4 ms·

Though not American myself, I'm an admirer of the US in many ways. One thing I don't get is Americans' attitude to guns. Surely the freedom to walk down the str

by tlocke 13y ago

Though not American myself, I'm an admirer of the US in many ways. One thing I don't get is Americans' attitude to guns. Surely the freedom to walk down the street without getting shot is more important than the freedom to carry a gun?

alexeisadeski3 13y ago
So deep.
od2m 13y ago
Do you trust our government? Because we don't.
- ant512 13y ago
  You trust the NSA with your private communications, though. Or is there another explanation for the apathetic response by the American public to widespread government surveillance?
  - __--__ 13y ago
    On the scale of things to worry about, most Americans are more worried about the flesh and blood swat team down the street serving search warrants than internet surveillance. When the police are armed with military grade weapons and sees the community it's policing as the enemy, people are getting more hesitant to get the police involved in even seemingly minor things. This is where the 2nd amendment comes in to play. If the police can't protect you, you have to protect yourself. The guardian article was right about one thing: America is in the middle of a civil war of sorts.
  - a3n 13y ago
    The NSA does what they do in secret, without consultation or permission from the governed (if you believe the foot dragging and outright lying to Congress, which I do). We don't trust the NSA, because they never asked us for our trust except by the very thinnest stretch of implication. The 2nd Amendment however is part of a public document. The public document in the US. And many people believe in the 2nd, either because it allows them guns, or because more generally it's part of our governing document. Of course many people don't support the 2nd. But it is the law, and because it's explicitly part of the Constitution there are huge (but not impossible) barriers to changing it. As for apathy, yes we in the US are apathetic, but it doesn't imply that we trust the NSA, it just means that we're generally apathetic. The list of issues and wrongs that we in the US ignore is long (just for starters, compare our war deaths and gun violence deaths to the deaths of innocents around the world by "collateral damage"), and the NSA is just one of many. We mostly don't give a shit about anything except hating the opposite political party, hating people who have different religious views than our own, and watching TV. And football, we like that a lot.
__--__ 13y ago
Surely, the freedom to walk down the street knowing you can protect yourself from a fatal stabbing is more important than the freedom to feel a false sense of safety? Ban guns, people will use knives. Ban knives, people will use sticks. Ban sticks, people will use fists. The weapons involved are not the issue. The root cause of the violence is.
MrMember 13y ago
If you aren't involved in the drug trade the chances of being killed by a gun (omitting suicide) in the US are quite low. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but incidents like the horrific killing of the Australian baseball player a few months back are exceedingly rare but get a ton of media attention.
glenra 13y ago
Most murderers are people who have been convicted of multiple violent crimes. An interesting related statistic is that most murder victims also have been convicted of multiple violent crimes. So if you aren't a violent criminal and don't know any violent criminals, your chance of being killed goes way down.

by tlocke 13y ago

alexeisadeski3 13y ago

So deep.

od2m 13y ago

Do you trust our government? Because we don't.

ant512 13y ago
You trust the NSA with your private communications, though. Or is there another explanation for the apathetic response by the American public to widespread government surveillance?
- __--__ 13y ago
  On the scale of things to worry about, most Americans are more worried about the flesh and blood swat team down the street serving search warrants than internet surveillance. When the police are armed with military grade weapons and sees the community it's policing as the enemy, people are getting more hesitant to get the police involved in even seemingly minor things. This is where the 2nd amendment comes in to play. If the police can't protect you, you have to protect yourself. The guardian article was right about one thing: America is in the middle of a civil war of sorts.
- a3n 13y ago
  The NSA does what they do in secret, without consultation or permission from the governed (if you believe the foot dragging and outright lying to Congress, which I do). We don't trust the NSA, because they never asked us for our trust except by the very thinnest stretch of implication. The 2nd Amendment however is part of a public document. The public document in the US. And many people believe in the 2nd, either because it allows them guns, or because more generally it's part of our governing document. Of course many people don't support the 2nd. But it is the law, and because it's explicitly part of the Constitution there are huge (but not impossible) barriers to changing it. As for apathy, yes we in the US are apathetic, but it doesn't imply that we trust the NSA, it just means that we're generally apathetic. The list of issues and wrongs that we in the US ignore is long (just for starters, compare our war deaths and gun violence deaths to the deaths of innocents around the world by "collateral damage"), and the NSA is just one of many. We mostly don't give a shit about anything except hating the opposite political party, hating people who have different religious views than our own, and watching TV. And football, we like that a lot.

__--__ 13y ago

Surely, the freedom to walk down the street knowing you can protect yourself from a fatal stabbing is more important than the freedom to feel a false sense of safety? Ban guns, people will use knives. Ban knives, people will use sticks. Ban sticks, people will use fists. The weapons involved are not the issue. The root cause of the violence is.

MrMember 13y ago

If you aren't involved in the drug trade the chances of being killed by a gun (omitting suicide) in the US are quite low. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but incidents like the horrific killing of the Australian baseball player a few months back are exceedingly rare but get a ton of media attention.

glenra 13y ago

Most murderers are people who have been convicted of multiple violent crimes. An interesting related statistic is that most murder victims also have been convicted of multiple violent crimes. So if you aren't a violent criminal and don't know any violent criminals, your chance of being killed goes way down.