Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

America's 'safety catch' - Despite the fact there are more than 200 million guns in circulation...
BBC NEWS ^ | 22 April 2008 | Justin Webb

Posted on 04/24/2008 3:22:06 PM PDT by neverdem

Despite the fact there are more than 200 million guns in circulation, there is a certain tranquility and civility about American life.

Deepwater, Missouri has a motto: "A great lil' town nestled in the heartland."

Deepwater considers itself to be an exemplar of the best of American life. A place where outsiders - if they ever penetrated this far - would find home-cooked apple pie and friendly, warm, hard-working folk.

Among those folk, I have no doubt, is Ronald Long.

Last month Mr Long decided to install a satellite television system in his Deepwater home. His efforts to make a hole in the outside wall came to nothing because Mr Long did not possess a drill.

But he did have a .22 calibre gun.

He fired two shots from the inside of the bedroom.

The second killed his wife who was standing outside.

He will face no charges. The police accept it was an accident.

Gun control

To many foreigners - and to some Americans - the tolerance of guns in everyday American life is simply inexplicable.

"In Montana, we like our guns... most of us own two or three"


Brian Schweitzer, Governor of Montana


As a New York Times columnist put it recently:

"The nation is saturated with violence. Thousands upon thousands of murders are committed each year. There are more than 200 million guns in circulation."

Someone suggested a few days ago that the Democrats' presidential candidates might like to take up the issue of gun control.

Forget about it.

They were warned off - in colourful style - by a fellow Democrat, the Governor of Montana, Brian Schweitzer.

"In Montana, we like our guns", he said.

"Most of us own two or three guns. 'Gun control' is hitting what you shoot at. So I'd be a little careful about blowing smoke up our skirts."

Democrats would like to win in the Mountain West this November. Enough said.

Washington weapons ban

On the anniversary of the Virginia Tech shooting, all this will feel to some like a rather depressing, if predictable, American story. A story of an inability to get to grips with violence.

Students hold candles during a ceremony at Virginia Tech (Photo: AP/Don Petersen)

At the moment, there is an effort being made to overturn a ban on some types of weapon in Washington DC.

Among those dead against this plan - those who claim it would turn the nation's capital into the Wild West - is a lanky black man (he looks like a basketball player) called Anwan Glover.

Anwan peeled off articles of clothing for our cameras and revealed that he had been shot nine times.

One bullet is still lodged in an elbow.

His younger brother was shot and killed a few months ago.

Anwan was speaking to us in a back alley in north-east Washington. If you heard a gun shot in this neighbourhood you would not feel surprised.

'Gentler environment'

Why is it then that so many Americans - and foreigners who come here - feel that the place is so, well, safe?

"I have met incredulous British tourists who have been shocked to the core by the peacefulness of the place"




A British man I met in Colorado recently told me he used to live in Kent but he moved to the American state of New Jersey and will not go home because it is, as he put it, "a gentler environment for bringing the kids up."

This is New Jersey. Home of the Sopranos.

Brits arriving in New York, hoping to avoid being slaughtered on day one of their shopping mission to Manhattan are, by day two, beginning to wonder what all the fuss was about. By day three they have had had the scales lifted from their eyes.

I have met incredulous British tourists who have been shocked to the core by the peacefulness of the place, the lack of the violent undercurrent so ubiquitous in British cities, even British market towns.

"It seems so nice here," they quaver.

Well, it is!

Violent paradox

Ten or 20 years ago, it was a different story, but things have changed.

And this is Manhattan.

Wait till you get to London Texas, or Glasgow Montana, or Oxford Mississippi or Virgin Utah, for that matter, where every household is required by local ordinance to possess a gun.

Folks will have guns in all of these places and if you break into their homes they will probably kill you.

They will occasionally kill each other in anger or by mistake, but you never feel as unsafe as you can feel in south London.

It is a paradox. Along with the guns there is a tranquillity and civility about American life of which most British people can only dream.

Peace and serenity

What surprises the British tourists is that, in areas of the US that look and feel like suburban Britain, there is simply less crime and much less violent crime.

