I think I will send this column to every newspaper and online media organization in the US.
Not because I think it will make a difference, but at least someone out there will know how the young people in Australia feel about America’s love affair with gun.
Confused would be the first word I would use. Once the shock and horror of the latest school shooting were over, it was just a big, fat why?
Why did it happen? Why are such weapons freely available? Why could that 18-year-old do that?
They’re all good questions with statements like, “They’re like us, Dad, but they have quite different ideas when it comes to firearms, don’t they?”
“I’ve read that they have 400 million guns in America; that will be impossible to reduce, won’t it?”
“They don’t seem to want it anyway, but why don’t they stop selling high-powered weapons to teenagers? Everyone knows we can be quite volatile and reckless at times.”
Good luck finding adequate answers to all of the above.
“You can’t drive half a car there or buy alcohol until you’re 21. How come you can buy a military-style killing machine?”
It’s not good for your local community to have your environment overrun with guns, but individual rights are king in the US.
I try to go through the entire explanation of the 2nd Amendment, but I am struggling to unravel why something passed 231 years ago is still dogmatically enforced in 2022.
When the US Constitution was written, muskets were the weapons of choice, and took everyone a few minutes to reload. Today, an AR-15-style rifle can fire up to 60 rounds per minute.
It’s just as hard to explain how cold-blooded the shooters are in the US.
Camera icon Adrian Barich. Credit: Daniel Wilkins/The West Australian
How does an 18-year-old grow up without empathy or compassion for children younger than him?
As my kids say, “Dad, we know some Americans; what’s all that about? What’s going on over there?”.
A doctor friend of mine went to the United States to work at one of their hospitals for a while, and he said his new colleagues were stunned to learn that he had never seen a gunshot wound.
More than 300 people are shot daily in the US, and unfortunately, 45,000 people die yearly.
Very few guns in America are used for hunting. Many Americans want an arsenal in their home because they have indulged in weapon fantasies.
It grew out of and is fueled by, a myriad of myths: the establishment of the Wild West, the lone cowboy who tames the frontier with his Colt Peacemaker.
Everyone knows it’s not good for your local community if your environment is overrun with guns, but individual rights are king in the US.
The American Way celebrates the supremacy of individual rights over the idea of community.
Surely there is a way for individual choice and freedom to coexist with duty and loyalty to others?
