Gun Culture.ppt

gun culture is a culture shared by people in the gun politics debate, generally those who advocate preserving gun rights and who are generally against more gun control. in the united states, the term is used solely to identify gun advocates who are legitimate and legal owners and users of guns, using guns for self defense, sporting uses (hunting), and recreational uses (target shooting). in places where those rights have been lost such as the uk and australia, “gun culture“ refers to the use of guns by criminals (as they are the ones who remain armed).,according to political scientist robert spitzer, the american gun culture as it exists today is founded on three factors; the proliferation of firearms since the earliest days of the nation, the connection between personal ownership of weapons and the countrys revolutionary and frontier history, and the cultural mythology regarding the gun in the frontier and in modern life.,spitzer writes that: two elements of the modern american gun culture have survived since the earliest days of the country: the hunting/sporting ethos the militia/frontier ethos,the hunting/sporting ethos emerged when america was an agrarian nation in which hunting was a valuable source of supplying food for settlers, guns were a means of protection from animal predators, and the market for furs could provide a source of income. acquiring shooting skills was connected with survival, and acquiring these skills was a “rite of passage“ for boys entering manhood. the role of guns as marks of maturity persists to this day. today, hunting survives as a central component of the gun culture, although some predict that “hunting heritage“ may disappear in the twenty-first century.,the militia/frontier ethos emerged from early americans dependence on their wits and skill to protect themselves from hostile native americans and foreign armies. survival depended upon everyone carrying a weapon (excluding blacks, and in a large part, women). in the late eighteenth century, there was neither the money nor manpower to maintain a full-time army; therefore the armed citizen soldier carried the responsibility of protecting his country. service in militia, including providing your own ammunition and weapons, was mandatory for all adult males. yet, as early as the 1790s, the mandatory universal militia duty gave way to voluntary militia units and a reliance on a regular army, with a decline of the importance of militia trend continuing throughout the nineteenth century.,closely related to the militia tradition was the frontier tradition, with the westward movement closely associated with weaponry. in the nineteenth century, firearms were closely associated with the westward expansion. outlaws and indians necessitated an armed citizenry ready to defend themselves. expressions such as the guns that won the west, however, typify an exaggeration of the impact of the gun, as they ignore that the taming of the west was primarily an agricultural and commercial movement. western style “shoot-outs“ were literally unheard of.,today, this veneration of firearms has left a deeply felt belief that guns are both an integral part of, and a force responsible for, america as it exists.,some traits of the “pro-gun culture“ are as follows:,they share a belief that the second amendment to the united states constitution enumerates an individual right. generally they see people as trustworthy and believe that citizens should not be prevented from having guns unless they have proven otherwise.,the second amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.,they share a belief that guns provide some level of protection against criminality and tyranny. this ranges from a feeling that it is good to have a gun around the house for self-protection, to an active distrust of government and a belief that widespread gun ownership is protection against tyranny.,they are generally responsible with respect to firearms handling. they have an awareness (or internalization) of either jeff coopers four rules or the nras three rules, providing for some level of safe handling of guns and try to abide by them when handling firearms.,they support, widely and in principle, the gun rights associated with hunting and other outdoor sports activities, although these activities are not always practiced by all within the gun culture. some members of the gun culture remain avid collectors and shooters but this is not universal.,november 7, 1991, press-telegram (long beach, ca) massacres fail to sway gun nuts and their lobbyists more mass killings - a college campus massacre in iowa coming within days of a rampage that killed 23 people in a killeen, texas, cafeteria - produce fresh craziness from organized gun nuts and lobbyists in their hire. instead of a move to save lives with a shutdown of the gun traffic, gun-nut spokesmen have written and preached that the nation wont be safe until the population is armed and ready for instant gunplay. in a sick fantasy out of corpse-strewn movies ,shoot-out confirms foreign view of america as gun nut country july 26, 1998 the fatal shoot-out at the seat of american government drew banner coverage in much of the worlds media, with many reports concluding that the tragedy confirms the stereotype of the united states as a violent, gun-crazed society. “terror in u.s. capitol as gun nut kills two,“ read a headline in the sun, britains best-read newspaper.,the columbine high school massacre occurred on tuesday, april 20, 1999, at columbine high school in columbine, colorado. two students, eric harris and dylan klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12 students and a teacher, injured 21 others, while 3 were injured while attempting to escape, before committing suicide. it is the fourth-deadliest school massacre in united states history, after the 1927 bath school disaster, 2007 virginia tech massacre and the 1966 university of texas massacre, and the deadliest for an american high school. the massacre provoked debate regarding gun control laws, the availability of firearms in the united states, and gun violence involving youths. much discussion also centered on the nature of high school cliques, subcultures and bullying, as well as the role of violent movies and video games in american society. the shooting also resulted in an increased emphasis on school security, and a moral panic aimed at goth culture, social outcasts, the gun culture, the use of pharmaceutical anti-depressants by teenagers, violent films and music, teenage internet use, and violent video games.,eric harris and dylan klebold caught on the high schools security cameras in the cafeteria shortly before committing suicide,becoming part of the vernacular since the shooting, “columbine“ or “the columbine incident“ has become a euphemism for a school shooting. charles andrew williams, the santana high school shooter, reportedly told his friends that he was going to “pull a columbine“, though none of them took him seriously. many foiled school shooting plots mentioned columbine and the desire to “outdo harris and klebold.“ seung-hui cho, the shooter in the virginia tech massacre, mentioned “martyrs like eric and dylan“ apparently referring to columbine high school gunmen eric harris and dylan klebold.,the virginia tech massacre was a school shooting consisting of two separate attacks approximately two hours apart on april 16, 2007, that took place on the campus of virginia polytechnic institute and state university (virgin