Thoughts on Guns/Violence in America

 

The last mass shooting in Texas, considering the deaths were primarily children, forced my mind to reflect on why so many in 2022. Stats reveal more mass shootings this year than in 2021. And we are barely at the half-way mark. Receiving news of mass shootings in the United States has almost become common place. Similar to an overused word over time, that word begins to lose all meaning. The word antisemitic comes to mind. Nevertheless, I grew up in the United States, and guns are a main aspect of U.S. culture.

As a young man, both my parents Australian, guns were never allowed. My friend down the street was a member of a hunting family. I remember looking out my bedroom window, seeing their station wagon with a large Elk strapped on the roof. Later that morning, I'd visit my friend to see their double car garage turned into an abattoir; the scene similar to The Chain Saw Massacre.

At the age of 15, I'd tag along with the older kids, cruising on the streets of Denver in Dave's 65' Mustang. One Friday night, we found a side street to relieve ourselves because of the amount of beer we were consuming. Mid stream, I heard gun fire. A man had come out of his house with a rifle and began shooting at us. A bullet whizzed right passed my ear and hit the tree in front of me sending splinters of bark in my eyes. A few years later, my friend considered himself to be a quick draw, and would drive to the fields with his 22' pistol and practice, (just in case he was challenged to a gun fight by another fast-draw in town by the Taco Bell). Against all the rules, he went out by himself, and ended-up shooting himself in the leg.

Like I said before, guns are a major aspect of American culture.

One has to ask the question: Is it that there are too many guns available in the country, enabling more gun violence?

"According to a report by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 11,000 homicides were committed using firearms in the U.S. in 2011. Statistics Canada reports in the same year Canada had 158 homicides committed using firearms."

Although this statistic is out of date, it's doubtful that there is much difference percentage-wise today.

Canada has comparable gun ownership to the Untied States, yet the amount of homicides in Canada is less than 1% of homicides in the U.S.

Are guns the problem or is it something else altogether?

Many people have speculated that because the U.S. is a war-based economy, spreading violence across the world stage, killing millions of men, women and children, that behaviour begins at the head of the snake. A country perpetually at war with other countries, this violence will naturally manifest within the culture.

There is no doubt in my mind that American's are the most propagandised people on the planet. We are trained to see violence as natural and part of our everyday lives. War is justified, usually based on lies, to destroy the people of another country. These people are now "enemies" of the United States, when in reality, the only purpose for war is the acquisition of said country's natural resources.

When listening to President Biden's response to the Texas mass shooting, he acted like he was seeing it for the first time. Hypocritically, he and his government has just sent an additional $40 billion to Ukraine in mostly weapons, to kill Russians. Rather than invest this money into the country for health care for the mentally ill, the money is invested in death overseas.

The United States is a culture of perpetual violence.

My question is how do we fix this entrenched propensity to violence?

I'm no sociologist or psychologist but I do know that when a government invests in its own citizens in the areas of education, universal healthcare and the economic opportunity to earn a livable wage, violence in the country will see a dramatic fall.

When one's way of life rises above a day to day struggle, violence is more likely not to become a solution to one's survival- plight in the community.

Violence is never the answer to anything.