America & Guns (The NRA)

An English visitor's point of view, as he attempts to understand why many Americans must have a gun.  This discussion was created during and after my visit.  Helpful comments are encouraged.

Clearly I cannot hope to properly understand “The Gun Debate” even if there is such a thing.  The shootings in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut made the international news and we caught some of the debate on the radio (BBC world service), and on TV (I have no idea which channel) I thought I should note down my thoughts, and my puzzlement.

I understand that the Second Amendment allows for the possession and use or fire arms for legal purposes, such as self defence.  This right was refined in 2008 and 2010, even strengthened.  I have since read one article that says the 2nd amendment allows for militia, and is not aimed at private ownership.

I heard part of the NRA statement on the radio.  The line seems to be “To stop a bad guy with a gun you need a good guy with a gun.”

In August 2012 a disgruntled employee went and shot a former colleague in New York.  Without the response that followed it would be a simple murder.  However, the police response resulted in the offender being shot and 9 people being wounded. http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/24/justice/new-york-empire-state/index.html The wounded were all caught in the cross-fire, hit by police, in the early reports. An investigation is under-way – not surprising.  We are very lucky that no innocent passers-by were actually killed, good guys with guns do not always behave appropriately.

On the TV there were loads of statistics on gun deaths; Japan was used as an example, as the number there is effectively zero.  The culture is very different, perhaps too different.  European comparisons may be more valid.  Here the numbers are very low. 

One of the problems is quantity.  Sure ‘bad guys’ kill people, not good guys, if the ‘bad guys’ have a low powered single shot weapon, with few bullets stored in it, they will kill fewer people.  When a man with a knife went berserk in a hospital in China, lots of children were injured, but none were killed, had he had a semi-automatic rifle things would have been different.

Why is it that most industrialised (first world) countries do not permit their citizen to own guns freely and why do those citizens generally accept the restriction?

For me it is about security.  There is a problem with knife crime in a few areas in the UK.  The message to the young men concerned is ‘don’t take a knife, or you will get hurt’.  Those that are hurt usually claim that they had the knife for self defence.  The problem is that they don’t really know how to use it, so with a weapon they are at a bigger disadvantage than if they were unarmed.  But they are frightened, so feel they need protection. From the responses I have heard to the question "Why would/do you own a gun?" the situation is the same - it is for defence.  Defence from others who may be using their gun in a less than legal way.

This short video clip also helps us to understand that their history links gun ownership to freedom, and exposes their fear of their own government.: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-21126850#TWEET543020.

It seems then, that Americans live in fear.  What will it take for them to experience truer freedom?  Can the descendants of the pioneers be brave enough to change their culture?