Lock, Stock

[burntcopper]

Last night, was idly reading jennyo's lj (yes, I know, I was being masochistic) disagreeing with her view on most tv shows and characters and so on as usual, and then followed a link to a discussion in someone else's blog on gun ownership. Which was... really weird. Sport vs. enjoyment vs. home defending in places where there no police to handgun vs.

Comments

[juleskicks]

See, this is one of those cultural-gap things, I think -- judging from what you've written, the mindset and the cultural expectations and traditions are just completely different. There's a fabulous Simpsons episode about gun control which includes the line "if I didn't have this gun, the King of England could walk right through that door and start pushing you around", and that's pretty much what it's about.

The Second Amendment is very much a remnant of the Revolutionary period and the colonization in general, when it wasn't unreasonable for people living on the frontiers, at least (and remember, the 'frontier' was only about fifty miles from 'civilization' at that point; expansion past the Appalachians didn't really get serious until the nineteenth century) to need a gun. Especially as we had to start complaining that England's economy might be threatened before they'd send people to protect us, most of the time. *g* Add in the Puritan Work Ethic and basically, the reason we're never going to get rid of guns -- or at least, not anytime soon -- is the same as the reason it's going to be a long time before we have anything like socialized healthcare: the attitude of 'you've got to take care of yourself' is just too deeply ingrained. The fact that there's really only one type of animal most gun owners are going to be hunting, and it's not one with four legs, is sadly irreleveant.

...and that, children, is one more reason why I want to emigrate. *laugh*