I have a hard time reconciling my view of America as staunch defenders of decent modern civilization while at the same time having to listen to the almost religious reverence for guns as the solution to their social ills and protection from their federal government.
I understand Pierce Morgan’s frustration.
Its like America is caught up in some time warp where they missed the boat that took the rest of us first world people into peaceful secure neighbourhoods where the constant thought of a nearby firearm designed to extinguish human life (my life) might be lurking just doesn’t occur. Well for most of us.
Sad really.
I think the rest of the non Americans on this board must feel as I do. I want our American friends to hear how you feel about their gun culture.
Honestly, it kind of scares me. I sometimes joke that we need to put a fence around the U.S. and just ‘let them take care of themselves’ and eventually they’ll kill each other and the rest of the world will move on. Of course, I know not all Americans are the same, and I’m sure there are many that have a more global point of view, but the loudest are the ones that I hear, and the loudest right now are the pro-gun folks.
I don’t know really what to say. I try not to get involved. But unfortunately a lot of the people I speak to are of the opinion that the U.S. is becoming more and more radical, which is frightening. Will I still visit? Probably. Would I ever live there? Hell to the no.
That the constitution, history, culture and sheer number of guns in the US makes most of the debates about gun control academic. A great proportion of firearm-owning Americans will never voluntarily disarm themselves and any attempt to do it by force would make the treatment worse than the condition.
Yes, indeed, the vehemence of defending everyone’s right to deadly weapons in the face of murder rates four times as high as most other countries does puzzle me. The reaction to Sandy Hook “Let’s arm the teachers!” is really sad and baffling. I have never shot a gun in my life and do note know anyone who has, and I like it that way. I would much rather get mugged with a knife than with a gun, and having a gun in the house would not make me feel more secure one little bit. I understand the historical implications and everything, but the way that Americans cling to every letter of their constitution and the Bill of Rights as the word of God himself is also a bit foreign to me, whose country has admittedly not been a stable democracy for 230 years.
On the one hand, we don’t find firearms frightening or uncivilized. They’re just tools. A man or woman carrying an assault rifle in a shopping mall will hardly earn a second glance.
On the other hand, we don’t share the American distrust of government. Of course the state should be allowed to regulate and restrict the sale of weapons - that’s its job. And we find the idea that the purpose of citizen-owned weapons is to fight one’s own countrymen, utterly abhorrent.
Does it bleed into other issues for others? It does for me. Suddenly they are moving backwards on things like abortion/contraception, healthcare for the vulnerable and neediest, multiculturalism, etc. things that most other Western nations have already successfully resolved. It often seems like fully half the population wants to return to the past.
I find it striking that they led the world on so much yet now seem determined to go backward.
I agree with Mr Kobiashy on guns however. A little late now to contemplate closing the gate.
I agree that this attitude that the constitution, sorry, Constitution, is infallible seems ridiculous, especially given that there have been many amendments made to it. Amendments, as in, this document needs mending, as it doesn’t suit the nation’s needs any more.
I am American, and I see us as moving backward on several issues. There is still a movement to outlaw abortions, and it has gained ground in several states. Universal health care is being fought tooth-and-nail. Muslims and Middle Easterners in particular are having a tough time of it now. Who remembers Farouk El-Baz’s contributions to the Apollo program? We definitely have room to improve.
Lots of individual Americans are very scared. They’re scared of their government and they’re scared of each other. Having a tangible means of defense and power at their personal disposal makes them feel more in control and safer even if, in the aggreagate, having so many guns around results in less overall safety.
(Canadian who was in the military and likes guns but doesn’t own any because it’s just too much of a bother here.)
Multiculturalism is one of the issues where America is definitely more progressive than probably any European nation. Unlike in France nobody is trying to ban hijabs or denouncing halal meat or banning circumcision like the Germans are attempting to do nor are there mass riots by ethnic minorities for over twenty years unlike the ones in France in 2005 or the one London two summers ago. In fact has not the chancellor of Germany declared multiculturalism a “failure”?
And I don’t see how we’re moving “backwards” on health care when there never was UHC legislation in this country and we passed Obamacare in 2010. Also several European countries including Britain, Finland, and Ireland have more restrictive abortion laws than the United States does.
Because I want Americans to know that the rest of us experience a better way. That you can have safety and security without a gun. That you can actually live without fear. Learn from us DAMMIT !
“Live by the sword and you will die by the sword”. So why are so many bible thumpers in America defending guns ? Would Jesus strap on a gun ? Americans in general appear to be blinded to the truth.
That you think the USA has “room to improve” doesn’t address the question I posed. I suspect we all can agree that every nation has room to improve, but just because the USA is not changing in a way that suits you does not mean it’s moving backwards.
Whether you’re neighbor has a gun or not seems like a strange critereon for what a “peaceful secure neighborhood.” is. Even before I got my own weapons I never gave a thought to what my neighbors might have, nor felt the least bit threatened by the possibility. Maybe foreigners just have a different perspective than we do, my criteria is the amount of actual crime.
