Thats probably true, or of course maybe a student shoots the teacher....to me a lot of the debate of guns is actually about price. What price are you willing to pay to have guns, and what price are you willing to pay if you dont. Other than that I am not so sure why everyone gets so worked up about them. Mistakes happen, tragic shootings are more likely to happen if society has plenty of guns....accept it if you are willing to have them. Given the history of the US I can also see why you have a gun culture, and yet there are plenty of other cultures without guns who dont have tyrannical dictators. Both the 'ban everything' and the 'arm everyone' camps should probably be put down.....(wouldnt that be funny) //////////// for those so inclined - even the gun lovers out there. This is funny. (bewarned its anti guns with swearing)
SIUYA, Yanks have been on their own on a lot of things the rest of the world finds bizarre. For a culture that was born on the whole idea of militias and the like, it's not surprising America has the culture it does.
A smart post. Thank you. And yes it is about price. But the two camps have become so polarized that rational discussion is rarely if ever possible. I know what the end result will be but I see no way of avoiding it.
This is an interesting point. .....and I am just rambling here as food for thought with some wine....so take it as you like. What about the view that the American war of independence had very little to do with militias, taxes etc. This was more the romantic notion history gives it. It had more to do with protecting English common law rights and they were against any kind of centralised power (including the Roman catholic church) whereby it effectively was a British civil war as they were against taxes without representation...but not just against taxes. Remembering there were still loyalists at the time in the US as well as British supporters of the US in the UK. The British independents - later known as patriots - then thought it a pretty good idea to ensure folks can stay armed. The US was still a hostile place for many, and yet they realised that often violence worked, as European history taught them this and they did not have the resources for a standing army......hence the gun culture was simply the same as the UK excpet adopted for the environment. It too had a history of dissent - their own civil wars and magna carta etc; except they did not feel the need to stay permanently armed internally (wars against the Europeans needed to be funded and armies raised) . The early US guys effectively used guns and knew that was part of the price they had to pay at that time. Otherwise many others in the world actually share similar values, but a divergent history on how to solve problems. Of course there are the additional issues of geography etc, in different places but there was a lot of British support for the colonies as well. Given all this, I actually dont think the culture was born on the idea of militias....I think this was pushed into the consciousness of the US from the stories of the wild west, and also the actual civil war you had in the 1800s. that was pretty f...n violent. Hence I just dont think that the US was born on the idea of militias, it adopted them.....(and yet, at the same time folks there wonder about the Iraq situation. I remember reading that Iraq had a similar guns per person population as the US pre 2003 - so no wonder issues did not just fade away....what would you do?) Enough wine ( a nice Italian Barolo) rambling for a Friday night. If folks want to quote/argue/ carry on - who cares. read the disclaimer...the more things change, the more they stay the same. Discussions would be a nice change. Enjoy the weekend.....
You referred to "price", though with regard to guns. It reminded me of something I just read which may be of interest to you: In the decade since 911, we have become a nation where, as an American, you must put aside your freedom a dozen times a day. You must show your papers. You must submit to naked body scanners and you must allow unsmiling uniformed men with the force of secret laws behind them to grope the most intimate areas of your children and yourselves. Such has become the price of freedom in America. We have become a nation where you – as an American – can be detained for a glance or a gesture or a careless word or for checking out the wrong book from the library or for worshipping the wrong God. We have become a nation where the only acceptable response to uniformed authority is immediate and total submission. Talk back, question, stand pat on the rights of previous generations and you’ll be branded an enemy. We have become a nation that claims to revere liberty and justice, but believes those things can only be had when secret agencies monitor our every email and our every communication without warrant or probable cause. more . . .