More on guns

Self defence, anyone?

If your eyes glaze over when reading more about the intricate detail of Westminster sleaze, read this instead. You don’t have to be a US Politics student to find America’s relationship with the gun fascinating.

As I said in an earlier posting, much of what America believes to be its history is actually fiction—largely fuelled by Hollywood mythologising about the country’s past. In some ways there is nothing wrong with this. It is quite remarkable that a country as diverse as the USA has not suffered more ruptures than it has. The Civil War was obviously a large one, but to move from being a small, agrarian population of 13 colonies to a 50 state superpower which now takes in more legal immigrants than the rest of the world without more strife and conflict is impressive. This can partly be explained by attempts to unify society, to bind its new citizens together. Even if this means making stuff up. A quick example: most cowboys were not white.

Another one is the myth of the wild west, the new frontier and American expansion. This myth, actually exaggerated in this instance by cheap books rather than film, is sometimes used as justification as to why gun use is in some ways in America’s blood.

Talking of blood, say the Guardian:

“Deadly month: Over 50 killed in shootings
A string of shootings in the US in a little over a month has claimed the lives of more than 50 people.

March
10 Samson, Alabama A gunman shoots dead 10 people and then himself in a rampage across the southern Alabama countryside

22 Oakland, California A man pulled over in a routine traffic stop fatally shoots two officers and then kills two more in a gunfight in which the suspect is also killed

29 Santa Clara, California A man shoots and kills his two children and three other relatives, then kills himself at a family housewarming party

29 Carthage, North Carolina A man opens fire in a nursing home and kills seven elderly residents and a nurse

April
3 Binghamton, New York A gunman bursts into an immigrant centre and shoots dead 13 people before killing himself

4 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania A gunman wearing a bullet-proof vest opens fire on officers responding to a call about a domestic disturbance, killing three

4 Graham, Washington A man whose wife was leaving him fatally shoots his five children in their mobile home and then takes his own life in his car”

Yet against this backdrop, support for gun ownership has surged. Read the article in full here.

I enjoyed it, I hope ya’ll do too.

By the way, saw an interesting feature on the news yesterday about Mexican drug gangs filtering into Arizona. Apparently Phoenix has the second highest kidnap rate in the world. Second only to, you guessed it, Mexico City.

Some experts reckon that drug fuelled gun violence could explode in the Grand Canyon State anytime soon.