:

    - botching a service repair (i.e. loss of data)
    - failing to fulfill a promise
    - taking a personal risk which has resulted in at least one previous death of the risk-taker
    - horrible body odor, failure to floss teeth, and/or lack of clean underpants

    What levels of sanctions, if any, (for BOTH public and private sanctions) should there be for the above? We can't get to matters done in public until private matters are discussed.