Obviously the 90% statistic is made up, my point is just that people who’ve never lived in the country don’t understand the depth of folks relationship with guns and how intricately it ties in with their livelihoods. In parts of Pennsylvania the first week of hunting season school takes a week off so families can hunt together. My wife rarely ate meat from the supermarket, everything was caught by hand. One of my best friends spends his nights shooting giant hogs who terrorize their pets and eat their flower garden (and yes, he uses a semi automatic, although mostly for the pleasure of it he says). None of these people were farmers btw.
It’s just a completely different life, and truthfully most of the gun crime does not come from these areas. This is why federalism is so important, because people who live in one part of America cannot accurately govern people in another—the country is too big and too diverse, although as has been discussed a million times before, the US state borders are too porous for guns to not leak into neighboring urban areas.
I will forever believe that the violence is a direct representation of the unhappiness and culture of violence that fuels the United States, but then you’re talking about real problems that are hard to solve and make poor talking points.
You'd be surprised how different reality is once you step away from your TV / media driven version of life in parts of the US.Original Post Deleted
Have travelled through and very very very briefly stayed in parts of the US where a virgin is someone who can outrun their cousins and do understand what Tandy is saying - although 90% is a bit.. umm... much.
I pretty much believe at this point that you could ban gun sales (all gun sales) and the existing guns (about 400 million, more than 1 per person) would end up being carefully preserved, like 1950's era cars in Cuba. And remain in circulation. Sure, you can ban future sales but there are just too many guns already out there. And people would figure out how to make their own bullets if you ban sales of ammunition. So, yes, go ahead and try to enact meaningful reform but to a certain extent, it's too late...
I'm not being cheeky, I am genuinely interested in what rural life is like in the US, even if aspects of it defies my comprehension, like why they would need semi-automatics when a plain rifle would do. Some of my impression of rural small town US comes from books and movies like "To Kill a Mockingbird" or "Deliverance", but that is the deep south and may not be applicable to other rural parts of the US, like the Midwest. So I do want to know more about this kind of life.
Last edited by Coolboy; 23-03-2021 at 02:51 PM.
Anyone that thinks there can be significant changes doesn't know the US very well. Look at an electoral map and you will see that there is far more red than blue. It just so happens that the blues are more concentrated in urban areas and even then many view their right to protect themselves seriously. Biden is very limited in what he can do because of State and local laws. Anytime laws are at odds, it opens the door for court challenges and you know who owns the Supreme Court. It's embedded in the constitution and embedded in the fiber of the country. It might not be obvious to city dwellers but go inland in the US and it seems that all you see is pick up trucks with a gun rack and a dog in the back. They can't even get people to wear masks in the US and people think they'll give up their guns when it's enshrined in the constitution? Not a chance in hell...
There's nothing wrong with owning firearms, it's done safely in many countries. There is a cultural problem in the US coupled with a lack of training, restrictions and checks. It's not normal when it's easier to get a gun than a driver's license. The right to bear arms does not mean carrying an Uzi under your jacket if you want to.