Doors are left unlocked, public telephones unbroken.

One reason - perhaps the overriding reason - is that there is no public drunkenness in polite America, simply none.

I have never seen a group of drunk young people in the entire six years I have lived here. I travel a lot and not always to the better parts of town.

It is an odd fact that a nation we associate - quite properly - with violence is also so serene, so unscarred by petty crime, so innocent of brawling.

Virginia Tech had the headlines in the last few days and reminded us of the violence for which the US is well known.

But most American lives were as peaceful on this anniversary as they are every day.

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday 19 April, 2008 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: banglist
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-98 next last

1 posted on 04/24/2008 3:22:06 PM PDT by neverdem
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: neverdem

An armed society is a polite society.


2 posted on 04/24/2008 3:27:53 PM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

i don’t know about the “doors left unlocked” part here in cincinnati, but when i lived in colorado, i never locked my door for 10 years. decent article from a euro perspective.


3 posted on 04/24/2008 3:28:50 PM PDT by robomatik ((wine plug: renascentvineyards.com cabernet sauvignon, riesling, and merlot))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

I guess this guy has never been to Philadelphia. I’m sure gun ownership leads to more tranquility in smaller towns, but in Philly, it is a bit more like the wild west and only idiots would leave their doors unlocked. I don’t know if more legal guns would help, but frankly I think Philly is way past redemption. There pretty much are no more public phones since cellphones became ubiquitous, but those that are around are too filthy to consider touching. All that having been said, it’s nice to see that someone from across the pond actually has an understanding of the purpose of gun rights.


4 posted on 04/24/2008 3:30:16 PM PDT by Ilya Mourometz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
Despite the fact Because there are more than 200 million guns in circulation, there is a certain tranquility and civility about American life.
5 posted on 04/24/2008 3:35:39 PM PDT by Question Liberal Authority (There's more proof that Operation Chaos is working than there is proof that Global Warming is real.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
How much violence is reported at the typical gun show? The biggest threat now seems to be from peaceniks who have been known to slip a live round into a display weapon, in an effort to “prove” how dangerous guns are.
6 posted on 04/24/2008 3:36:02 PM PDT by theBuckwheat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DuncanWaring; Joe Brower
Folks will have guns in all of these places and if you break into their homes they will probably kill you. They will occasionally kill each other in anger or by mistake, but you never feel as unsafe as you can feel in south London. It is a paradox. Along with the guns there is a tranquillity and civility about American life of which most British people can only dream. What surprises the British tourists is that, in areas of the US that look and feel like suburban Britain, there is simply less crime and much less violent crime.


7 posted on 04/24/2008 3:38:09 PM PDT by Travis McGee (--- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com ---)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
Virginia Tech had the headlines in the last few days and reminded us of the violence for which the US is well known.

That's because incidents like what happened at VT are tragic aberrations, rather than the regular occurrences that many in the media try to make it out to.

Mark

8 posted on 04/24/2008 3:48:24 PM PDT by MarkL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Robert A. Heinlein, “ an armed society is a polite society.”


9 posted on 04/24/2008 3:51:09 PM PDT by Nomorjer Kinov (If the opposite of "pro" is "con" , what is the opposite of progress?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
It is an odd fact that a nation we associate - quite properly - with violence is also so serene, so unscarred by petty crime, so innocent of brawling.

Thank your left-leaning anti-American media for that, bozo.

10 posted on 04/24/2008 3:52:44 PM PDT by workerbee (Ladies do not start fights, but they can finish them.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

I would expect most European nations to look down on private gun ownership in the US since in regressive European countries, only the politicians, their bodyguards and their pathetic militaries have all the guns they want and can point them with ease in the faces of unarmed citizens.


11 posted on 04/24/2008 3:57:20 PM PDT by Neoliberalnot ((Hallmarks of Liberalism: Ingratitude and Envy))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

“In Montana, we like our guns... most of us own two or three”

Slackers!


