Quote:
Originally Posted by GoGo2
May be the Americans have to answer that. I think it has something to do with that when they fled Europe a long time ago, they were tired of rules, especially those from catholic countries (Poland, half of Germany and "the rest of the countries "down to" the Mediterranean Sea coast at the map, except Greece which is and was orthodox).
I don't say that "free guns for everybody" is a religious thing, but that all were fleeing from something. In the Northern protestant countries people were poor. Their masters (the farmers that owned land) could do whatever they wanted with them. They could be beaten if they did not work hard enough. Some fled because of wanting an adventure, though.
I think that freedom from authorities are very important for many Americans. They want the freedom to chose. While others have come to the conclusion that: "Past is past. We live in a modern society now and don't need those weapons".
Just a few thoughts, but may be an the Americans have to answer your question more fully. I think it has to do with different traditions. Where I live in Europe people have to have a license to own a gun. Those who misuse the license or don't have the weapon in a locked closet when not in use can lose their license.
Just as the weapon lobby in the USA feel they are right, we feel that we are right as well. Of course one needs a license to own a weapon! We are talking about two different thought-groups, two different reference groups ... What is normal for the one group, is not seen as normal for the other group.
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I live in a particularly rural part of a particularly red state, so I might have a slightly different take. I think a lot of the allure of guns for people comes less from having the choice and more from the idea of frontier self-reliance. The idea of being able to take care of yourself in the big bad wild without outside help. Of course, it's 2022 and there's not a lot of big bad wild left in America. That said, hunting is huge here, so I get having a hunting rifle and/or shotgun. I can even comprehend having a handgun in the home to protect you and yours from danger. I have no desire to own a gun, but there's a logic to those arguments.
What I can't comprehend are those who take their handgun to Walmart to buy a video game, bring a long rifle to a political rally and have engraved plaques with the text of the Second Amendment and an AR-15 etched into it. All of these, I have personally witnessed. They're peacocking obviously ("Look at me! Look at me!"), but they're looking for a reason too. It makes me distrust them on sight, because I don't know what the reason will be.
I wish we lived in less interesting times.
