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Originally Posted by Oberon
however there is certainly a need to examine the gun culture in depth, if only for gaining additional knowledge of peoples views and how they feel that problems like school shootings should be addressed.
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Regarding the "gun culture", and this is just my opinion, as i am an armchair historian at best; the reason for our affinity for guns is found in the pages of our history.
We could start with the Pilgrims. Aside from them eating dinner with the local Indians, our most common visual of them, is walking through the snowy woods with a Blunderbus. Moving onward in history, we have the American Revolution. Our country was founded, in now small part, on the force of arms. To this day, the silhouette of the Musket, or the Minuteman with his musket brings up thoughts of 1776, red coats, and the fight for freedom.
Yet further in history, we have imagery of the loan Mountain man with his Kentucky rifle. Then there's the expansion westward. Which brings up images of cowboys with six shooters, Winchester lever action rifles (IE "The gun that won the west", etc. In the civil war, i think its no coincidence that MANY of the portaits you'll find people posing with their guns for the camera.
Anyway, my point is you look at our history and you'll find iconic imagery that is woven into our national tapestry and sense of identity. From past to present, the Gun has almost always been in hand. Events in our history (particuarlly the expansion into the American West) have given rise to two traits that are highly valued in our culture, and i think you'll still find them today accross most of America. Those are
1.) Rugged individualism.
2.) Self reliance.
For us i think, the Gun isn't just a weapon, or tool, its a symbol of our freedom, independence, individualism and self reliance. The reasons for that, again, just look deeply in our history and i think you'll see it. To completely exorcise the gun from our culture? I think one would have a better chance getting a snowball through hell.