12 posted on 04/24/2008 4:02:56 PM PDT by mark3681
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mark3681

No kidding! No home is complete w/o a dozen.....


13 posted on 04/24/2008 4:06:28 PM PDT by BullDog108 (A Smith & Wesson beats four aces)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Two words BBC... Lexington & Concord!

The shot heard round the world...


14 posted on 04/24/2008 4:09:12 PM PDT by PsyOp (Truth in itself is rarely sufficient to make men act. - Clauswitz, On War, 1832.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BullDog108

“No kidding! No home is complete w/o a dozen.....”

Oh! So you’re a slacker too?! (haha)


15 posted on 04/24/2008 4:14:15 PM PDT by mark3681
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Excellent article from a BBC point of view.

I remember reading a few years back an anti-gunner from Britain was writing a three page long article for, I think, The Nation. In the midst of this article, one sentence has stuck with me forever. The writer mentioned how surprised they were at the high level of civility and politeness in Chicago, IL.

How common is rudeness in England if Chicago is your definition of a “polite” city?

It’s more than just our ownership of guns, which correlates to our self-autonomy and even self-respect. We trust ourselves as a people and we refuse to be treated like cattle - must of us, that is!

My advice to all my fellow FREEPERS is to buy a gun sometime during 2008. If you’ve never owned one, buy one for the very first time. If you own 25, well, there’s nothing wrong with owning 26.

Yours truly,
The Woim


16 posted on 04/24/2008 4:26:22 PM PDT by The Woim (Agitating for social change also means fighting to abolish the Dept of Education)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ilya Mourometz

“I guess this guy has never been to Philadelphia. I’m sure gun ownership leads to more tranquility in smaller towns, but in Philly, it is a bit more like the wild west and only idiots would leave their doors unlocked. I don’t know if more legal guns would help, but frankly I think Philly is way past redemption. “

This read like Nutter wrote it. It never has been about the number of guns. It is about who has them. It is a cultural thing, not a tool thing.


17 posted on 04/24/2008 4:30:48 PM PDT by School of Rational Thought (Truthism Watch)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Yeah, we’re definitely getting a bum rap over there. I know a Rwandan refugee who got separated from his wife and two kids when they were fleeing for their lives. He eventually found her and the kids in England. They were afraid to come to the U.S. even to visit because they thought there would be gangs shooting it out on every corner. She was surprised when they finally did come for a visit. I think they’ll finally be able to be reunited as a family after all these years.


18 posted on 04/24/2008 4:31:54 PM PDT by aruanan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: School of Rational Thought

That’s my fault in how I wrote it. I’m not saying that the number of legal guns would not help the crime rate in Philly; I’m saying that Philadelphia is unsafe—unlike the town the article’s author lives in. I do believe Philly is beyond hope, however. The crime rate is a direct result of weak judges who will not impose sentences on unrepentent offenders. More guns will help defend the law abiding citizens, but until they actually lock up the scum, the crime rate will not go down.


19 posted on 04/24/2008 4:41:41 PM PDT by Ilya Mourometz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Interesting article. Somewhat optimistic in my opinion— I have certainly seen public drunkenness, and I do lock my doors. But I have been burgled only once in my life, whereas in England it happens every couple of years on average.

I think the Europeans don’t take into account the fact that gun violence is very unevenly distributed. If you take states with a large majority of residents of European descent, e.g. Vermont or Montana, you find that they are armed to the teeth but even more peaceful than the Europeans who stayed in Europe. It’s only in minority communities where the level of violence even approaches the European perception of the U.S.

Also, there was a time in living memory when England’s gun laws were at least as lax as our own. Before 1904 there were essentially no gun laws, and it was only in the 1920s when significant handgun regulations came in as a response to the Bolshevik scare. As late as the 1960s, no license was needed for a shotgun. Of course, I like to point this out to Britsh friends and relations, and contrast the peaceful conditions of those days with the Mad Max society the UK is fast becoming, gun control or no.

-ccm


20 posted on 04/24/2008 4:43:00 PM PDT by ccmay (Too much Law; not enough Order.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-98 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson