I hate being an American right now

I remember my dad telling me ages ago, a client of his living in one of the more southern, conservative states (can't remember which one), kept a gun in his car glove box and my dad was beyond shocked because the guy was wealthy, liberal and seemed like a secure and happy person but apparently he could not live without his gun (didn't give a reason why). Its just such a different mindset between the two countries, in Australia having a gun is never something that is ever desired or considered by the normal 99% of the population, I honestly don't understand why Americans feel the need to have them.

We have lots of crime here, so that's one reason.

But so does Australia (at least Sydney does). Every night on the news there are countless stories or breaking and enterings, kidnappings and violence, guns still just arent as seen as a necessity.

America needs to bring freedom to australia quickly.

Three stupid straight white people with fake tans sitting on a couch telling citizens of another country that they have no freedom! Sounds like Fox News.

People either don't realize there's an agenda, or they perceive all / most other mainstream media as "liberal propaganda" and flock to Fox News as a bastion of conservatism.






Anyways, there are a lot of historical and sociological reasons behind why some Americans are so attached to guns. Among them:

-early Americans (talking like Revolution era) believed that they needed access to guns in case the newly established American govt ever became "tyrannical" like the British govt was prior to the Revolution. This is the sole reason that the second constitutional amendment guarantees the right to bear arms. However, the Civil War all but renders this argument (and amendment) invalid because it was proven that the govt would not tolerate dissent.

-guns are basically The Symbol of masculinity and power in American culture. All of our films, video games, etc reinforce this. There's evidence that as society becomes more egalitarian (supporting rights for POC, women, LGBT+), even greater importance is placed on guns as a (symbolic) way that men can retain their masculinity despite social change.

-there's this myth that owning a gun can help defend yourself / others in the event of a robbery... Pro-gun people especially like to say that mass shootings could be prevented if there was an armed person there to "take out" the would-be shooter. All sociological evidence suggests that more guns merely results in even more violence and bloodshed.

-I'm less sure on this, but I'd hazard a guess that gun manufacturing has been important to state economies. At least in the past (if not today), guns were made in the States, which would have bolstered local economies... Causing people in the area to see guns as beneficial to their livelihood because their economy was dependent on the factories.


A few other interesting facts:
-American police are becoming increasingly militarized because they receive excess war weapons and supplies. There are police forces with military grade guns, body armor, vehicles, etc.

-In the wake of mass shootings, the NRA and entertainment industries like to blame one another; the NRA blames video games, while the media blames the NRA for obstructing gun control legislation. However, the NRA and mainstream media often work together—in particular, the NRA provides bigger, more militant, more deadly weapons to be used in films, video game promo campaigns, etc. Amazing, isn't it, that the NRA blames mass shootings on video games while supplying guns to video game makers.

I mean, I can go to school, knowing if I get sick I'm taken care of, and I'm more likely to be hit by an asteroid than be shot Yet in the US those chances of all three things being possible is dramatically reduced.

Yet I'm removed of my freedom?