As the debate rages on about what gun laws we should amend or add, we’re asking this simple question: what’s so great about guns?
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Pioneer man, gun slung over his shoulder. Wild West Sheriff, guns ready to blaze. Serviceman—take your pic—holding a gun, ready for combat. Gang member, vowing revenge as he cocks his glock. Every good guy/hero—killing the bad guys by the bushel.
What’s the deal with men and guns in America? And why do we worship the weapon so much?
Americans are seven times more likely to be murdered than people in 12 similar developed countries, and 20 times more likely to be killed by a gun.
Gun death rates in the U.S. were 11.2 per 100,000 people in 2015. That compares to a rate of 1.2 per 100,000 people in Australia.
A 2014 study found that guns hurt or kill about 10,000 American children each year.
Last week, the American Medical Association voted to join the debate, promising to start lobbying Congress to enact some measures. (Source: NBC)
But we all know how that went. It didn’t.
So what’s the bigger issue for you—that men have and will always love guns, that our love of guns has gone insanely haywire, that we’ve allowed guns to be some moral symbol of justice, or have the mass shootings just been awful anomalies in our gun-obsessed culture?
What do you say?
Join us below in the conversation!
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Photo: Getty Images
And thank you for sharing this!
There was a study that found that men who frequently carried guns displayed heightened paranoia, consistently misidentifying other people as “armed” when in fact they were holding or handling something else: mobile phone, pager, radio, etc. I can see how someone who feels constantly threatened could become dependent on the only means by which they feel safe again. I’d be interested to know if/why men have an affinity for weapons in general. I own a German rapier and several very functional katanas, and I’m not entirely sure why. Certainly it isn’t for self-defense, and I only occasionally visit the local… Read more »
@Athirson
How would one account for countries, regions, communities, or cultures that still have low or negligible gun ownership (and/or gun violence) but still have proportionately equivalent males populations?
RE: Why Do Men Love Their Guns?
I’ll leave aside the obvious, which is that guns are instrumentalies of crime, which is disproportionately committed by men.
Because it gives them a sense of power that is otherwise utterly lacking in their lives. They spend their lives being trodden by their obligations, bosses, pastors, wives (or ex-wives, as the case may be). Add to it the real and perceived societal injustices they see around them. Carrying a gun represents, in their view, a way to redress those grievances.