Posted on 05/28/2022 6:31:42 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Washington (AFP) – It was 1776, the American colonies had just declared their independence from England, and as war raged the founding fathers were deep in debate: should Americans have the right to own firearms as individuals, or just as members of local militia?
Days after 19 children and two teachers were slaughtered in a Texas town, the debate rages on as outsiders wonder why Americans are so wedded to the firearms that stoke such massacres with appalling frequency.
The answer, experts say, lies both in the traditions underpinning the country's winning its freedom from Britain, and most recently, a growing belief among consumers that they need guns for their personal safety.
Over the past two decades -- a period in which more than 200 million guns hit the US market -- the country has shifted from "Gun Culture 1.0," where guns were for sport and hunting, to "Gun Culture 2.0" where many Americans see them as essential to protect their homes and families.
That shift has been driven heavily by advertising by the nearly $20 billion gun industry that has tapped fears of crime and racial upheaval, according to Ryan Busse, a former industry executive.
Recent mass murders "are the byproduct of a gun industry business model designed to profit from increasing hatred, fear, and conspiracy," Busse wrote this week in the online magazine The Bulwark.
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
No, the people are waking up to the fact that LEO has no obligation to protect you. They respond AFTER a crime was comitted.
Govaphobia?
Debating whether people should own guns individually or as part of a militia?
Moron.
“the country has shifted from “Gun Culture 1.0,” where guns “were for sport and hunting, to “Gun Culture 2.0” where many Americans see them as essential to protect their homes and families.”
It’s always been about protecting homes and families, you dolt.
This is what passes for thoughtful prose? Usually if you read something you’ve written out loud you realize just how stupid it sounds. I guess the author skipped that part.
....with what have been the overwhelming majority of these mass killings, why doesn’t the media focus on the mental health (illness, actually.....) of the shooters....? they always blame our “gun culture” and our obsession [sic] with firearms and our respect and love of the 2nd Amendment.... Teddy Kennedy and his Olsmobile killed more people than the vast, vast majority of our nation’s responsible gun owners ever will....
Screw the French. As if we need advice from a bunch of cheese-eating surrender monkeys. I personally don’t give a ring-tailed, red rat’s rear-end about what they think.
As a matter of fact, my ancestors hated Europe so much that they abandoned that sh!t hole with only the clothes on their backs, jumped on rickety boat and braved a perilous 30 day voyage across the Atlantic Ocean just to get away from those a**holes.
Damn, it’s good to be an American!
God bless the USA, and piss on the French!
The shift has been from understanding and respect for guns to ignorance and fear of guns.
Concur...
But they do not seem to have a "gun" problem. So, what is different?
I hate all of these arguments that we must disarm America to solve the problem.
I don’t care for the “black guns” but I don’t criticize those who love them. I have a shotgun, rifle and a pistol. None of them autos or semi autos. Fits my needs.
But the demand from the ant-gun crowd has been the best salesman for the gun industry. Millions of suburbanites who wouldn’t be caught dead in camo gear or be militia ready have these AR-15 types gathering dust in their closets.
I know three who bought them during the Obama years and one still haven’t taken it out of the box to shoot(other than dry firing it)
And more will buy them under Biden but it won’t be me.
I think the “trans” fad is more of a problem than the availability of legal firearms.
It’s a cult of insanity aggressively aimed at children.
It's outright child abuse.
Words of a complete idiot.
“…or just as members of local militia?”
A militia is a civilian army. If civilians can’t own guns, there can be no militias.
I hope it's just a fad, but I thought Rapp music was just a passing fad and they'd get back to real music - but it's still here worse than ever.
the firearms that stoke such massacres
/\
Presuppositional statement.
All prog logic is presuppositional and circular.
Lies
and
Bald Face Lies.
Nonsense. There was no debate about individual gun ownership versus as part of the militia. The militia was every able bodied male over 16 years of age.
The U.S. ranks 64th per capita in the number of mass shootings.
Citizens need guns for deterrence against threat to their liberty - the threat can be external like people of Ukraine are facing or it can be internal threat. The internal threat can be from criminals or from their own government that may be taken over by totalitarian ideologies.
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