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As someone also born abroad in a country that restricted gun access after a mass shooting, I don't fully understand it either. The value of guns and the importance of the 2nd Amendment is something that most Americans grow up with and take for granted. I would argue that all the things the second poster in this thread mentioned- freedom of speech, assembly, etc.- are "needed" for a healthy society, but that access to weaponry isn't that important. Most Americans would disagree. There are various arguments for this point of view, from "it's a god given right to own whatever property I want" to appeals to the revolution and the necessity of an armed populace in keeping the government from exercising tyranny. All of these I can understand to some degree. I'll just never understand the added emotion about it that Americans have, because of where I was raised. I would question the idea of mass shootings being solely the result of access to guns. There are lots of countries with a very strong gun and hunting culture that don't experience these tragedies constantly. As weird as I feel recommending a Michael Moore documentary, Bowling for Columbineis actually the opposite of what a lot of people expect because he explicitly contrasts the USA to Canada. Canada has a high rate of gun ownership but low incidence of mass shootings. The closest Moore comes to a conclusion is hypothesizing that there is something in American culture that is responsible. Whether it's the idea he puts forward that there is a "culture of fear" stoked by the media and distrust of one's neighbours, or something else, it does at least seem to be part of the equation. Do Americans perhaps think of guns as being more for defending yourself from human beings than hunting for some reason, such as the collective memory of the revolution? Maybe it's something to do with the American Dream: people are raised to believe they can achieve anything, and when that turns out to be false they want revenge against society. I don't know. In the end, this is one of those issues that I just have to throw up my hands and go "oh well, this is something for born American citizens to decide for themselves." I don't have a problem with being semi-evangelical about my other political views and might vote on them if I stay here long enough to get in a position to do so, but I'm taking a backseat on this. It would be like moving to India and trying to interfere with the caste system- a thing that has many downsides, but is part of cultural and religious history there and has seen many attempts at reinterpretation by figures like Gandhi. It's too far outside my experience to understand in quite the same way. Weldon Pemberton fucked around with this message at 02:33 on Dec 4, 2015 |
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Dec 4, 2015 02:30
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