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Originally Posted by Janszoon
[..]What I do think is a huge problem is the bizarro fetishizing/macho/fear-mongering culture that surrounds guns in the US. I think the solution would be to limit access to guns and defang the gun lobbyists, but the way our government is set up makes it virtually impossible to do that.
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Yes, definitely!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Janszoon
[..]On a side note: welcome back to MB, I hope you're doing well!
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Hey Jans, long time no see! All fine here.. hope everything's good on your end
Quote:
Originally Posted by jwb
I'm not a hunter so I'm going on what other people tell me but I think most deer hunters use bolt action rifles that are more akin to a sniper rifle than an assault weapon. My friend says that sometimes an AR type rifle is useful when boar hunting but typically they're used more for self defense and recreation.
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Hunting rifles are definitely more like sniper rifles. I'm also not a hunter, but we did own a rifle when we lived on Svalbard as guns were a requirement whenever heading out of town for protection against polar bears. It was also required that we spent time at the range learning to handle guns properly and to shoot from various positions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jwb
a couple of handguns with extended or spare clips are more than sufficient to shoot up a group of innocent civilians. Also, these mass shootings get all the attention while they are a very slim minority of the gun homicides in this country. The vast majority of which are committed with ordinary hand guns.
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This is not a handgun country, so I'd say they're rare here, much more rare than shotguns or rifles. I only know one guy who has handguns and I've never actually seen them. The people who own guns are generally gun club members who like to shoot at ranges and that's not a popular pastime. Compeition guns are often kinda weird looking too.
This ties in to a lot of stuff, though. I mean, people here don't own guns for protection because most people don't feel like they need protection. We don't expect criminals to have guns. We don't see them on our police officers either. Guns are just not part of our consciousness unless it's to do with hunting.
If you put a norwegian in the US, he might not feel so safe anymore and might opt to get a handgun. Who knows? So in a sense, I guess the gun culture has deep roots way into societal workings that don't directly involve guns. Without reflecting too much, it's possible that gun violence is a symptom rather than a disease in itself. However, tougher gun control might still be a way to break out of a negative feedback loop (if criminals have guns, more people want access to guns which in turn makes it easier for criminals to get guns).
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