Gun Culture
Gun Culture
The main reason why so many Americans own guns is for protection, although some also possess them for hunting and sport shooting, but this does not explain why guns are so much more popular in the United States
than in any other country in the world, since the need for protection and the
opportunities for hunting and sport shooting exist in most other countries. The
reasons for the unrivaled American passion for guns are complex and varied, but
the initial starting point for the popularity of guns is associated with the
history of guns and the strong gun culture this has created.
Historically there
has been a strong militia spirit in America which derived from the dependence
of arms for protection from foreign armies and Native Americans. Survival
depended upon everyone being armed and capable of using a weapon. This was
enshrined further with the effective use of firearms in the American War of
Independence and the creation of the Second Amendment.
Closely related to the militia tradition was the frontier
tradition in which guns were required for self-defense during the 19th
century westward expansion of the American frontier. Although the gun has not
been a necessary part of daily survival for over a century, generations of
Americans continue to embrace and glorify guns. In modern times gun culture is
now promoted by western cowboy and gangster films & television programs.
With regard to films and Hollywood, the Michigan Youth
Violence Prevention Center in 2013 wrote a BLOG titled Hollywood’s Unapologetic
Portrayal of Gun Violence[i].
The writer was commenting on the fact that he witnessed a young boy accompanied
by his parents watching the Quentin Tarantino film “Django Unchained”. The
title character in this film is a bounty hunter who receives monetary rewards
for each individual he kills. This and similar films perpetuate the notion that
it is both cool and acceptable to carry automatic weapons to take down the bad
guys.
Heroes and heroines in films are often portrayed as
violent individuals who are rewarded for their behavior. Frequently films or TV
shows will show violent scenes with repetitive gunshots being fired in public
places in which there is absolutely no concern for any collateral damage this
may cause. Another misconception portrayed in movies is the fact that the gun
yielding heroes never or rarely get killed, whilst the bad guys always do end
up dead. In real life, the extreme risk-taking hero would be dead within 30
seconds. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
(AACAP), a typical American child will view more than 200,000 acts of violence
on television and in film before reaching the age of eighteen. [ii]
A more modern media platform in which gun violence is
portrayed can be found in first-person shooter video games such as Call of
Duty, in which players go around killing characters appearing on the screen.
These games are extremely popular and as of December 2015, the Call of Duty
series had sold over 250 million copies[iii].
Violence in films and video games are frequently cited by
gun enthusiasts as a reason for the high incidence of gun homicides and mass
shootings in America, as opposed to the ease of purchase and the sheer volume
of firearms. Whilst this is partially true it fails to acknowledge the fact
that these violent films and games are prevalent in other countries that do not
experience the same volume and severity of gun violence as the United States.
The reality is that the portrayal of violence and particularly gun violence
adds fuel to the dangerous situation created in which anyone can easily access
powerful firearms.
The gun culture which leads so many Americans to idolize
their weapons tends to be self-perpetuating in several ways. The popularity of
guns has enabled gun manufacturers and the NRA to become powerful and effective
in marketing, promoting guns, and political lobbying. It also gives rise to
something which is almost exclusively an American phenomenon and that is the
Gun Show.
A Gun Show is an event
where promoters generally rent large public venues and then rent
tables for display areas for dealers of guns and related items, and
charge admission for buyers. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives (ATF) estimates that there are 2,000 gun shows held in the United
States each year, whilst the National Association of Arms Shows estimate that
there are as many as 5,200 gun shows held each year which generate billions of
dollars in sales.[iv]
In addition to promoting gun sales, gun shows also provide
the perfect venue for promoting gun-rights and Second Amendment issues. Gun-rights groups frequently set up booths at gun shows
to distribute literature and recruit members and no new potential member is too
young to influence. Children are allowed to attend gun shows and will
inevitably be influenced by the glorification of guns which will be occurring
in abundance. The influence parents may have on their children is best summed
up by a comment on a website in which someone asked if children are allowed to
attend gun shows. One of the responses was as follows – “I take my kids all the time. They like it. The children are the future
and we need to instill our values in them regardless of what the anti-gunners
think.”
Parents glorifying guns to their children are a
significant reason for the self-perpetuating gun culture in the United States
and this is amplified by the sheer volume of firearms, which means so many
children have grown up in the presence of guns.
Telephone polls, from Gallup and the Pew Research Center
in 2017 estimated that around 42% of people in the United States live in a
household where guns are present. The Pew Research Center poll also indicated
that 48% of adults grew up in a home where a gun was present and that 72% of
adults have shot a gun at some point in their lives[v].
Although the majority of American children live in homes where no guns are
present, the vast majority of children will have visited friends or relatives
in homes where guns are present and are therefore likely to have come into
contact with firearms.
In 1995, political scientist Robert
Spitzer said that the modern American gun culture is founded on three
factors: the proliferation of firearms since the earliest days of the nation,
the connection between personal ownership of weapons and the country's
revolutionary and frontier history, and the cultural mythology regarding the
gun in the frontier and modern life[vi].
One thing is certain there is no other country in the
world where the gun is held in such high esteem as in the United States.
[i] KDLYPEN. (2013, March 11). Hollywood’s Unapologetic Portrayal of
Gun Violence. Retrieved from http://yvpc.sph.umich.edu/hollywoods-unapologetic-portrayal-gun-violence/
[ii] KDLYPEN. (2013, March 11). Hollywood’s Unapologetic Portrayal of
Gun Violence. Retrieved from http://yvpc.sph.umich.edu/hollywoods-unapologetic-portrayal-gun-violence/
[iii] Businesswire. (2016, February 11). Activision Blizzard Announces
Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2015 Financial Results. Retrieved from https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160211006451/en/Activision-Blizzard-Announces-Fourth-Quarter-Full-Year
[iv] The Violence Policy Center. Gun Shows in America. Retrieved from https://vpc.org/studies/tupthree.htm
[v] Parker, K. Horowitz, J. Igielnik, R. Oliphant, J. Brown, A. (2017,
June 22). America’s Complex Relationship With Guns. Retrieved from https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2017/06/22/americas-complex-relationship-with-guns/
[vi] Spitzer, R (1995). The
Politics of Gun-control. Chatham House Publishers.
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