When another event of GunViolence occurs in the USA, critics are quick to point an accusatory finger at the “Gun Culture”. This action demonstrates colossal ignorance. Not only is the Gun Culture not responsible for nut-cases committing mass shootings, the Gun Culture contributes to our overall safety and security.
As a “gun nut” and senior member of the Gun Culture, I can say with authority that the Gun Culture is the guy at the range sighting in his rifle for the upcoming elk season. The Gun Culture is two buddies discussing the merits of different primers for a cartridge loading that one of them is developing. The Gun Culture is the mother teaching her daughter to lead the clays at the trap range.
The Gun Culture is the fellow melting down wheel weights to mold his own bullets and the woman practicing with the 9mm pistol she carries in her purse. The Gun Culture is is the cowboy action shooter and the three-gun competitor.
The Gun Culture is the fellow searching for the right buffer weight and spring strength to tame the recoil of his wife’s AR-15 modern sporting rifle. And the Gun Culture is the guy posting to an on-line forum looking for information as to why his newly built rifle doesn’t function properly with subsonic loads.
The Gun Culture is the fellow who volunteers his time to teach a gun safety course about The Four Rules.
The Gun Culture is the couple at the next booth in the restaurant, both of whom have Concealed Carry Weapon permits and who are both prepared to defend not just themselves, but you as well, should some nut-case go on a rampage.
There are many things that the Gun Culture is but a source of mass shootings is one thing it is not. Further regulating the Gun Culture with more laws and regulations is not going to solve a problem caused by people who do not obey laws and regulations.
The problem with mass shootings is indeed cultural, but it is not the Gun Culture that is at fault. More likely, it is the “Me” culture, the FaceBook, Twitter culture that is based on having “friends” who “like” you. It is based on getting attention by any means necessary. The Me culture is all about doing whatever it takes to be known or remembered. Even if that means shooting up a school and killing numerous innocent people to gain notoriety.
And shootings not of the “mass” variety are, more often than not, committed by the Gang Culture. These are the folks who will shoot you for wearing the wrong colors or being in the wrong neighborhood. Or for trying to sell your dope in their territory.
The Gang Culture believes that committing and threatening violence is the way to get “respect”. And they could not be farther from the Gun Culture.
We often hear people showcasing their ignorance by claiming that GunViolance is a result of “easy access to guns“. Nonsense. There are people of my generation who used to take their squirrel guns to school and leave them in the rear of the classroom, then bag a few squirrels for dinner on their way home. Were there school shooting back then?
Guns were far easier to get when you could walk into most any hardware store and buy a gun as easily as a saw or hammer. Guns are in fact much more restricted now than before the Gun Control Act of 1968. Now we have to buy from federally licensed dealers who must run a background check.
“Easy access to guns” is not the problem. Guns were once easier to access and mass shootings by self-aggrandizing attention-getters were unknown.
You’ll note that I used the term “GunViolence” earlier. I did this because to some people, Guns and Violence are synonymous. Whenever they speak about “violence”, it is always preceded by “gun”. For reasons I cannot fathom, they seem unconcerned about other types of violence. Indeed, the violence does not concern them, only guns do. This is why, instead of looking at the causes of violence, they continue to fixate on guns.
Something has changed since the old days but it certainly hasn’t been that guns have become easier to get these days. The problem is very much cultural. As with most every other problem, until it is recognized as a problem and acknowledged as such, this cultural problem cannot be fixed.
Those who claim to abhor GunViolence are trying to fix something that is not broken. There is nothing wrong with the Gun Culture.
But there is something wrong with the culture and it is endemic to our inner cities. There is a cultural deficit with a very particular part of our culture. Political correctness prevents society from identifying this sub-culture. Identifying the correct part of the culture upon which to focus our efforts is the first step to solving it.