This is not a “my country is better than your country” issue. There is absolutely nothing positive to be gained in having that attitude. Many of the arguments put forward in gun control debates by US citizens are based on fear rather than facts and there arises an opportunity for outsiders to say this fear or that presumption is not entirely sound. This is the experience of societies that reject guns for defense.
Massacre stories are so regular out of the US and so often it’s children and teens going about their day to day schoolwork who are the victims in these stories. Although there are public memorials and tears each time, it seems to be an accepted part of the culture that values the right to own a gun higher than the right to life… especially the lives of the vulnerable. The gun culture machine goes into overdrive to win back the hearts of the individual rights attitude that might weaken in the face of the death of little toddlers. That’s all you ever hear then. “We cannot examine whether the gun culture is the cause of this because guns are a divine right protected by the second amendment. Their effects in the culture are irrelevant because what about ME. MY rights as and older lady. MY rights as a family man. MY rights as an INDIVIDUAL.” The rights of the vulnerable… the kids in classrooms, the homeless and marginalised, the tourists in the country, the partners and children of men with a gun and abuse tendencies. Those peoples rights to safety in a gun ridden culture are severely limited. They represent colateral damage.
It’s pointless to respond by posting stories about crime and guns in other countries because blind freddie can see the effects and attitudes nurtured in the culture by gun worship. And it is worship. The normal response to problem of gun massacres in a society would be to tone down the worship of the gun. For example, this incident that occurred when two Australian olympians posted these vanity photos on facebook before the olympics in London.
smh.com.au/olympics/swimming-london-2012/darcy-and-monk-fire-up-swimming-australia-with-gun-photo-20120607-1zyj0.html
There was talk of banning them from the Olympics but in the end they were allowed to go for their events and then flown home immediately after the events.
That to me would be a normal response in a world that dealt with the regular mass death of school and university kids in a society. That’s where the madness comes into some of the attitude. In the US there seems to be an upward swing in these gun worshipping shots after every massacre in the name of protecting my god given 2nd amendment right.
And that is the thing. I don’t want to see my children and grandchildren bequeathed a society that tolerates criminals because they are more powerful than the good. I would rather live in a state of emergency fighting back against their power, legislating where we can, mobilizing the police force against them, sentencing their crimes especially illegal gun ownership with the full might of the law. The State I live in, Queensland, is trailblazing with this attitude since last year and it is to be seen how it will all pan out across Australia. The message these criminals are being bombarded with is we don’t want you having any power whatsoever anywhere anytime.