Bruce in West Oz
New member
It's our old "friends", the Pommy pricks at The Economist in the UK. This time, they are "explaining" your (Americans') social history regarding firearms.
It's w-a-y too long to reproduce here (and has charts), but basically it says America has no history of gun ownership or use or culture, it's only been due to (a) the Civil War, (b) clever advertising, and (c) the NRA that Americans own guns.
I read it, of course, from outside the American experience ... but I still find it outrageous that a country that has disarmed its citizens dare pass judgment on one that hasn't.
I'd like to hear what you -- the people involved -- think of the article.
Read the concluding para carefully:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>On this view, America’s gun culture is the product of different and sometimes conflicting social and economic pressures, rather than a constant, deep-seated national preference for owning guns. The cult of the gun has been shaped by history — and history changes all the time.[/quote]
Unless I failed comprehension, the final sentence is the telling one, that gun ownership/use is the result of an historical anomaly, and its time is past.
http://www.economist.co.uk/editorial/freeforall/19990703/index_sf8740.html
B
It's w-a-y too long to reproduce here (and has charts), but basically it says America has no history of gun ownership or use or culture, it's only been due to (a) the Civil War, (b) clever advertising, and (c) the NRA that Americans own guns.
I read it, of course, from outside the American experience ... but I still find it outrageous that a country that has disarmed its citizens dare pass judgment on one that hasn't.
I'd like to hear what you -- the people involved -- think of the article.
Read the concluding para carefully:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>On this view, America’s gun culture is the product of different and sometimes conflicting social and economic pressures, rather than a constant, deep-seated national preference for owning guns. The cult of the gun has been shaped by history — and history changes all the time.[/quote]
Unless I failed comprehension, the final sentence is the telling one, that gun ownership/use is the result of an historical anomaly, and its time is past.
http://www.economist.co.uk/editorial/freeforall/19990703/index_sf8740.html
B